lowering my tyre pressures???

LOL, almost certainly.

But that's prickly the issue. 50 is still very low, obviously dictated by fashion trends. The problem is compounded if the car was designed for higher profiles as standard but optionally fitted with low profiles.

Why bother with tyres, just drive on the rims :-)

Yes, I always wondered about that. F1 cars have quite deep tyres.

The message from Johannes H Andersen contains these words:

And it's not as if they have to deal with potholes, either.

F1 cars have (silly, IMO) rules about rim size, and overall size. It probably makes sense to have a taller profile tyre to reduce heat buildup and wear, than a smaller one that can be a bit stiffer.

Or something like that.

There isn't much suspension movement on F1; the height has to be carefully set for optimum aerodynamic down force. Also, as the wheels are exposed, the tyres often serve as some kind of air bags when the cars collide.

Why do speed cameras limit your driving to 30 or 40mph?

My Vauxhall Senator 3.0 litre had a switch on the dash for changing the suspension settings - think it was something like S/M/C, although cant remember exactly. It was handy, the softest setting was nice on the motorway but trying to drive along twisty country roads was scary! lol. Not sure if this is a similar system offered on Volvo now.

i have 55's on the rear and err i think 45 on the front, can't rememver, but you can see the difference

i thought it was speed limits that limit driving speed :)

He is testing the government's new GPS location device, directly connected to the ECU.

Is this the Smart car? I haven't tried it, but ride is said to be quite hard to help stability.

Having a hard ride wouldn't do much for stability... but I know what you mean!

It's more associated with skinny tyres up front and fatter tyres at the back, to encourage understeer.

After hitting one, the next one is so close, that's the best one can accelerate to.

That isn't as far fetched as it first appears: The company I work for is having its entire Mercedes Sprinter fleet restricted to 60mph after they looked at the GPS satnav/tracking data over the last few months and discovered somone had cracked 100mph. They also found that drivers regularly exceed the 50 and 60mph max speeds on single carrigeway and dual carrigeways.

Sounds like a kneejerk reaction to me.

What old to what new?

Underinflated tyres will overheat leading to rapid wear and possible blow-outs.

Using the lowest recommended pressure should be fine but do try the high speed/load pressures too as they may, surprisingly, prove more comfortable.

My E39 Alpina B10 rides as smoothly as my old E38 740 despite running on wider 40/35 profile rather than 55 profile tyres and stiffer springing.

How? Low unsprung weight thanks to light wheels and aluminium control arms, allowing suspension to be compliant, yet stiff.

E39s with high profile tyres must be very smooth.

I like the ride handling balance I've got :)

Mine too, 40% on the front...

The secret is to have plenty tread so that 35% of it gives you enough sidewall. :)

It is turbocharged, RWD and mid engined (or is the Smart rear engined?), but it's not a smart...