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High tyre pressure

Serhii Maslov Section: Tyre pressure Updated: First published:

Over-inflated tyres: do you save fuel?

There is a widespread belief that running tyres above the pressure the car maker specifies gives you substantial fuel savings. In truth you really do save fuel, but in an extremely small amount, one that will not even reach 5%. At the same time, an over-inflated tyre will make your car far stiffer (comfort drops and the load on the suspension increases), less easy to control, and it will lengthen braking distance. All of this happens because the tyre’s contact patch with the road shrinks, stiffness increases and the load distribution across the tread is skewed. What is more, an over-inflated tyre will wear unevenly and far faster.

So, there is decidedly no point in over-inflating your tyres: whatever you save on fuel, you will pay back many times over at the tyre shop and the garage when the suspension needs repairing early and the tyres need replacing sooner.

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