Quote:
komombo previously said:
Steven and Brock, thank you guys for this info, I will add it to the spreadsheet as soon as I get a chance in a day or two. This is great info from both of you.
Salutes.
Kal.
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Hi Kal.
Sorry, but I have a negative edit to report regarding the data in my results.
SHORT VERSION:
For those that do not want to read the entire, long version, I'm sorry, but please count my
originally stated config as a 'no-go'.
LONG VERSION:
Everything I said before is still true
IF it is only driven around town (usually, obviously slow conditions), and off-road (usually very slow - relatively speaking), and in highway conditions which are both below 65mph AND lacking curves with dips and bumps.
Everything seemed just fine until a trip we took Sandi on over the weekend. We went from the Boulder area to the Avon area and back again on Saturday.
No off-roading all weekend ...but all of a sudden, after the trip (actually noticed it when we stopped for gas half way through the day) there was some crazy rubber damage on both front tires.
This, along with the fact that I just had the tires rotated on Thursday is how I knew for sure it was somehow related to body mount contact.
How so?
Well, I'm no mechanical engineer, but my take is.... In the conditions I laid out above (i.e. around town, off-road, below 65mph AND lacking curves with dips and bumps), the tires rarely (if ever) touched even the plastic cover on the body mount.
However, when we were traveling on a 75pmh highway, going around mountain highway curves with dips and bumps, the forward momentum of the vehicle most likely caused the tires to bump (however slightly) the body mounts.
It might not seem like much if only thinking of it happening momentarily, but with the tire rotating x times per minute (75mph=?rpm), and with a very repair-needy roadway, there were plenty of opportunities for this to happen; and it's not like it just touches a single lug on each bump.....it's dragging the bump all the way around the circumferance of the tire.
[interjection = I took Sandi on a 700 mile trip to Kansas (straight, flat highways) before this in May, and had no such problem]
Interesting thing (and the detail which I have to point out to make sure that those looking at it understand it's not just off-roading damage or whatever) ...the damage is not on the surface of the tire's tread, but on the lower back edge of the outermost lugs photos coming to this post within the hour
UPDATE: oops, forgot. I will do this tonight [Friday, 13]).
Why?
Again, I'm no engineer, but it makes sense that the constant pressure from these conditions, though it did not scuff the top surface much, kept compressing the rubber over and over to the point that it started to fall apart at the point of flexing.
I do not feel comfortable discussing the
remedy (though there is one, and it includes going ahead with the body mount chop) quite yet, but I will eventually post some version of it here as well.
steven
