WIND!

At a gas station, run the air first and look at it. I had been going to this Chevron for years and always just put the nozzle on tire and filled. Once I opened the nozzle in the air, and was surprised to see a large amount of water spraying out. It didn't get better after about a half minute of spraying, when I saw the attendant come to the door to see what I was doing, so I stopped. Water in tires, I believe, is not recommended. I am using my own little demand pump now, which ought to be better.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mr.Vanvandenburg @ Apr 13 2007, 12:42 PM) [snapback]422900[/snapback]</div>

Agreed, Vanvan. I went on a roadtrip last week and wanted to get the right pressures on all 4 corners so I went to a gas station to fill up. Their air nozzle just kept spraying water so I went to the gas station across the street and their's was much better. Coincidentally, the gas station with the water spraying nozzle was also a Chevron

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mr.Vanvandenburg @ Apr 13 2007, 12:42 PM) [snapback]422900[/snapback]</div>

The water is coming from the humidity of the air before it is compressed. As water cannot be compressed it tends to collect in the compressor air tank. Tanks should be blead of air daily, most aren't. Try the same station on a day with low humidity and you will get less water.

Icarus

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bobby @ Apr 13 2007, 10:02 AM) [snapback]422681[/snapback]</div>

I certainly am. In fact, I exceed that value greatly.

I have set my pressures to 50 psi in the front and 48 psi in the rear. This is the "regular pressure" for my summer wheels. My winter tires are inflated at a much higher pressure than that.

By the way, I've installed a third party TMPS that monitors each tire independently and also reports each tire's temperature. To me, it is a must have.

As per my observations on my HEV's alone, underinflated tires always run warmer and offer a greater chance of thread separation and desintegration at higher speeds. The only observable impact of a tire inflated above its Max pressure rating is the ride harshness - it increases noticeably. Beyond that, its all positive results.


Cheers;

MSantos

 

New here! I'm about a breath away from buying a new prius. Unfortunately I live in a TERRIBLY windy area. This thread has been so informative. One question, any thoughts on whether or not the Touring edition would help combat bouncing around in the wind?

Thanks!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(GoEco @ Apr 17 2007, 05:58 PM) [snapback]424872[/snapback]</div>

Hi GoEco,

Its not so much the wind, as the change in wind. The stock alligned Prius has no problem with steady winds from any direction. Its when you get the 0 to 40 mph broadside gust in a second it tends to behave badly. Not being too familiar with SoCal, other than comments from people on here, I thought I would point that out. One SoCal comment was that a truck passing by was allot of cross wind. Trucks just do not compare to these gusting conditions that come through the midwest.

There are fixes however. Once fixed, if you carefully keep the wheel straight, or apply minor counter steering, the car behaves quite acceptably. Much better than the dancing hippos out (SUV's) out on the roads.

Sure, its no Corvette or other low-slung car. But it can carry allot more too.

 

See my article in the knowledgebase:
http://priuschat.com/RePost-Highway-Wind-S...ary-t11466.html

I put 87k miles on my 2004 and have 35k on my 2006. This stability issue is a problem (IMHO after the 900k miles I've driven in cars and light trucks).

FYI- Bridgestone's national sales manager told me that higher tire pressures will INCREASE twitchiness (especially on grooved pavement).

 

Well we've had a very very windy last two days here in the mountains. We've had gusts of 60 mph and 30 mph sustained winds for two days. Now with the winds subsiding, I'll report that I did drive the Prius in to work this morning. Riding the buffets of air across the eastern continental divide, crosswinds over the gap, and tail winds into Boone......

sure the Prius "felt" the wind more than my truck does, but I must say it performed admirable well. No loss of control, no moments of "fear" thinking I'll blow over the railing. Even without the stiffining plate, the car handled quite well. At one point I did hit about a 30-40 mph direct headwind and it felt like I had applied the brakes, but that was on a long (about 1.2 mile) uphill anyway.

Now I'm thinking about adding the stiffening plate, but I even happier with the Prius. Also, on top of Grandfather mountain they've had gusts just over 200, reported at 207 mph.......... pretty fast, huh.....

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ABQ Prius @ Apr 6 2007, 11:55 PM) [snapback]419208[/snapback]</div>

You may want to reconsider that Jetta TDI. After decades of driving VWs and loving them, I decided I had better things to do with my money than spend it on major repairs (new transmissions, engines, etc.). The 2002 Jetta TDI I was driving had the transmission go out. (After other expensive repairs a few months ago.) My brother's 2003 Jetta TDI spent a month in the shop and VW-America had to get involved to solve whatever problem it was ($3,000). Both of these cars are beautiful and great fun to drive, but they are not reliable. They are for people who like to work on cars and try to solve weird problems. (Such as, the sound system on the 2002 would go out; you had to fix it by unplugging a fuse, then plugging it back in. Guess it rebooted.)

Don't ditch that Prius yet!

 

I just spent two days driving arount Southern California, including the high desert, in windy conditions. It's hard to guess what other people might consider unstable; I did after all once own a VW van. My experience has been that the Prius is not a problem in the wind. If you feel that the car is unsafe in 35 to 54 mph cross winds, I think something must be out of adjustment. I would have the dealer check the alignment and toe in again, and set the tire inflation to the factory recommendation. While better tires help, I don't think aftermarket stiffeners should be necessary. I currently have the OE tires on the back and triple treads on the front.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(200Volts @ Apr 17 2007, 04:49 PM) [snapback]424962[/snapback]</div>

All of my experimentation with tire pressures over many years agrees with that. High tire pressures, even while still within mfgr. recommendations, make the car feel twitchy and eager to change direction. That's expected when you consider what the higher pressures do to sidewall stiffness and length of the contact patch. Lower pressures tend to damp things out and make the car feel more stable, and require more steering effort to change direction. I would not go to higher tire pressures if I was having problems controlling the car while it's getting blown around by crosswinds. I'd stick to something closer to the lower end of the mfgr recommended inflation range.