Does tire pressure change with brand?

[emory]

I'm temporarily driving a 1999 Ford Explorer 4x4 while my other vehicle gets a new engine. I checked the tire pressure (Goodyear Wranglers) and they were at 40-42 cold. I checked the door sticker, it says run at 26psi cold (never seen that low). The max listed on the sidewall is 44. The vehicles has 105,000 miles and I don't know if these are the same 'brand' tires as OEM.

My question is, should you run the door sticker pressure regardless of brand? I dropped them down to 30, ride definitely smoothed out. I need the best traction and stopping abilities these tires have to offer. Any suggestions? thx

 

[williar]

The door sticker pressure applies to OEM tires, or tires that are the same size/type as the OEM tires that originally came with the vehicle.

I find the door sticker pressure listing to usually be the minimum pressure one would want to use. It seems car companies favor comfort rather than tire wear or performance.

 

[emory]

The size on the door sticker is 235/75R15, which are the same size that's currently on it. At times, my driving consist of trying to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible. Besides taking it to a test pad and measuring for results, what would be the ideal pressure to maximize braking and traction?

 

[XS650]

Emory, someplace in the low-mid 30s should do no harm and give close to optimum handling.

If you have your rim width Capriracer might be able to give you a closer number.

If it were my Explorer I would try 32 and 35 and see which felt the best.

 

[GMGuy]

26psi!? No way no how I'd run that low on the road.
To add some more opinion to your question, yes, different tires sometimes warrant running different pressures. Depends on what you want/expect.
The Kuhmo tires that where on my car when I bought it I ran at 42psi. The Michelens I replaced them with, I run at 38psi. The winter tires I run 36psi.
Similar deal for my truck. The BFG's typically ran at 38/36. The firestones I have at 44.

Alex.

 

[alreadygone]

Quote:

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Emory, someplace in the low-mid 30s should do no harm and give close to optimum handling.

If you have your rim width Capriracer might be able to give you a closer number.

If it were my Explorer I would try 32 and 35 and see which felt the best.

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My opinion exactly! To be anymore precise, you'll have to do individual testing on the vehicle in question. If you're gonna be in it long enough to not just go with XS650's recomendation.

bob

 

[huffmuds9320]

Yes as long as you have the same equivalent tires as stock then it would be the same pressure. Even if you run 26psi, don't auto manufacturers take into account the heat from engine and friction? But I do agree that 26psi is sort of low.

By the way VW Jetta list 26psi for half load (got 2 sets of pressures). Usually I would go 2-3 psi over the placard.

 

[bdcardinal]

Quote:

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I checked the door sticker, it says run at 26psi cold (never seen that low).

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remember when the explorers were exploding, that 26psi was part of the problem. at the dealer we usually put them at 35psi regardless of tire brand.

 

[Dominic]

Try to keep them around 35. bdcardinal is 100% right. 40 wont hurt if you're towing but it's unnecessarily high in a 235 truck tire.

 

[mrsilv04]

Quote:

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remember when the explorers were exploding, that 26psi was part of the problem. at the dealer we usually put them at 35psi regardless of tire brand.

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True, it was part of the problem... but not as much of a problem as the tires that Firestone was making for Ford.

At this time in history, two tires met OE spec's for the Explorer... the Firestone Wilderness and the Goodyear Wrangler RT/S.

The Firestone was installed on a significantly higher number of Explorers than the Goodyear (likely because the Firestone was a few bucks cheaper per vehicle). The Firestone also failed at a significantly *higher* total percentage than the Goodyear, even though both tires were built to meet the *same* Ford spec, and *both* were recommended to be inflated at 26psi.

The Goodyear tire was determined to be a much more "robust" tire, and therefore failed at a dramatically lower rate.

It was determined that one in every 400 Firestone tires manufactured for the Explorer failed within 5 years. That's one failure for every 100 vehicles (not including the spare).

Which tire can you still buy today? (Goodyear Wrangler RT/S).
Which tire was recalled and yanked off of the market years ago, and replaced with the "Destination"? (Firestone Wilderness).

Hmmmm.....