Tires: tire pressure letting siz / font size, Tire Pressure

Question
Has there been any effort to change the size of tire pressure lettering on the side of tires?  The lettering / font size is so small, I can barely read it in the daytime, and not at all at night.  On the donut tire of my Volvo the letter size for the tire pressure is large enough to read.  If tire companies merely increased the size of the lettering for tire pressure, would gas mileage and  safety be substantially increased?  What are your thoughts?

Answer
James,

During the recent Ford / Firestone situation, what was printed on the sidewall, and how large the letters are came up.  The problem was that some tires have such small sidewalls, and the amount of stuff that was needed to be imprinted was so large, the government couldn't mandate a change in lettering size.

Part of the argument was that the maximum pressure was an unneeded value, since the vehicle placard has both the tire size and the proper pressure for that size.  Having the pressure on the sidewall created confusion as some folks think that is recommendation from the tire manufacturer - it is not.

It was also argued that the load carrying capacity was also unneeded as the placard pressure was adequate for the load carrying capacity of the tire and anyone who consulted the sidewall for the load carrying capacity was probably unsophisticated and would probably do it wrong, since those values are available in chart form by the tire standards organizations (which is where the sophisticated user would get them).

However, the regulators decided that this information, while having limited value, had some value, and voted to keep the regulation.

My take?  I hope you've gotten the idea that I don't see much value in the pressure on the sidewall.  All I see is more confusion.

For example, you've suggested that increasing the size of the letters might result in safety and fuel economy improvements.  The problem here is that what is printed in the sidewall isn't consistent throughout the tire industry.  Each tire manufacturer has to interpret the regulation and there is a disagreement as to what is supposed to be there.

But there is universal endorsement by the tire manufacturers that the vehicle placard is the proper pressure.  I know the vehicle manufacturers spend a lot of time testing at that pressure, and they know what their vehicles will do at that pressure.

Using pressure above the placard is a pretty much unexplored territory - and while I personally like a car that handles more crisply and am willing to put up with the ride degradation you get with increased pressure, I recognize there is a risk, so I only use 3 to 5 psi above the placard and that's what I recommend for folks who ask.

Under no circumstances do I use the sidewall pressure as a preference value - except for what it says:  Maximum! (and even then there are some exceptions.)

See what I mean - confusion.  (BTW, I used to be one of those guys who decided what was printed on the sidewall, so I KNOW with absolute certainty where the values come from.)  If you would like to know, read this:

http://www.geocities.com/barrystiretech/loadtables.html

About halfway through I show where these numbers come from.