First I would like to startoff with my confusion about newer tires having a "max psi" rating of only 35psi. I've noticed recently an infusion of tires into the market that have a "max PSI" rating of 35psi and I'm wondering if the tire manufacturer's have changed anything about these tires or if they're "cracking down" on hypermilers who utilize the higher sidewall ratings of the tires. Secondly I'd like to discuss a problem that a friend has with his 2003 dodge grand caravan.
He clearly got new rims for this vehicle with them being 16" and shorter tire than oem. When he was parked today, I saw that the sidewalls of the tires were flexed a lot, it was almost as if the tire was inflated to 10psi. I first inspected the tire to see what its sidewall rating was and it said only 35psi. So I checked the PSI of the tire and was astonished to see it was at 35psi. The tire was really really flexing, if the actual tire was 3 inches tall from the rim to the end of the tire, this tire had the effective height of only 1.5" because the sidewall was flexed (bulging) so much. I noted down the load rating and a few other ratings in my head then went home.
My guess was that these tires are really meant for a car but then I went on tirerack.com and it found it managed to pull up tires with the same load index rating and that's when I decided to post here.
The tire seriously looked like the second tire in that image.
What is with the paultry 35psi rating? What were the original load rating for the tires that came with this vehicle? I'm hoping someone could clarify what is going on with this vehicle.
imzjustplayin 
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