Quote:
Originally Posted by madmaxmutt
I get the point and passion, but are you only talking about trailer tires? I would just pump it up on the side of the road and drive it. I am pretty sure 90% (Dilbert estimate) of people would not replace the tire because it went "flat" at some odd percentage of full inflation. Which, BTW would only be 6 lbs low, on my Subaru by your 20% number (if this is all tires). If I did decide to replace it, I certainly wouldn't even replace it until I got back home. To me it sounds like an anti-lawsuit nanny state answer, versus a common sense recomendation.
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The 20% is an often stated number. This applies to all tires.
The average user is not qualified or equipped to properly and completely inspect a tire that has been run when low on air and make an informed opinion on the long-term durability of the subject tire. The 20% figure is the arbitrary level of underinflation where years of experience indicate that the tire has probably been damaged enough to result is a significantly shorter life ending a probable structural failure.
Obviously, some tires can be run at a lower level and not fail while other tires may fail even if the inflation had not dropped to the 80% figure. What was needed is a guideline. What hasn't been discussed on how far the tire was run underinflated. Before the introduction of TPMS some tires might be run hundreds or possibly thousands of miles underinflated. A better answer might be a chart of miles vs underinflation but that requires a lot more data and also requires that a TPMS be used and followed.
The concern is not just based on the possible lawsuit but on the possibility of personal injury to others.
Cars are a poor example as many have significantly larger reserve load margin than almost all RVs with many RVs having negative reserve margin so in the RV the 20% may be too conservative and a loss of 10 to 15% might be more appropriate.
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