Appendix C:  How Fast Do My Tires Heat Up?

 

 

As you begin drive to drive after the vehicle has been sitting for a while (e.g. overnight), your tire temperatures and pressures increase surprisingly quickly.  The following graphs show change of tire pressures and temperatures vs time.  The measures were done on a trip I took starting at about 5:00am on a cool September morning (approximately 40°F), in 2022, about an hour before sunrise, so the sun had no impact on the first 2 graphs.  This heating (with commensurate rise in pressures) was done purely by the flexing of the tires as they were rolling.  The higher the speed, the more heat per minute was being added to the rubber.  Eventually, the heat being added begins to equal out with the heat being removed by surrounding cooler air and road surface, and as this happens, the temperatures and pressures level out.  As you can see, most of the rise in temperatures and pressures for these motorcycle tires occurred by 20 minutes into the ride.

 

This data was recorded on a 2002 GL1800, with Dunlop E4s, with about a 290-lb load (rider + luggage for a week trip), starting at 41.4 and 42.0 PSI for front and rear tires respectively.  Here are the speeds that were being traveled.

 

 

 

And here are the pressure and temperature graphs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After 3 hours, and spending the previous 70 minutes at 85 mph, it was about 8am.  The sun was out with clear skies, warming both the air and the road surface.  At that point the tire pressures were up to 48.0 and 50.7 PSI for front and rear respectively.  This is where I stopped at a gas station while continuing to record to capture the cool-off behavior.