Nothing is more important to a tire than AIR!
The pneumatic tire was invented by Robert Thomson in 1845 and his invention worked, but was too costly. John Dunlop invented the first affordable pneumatic tire in 1888 used for bicycles. To this day, no one has found a better way to support a vehicle and achieve traction with a road surface than the pneumatic tire.
As with most great inventions, the principle of the pneumatic tire is simple. Air contained within a reinforced elastomeric toriod carries the load.
Elastomeric rubber is flexible to absorb bumps and tractive for acceleration or breaking; however a rubber tire without reinforcement will continually grow like a balloon. There are three primary categories of reinforcement in a radial tire. They are: the steel bead wires which hold the tire onto the rim, the radial ply cords which restrain growth in tire width and the belts which restrain circumferential growth.
The design of the plies and belts control the cross-sectional shape of a tire. Inflation pressure puts the plies and belts into tension. The belt tension is reduced or changed to compression where the tire contacts the road (called the footprint). The footprint size and shape are affected by inflation pressure and tire design.
All tires and footprints are designed for optimum traction, treadwear and fuel economy over a small range of inflation pressures. Vehicle manufacturers recommend tire inflation pressures in owners manuals. They are different from vehicle to vehicle.
You should maintain the inflation pressure recommended in the owner manual to optimize your safety, ride quality, treadwear and fuel economy.
