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Weighing a Car with Tire Pressures

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Re: Weighing a Car with Tire Pressures

#3
I wonder if you could do even better by putting paint or ink on the outside of the tire, driving over a piece of paper, and seeing what fraction of the paper touched your tire (and thus what fraction of the rectangle boundary actually touches the ground).

Re: Weighing a Car with Tire Pressures

#9
How much does tire sidewall stiffness contribute to the force holding the car up? I know that can vary a lot. Some cars have run-flats that won't sag when they lose pressure (or won't sag as much, anyway). Low profile tires probably transfer more of the load through the sidewall than doughnut tires.

And of course the contribution from the sidewalls (as a percent) will change as tire pressure increases.

Re: Weighing a Car with Tire Pressures

#10

I wonder if you could do even better by putting paint or ink on the outside of the tire, driving over a piece of paper, and seeing what fraction of the paper touched your tire (and thus what fraction of the rectangle boundary actually touches the ground).

You'd basically just be measuring the maximum width of the contact patch, not its area. The best solution would be to lift up each tire, put a piece of paper under it, let the car down, then remove it, measuring the darkened area.
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