Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon, or it all in my head? When I look at my own car in a parking space, the driver’s side tires apear to bulge outward slightly more than the passenger side tires do, even when I rotate the tires, or buy new ones. This seems to be the case of other cars in a parking lot too, and it’s quite obvious when driving and follow other cars, though that could be because the driver’s side is usually a higher elevation than the passenger’s side.
The only thing that occurs to me is that a car, when driven, always has a driver, duh, whose weight isn’t neglible. Still, can an avaerage 150 pound driver’s weight make that much difference to a 3000 pound machine?
I’ve been trying to find sources to look this information up, but I’m comming up relatively dry.
This site suggests that drivers check on their passenger’s side tire pressure less than the driver’s side, but I keep making sure all my tires have the recomended pressure, and it doesn’t make the perceived difference go away.
Cars themselves are not completed balanced. In most cases, even without the driver, the driver side front corner of the car will be heavier than the other three corners of the car. And because I’m sure someone will come in and point out various cars for which this is not the case, notice that I said “in most cases.”
Why is this? Because the driver’s side front often carries some very heavy parts. Things like a lot of parts of the steering and the battery. Often (in transverse-engine front-wheel drive cars) the engine and transmission may also be biased that way.
That sounds pretty good, but wouldn’t that have an adverse effect on braking performance? I mean, wouldn’t that cuase a car that is suddenly decelerating to drift in the direction of the passenger side?
Good question. Although, with the horrible crappy no-good tires car companies put on their cars, I’m not sure anyone would really notice. Plus, it’s not a HUGE difference, just enough to make tire sidewalls bulge out a little more on the driver’s side.
I usually sit on the driver’s side when I’m in the back. I notice the bulge when I sit on the other side too. Dunno if it’s lower because I/the driver usually sits on that side, or because the driver’s side is just lower.