Over inflating tyres. Does it damage them?

[fatboy b]

Hi all. Just had 4 tyres fitted by a mobile fitter - the ones that also have stores in most towns and sell bikes and service cars. Tyres bought through black circles.

I was out during fitment (to the o/h’s car), so I routinely checked the pressures. I was somewhat shocked. Back should be 40 psi, front 43 psi.

Three were at 65 psi and one was 73 psi. I’ve corrected them, but would these high pressures have damaged the tyres in any way?

Cheers

[Defcon5]

Don’t they have a max pressure value on the sidewall?

As to whether exceeding that actually does any harm to a stationary car I don’t know. How did the fitter even manage that

[The Road Crew]

Nah they'll be fine.

[swisstoni]

Some people actually advise it when storing a car, to prevent ‘flat spotting’.
And no doubt it’s done often by mistake.

It does the handling no favours but I’ve never heard of tyres being damaged by any kind of real-world overinflation.

Edited by swisstoni on Sunday 21st November 17:05

[Baldchap]

I suspect the fitter blasted them up to seat the tyre bead properly.

[CoolHands]

No

[fatboy b]

Cool, thanks for the quick replies.

[stevieturbo]

Call the tyre fitter and ask WTF.

[Pica-Pica]

fatboy b said:

Hi all. Just had 4 tyres fitted by a mobile fitter - the ones that also have stores in most towns and sell bikes and service cars. Tyres bought through black circles.

I was out during fitment (to the o/h’s car), so I routinely checked the pressures. I was somewhat shocked. Back should be 40 psi, front 43 psi.

Three were at 65 psi and one was 73 psi. I’ve corrected them, but would these high pressures have damaged the tyres in any way?

Cheers

No. Tyres on wheels should always be stored at maximum pressure. They have just given you a storage pressure for you to adjust down to your own preferred pressure settings.

[stevieturbo]

Pica-Pica said:

No. Tyres on wheels should always be stored at maximum pressure. They have just given you a storage pressure for you to adjust down to your own preferred pressure settings.

That makes zero sense whatsoever.

There is no such thing as a storage pressure. That's just bullst.

[paintman]

The fitter should have checked & adjusted the tyre pressure to the correct pressure for the position of that wheel on the vehicle.

Raise it with the employers so the fitter can receive 'words of advice' as I expect few owners would bother checking & overinflating is likely to result in excessive wear to the centre of the tyre.
There MAY also be handling issues

https://bridgestone-mea.com/en/discover/the-effect...

[dhutch]

paintman said:

The fitter should have checked & adjusted the tyre pressure to the correct pressure for the position of that wheel on the vehicle.

Yes, but they never do.

Most will set it vaugely about right however!


Daniel

[Smint]

Definately complain to the company, how or why the fitter managed that is a mystery, either a clown or his gauge is knackered.

I normally tell the fitter what pressures i want, especially if i take the wheels down for tyre changing as is often the case (winter/summer set so get them swapped over out of season), but the fitters usually get it pretty well right, never seen anything like the pressures you found unless a commercial vehicle.

[Sheepshanks]

dhutch said:

Yes, but they never do.

Most will set it vaugely about right however!

I can't remember ever having tyres fitted and not being asked what pressures I wanted, apart from Costco where they look them up and that's always been correct. Did get a new car once that felt weird and found the tyres were all mid-40's. That's usually about the max pressure the tyre is rated for which is how they're done from the factory and they're supposed to be reset at PDI. TBH I'd be mithered by tyres that had been left at 70psi for a while.


Used the firm in question a few months ago for set of tyres on daughter's car, changed at our house. I will say the fitter seemed very rushed - he'd only been doing the job 4 weeks, although he'd been a car mechanic before. We were his 6th job of the day and he had a load more to do.

He left the wheels looking very dirty although they offer an optional clean which I didn't add so thought maybe it was due to that. One of the tyres didn't hold pressure so called them and the guy they sent was much more relaxed - he found corrosion inside the wheel and cleaned it up. He also noted the rears hadn't been balanced so did them both.

[V8covin]

No matter which tyre fitter I've ever been to they always set pressures at 30 lol

[Mave]

Sheepshanks said:

I can't remember ever having tyres fitted and not being asked what pressures I wanted, apart from Costco where they look them up and that's always been correct. Did get a new car once that felt weird and found the tyres were all mid-40's. That's usually about the max pressure the tyre is rated for which is how they're done from the factory and they're supposed to be reset at PDI. TBH I'd be mithered by tyres that had been left at 70psi for a while.


Used the firm in question a few months ago for set of tyres on daughter's car, changed at our house. I will say the fitter seemed very rushed - he'd only been doing the job 4 weeks, although he'd been a car mechanic before. We were his 6th job of the day and he had a load more to do.

He left the wheels looking very dirty although they offer an optional clean which I didn't add so thought maybe it was due to that. One of the tyres didn't hold pressure so called them and the guy they sent was much more relaxed - he found corrosion inside the wheel and cleaned it up. He also noted the rears hadn't been balanced so did them both.

Conversely, I can't ever remember being asked what pressure to set the tyres at, and they normally seem to get inflated to 30-35 psi

[Sheepshanks]

Mave said:

Conversely, I can't ever remember being asked what pressure to set the tyres at, and they normally seem to get inflated to 30-35 psi

Do you "hover" around while it's being done, or stay out of the way?

I'm afraid I'm a hoverer so perhaps they just ask because I'm there. I get the tyre set swapped winter / summer on wife's Tiguan at an indie place nearby and they always ask, doesn't matter who's doing it - with staff turnover it's often someone new. However they don't ask the bolt torque - they just "know" the VW setting but, oddly, 4Motion VWs have a lower setting, so I always have to intervene and tell them that.

Edited by Sheepshanks on Monday 22 November 14:40

[dhutch]

I hover if I can, and usually go to smaller places, at which point typically I will tell them the pressure it should be when they are stood there with the inflater attached to the wheel in question.

Seems to work for me.


Daniel

[Mave]

Sheepshanks said:

Mave said:

Conversely, I can't ever remember being asked what pressure to set the tyres at, and they normally seem to get inflated to 30-35 psi

Do you "hover" around while it's being done, or stay out of the way?

I'm afraid I'm a hoverer so perhaps they just ask because I'm there. I get the tyre set swapped winter / summer on wife's Tiguan at an indie place nearby and they always ask, doesn't matter who's doing it - with staff turnover it's often someone new. However they don't ask the bolt torque - they just "know" the VW setting but, oddly, 4Motion VWs have a lower setting, so I always have to intervene and tell them that.

Edited by Sheepshanks on Monday 22 November 14:40

Depends on the layout and how busy they are. I don't scurry off to have a polystyrene cup of tea and a catch up of a "Hello" magazine, but I also try not to bother them too much of they're busy. If you're using the same place all the time maybe it's just their policy?