Tire dealers over inflating tires

[Hohn]

Please don't anyone be mad when I say this: they probably don't pay enough for the person doing the work to care. I have worked with so many people who take no pride in their work and just point to a seemingly low pay for them to just do the absolute bare minimum or less to get by.

Not only this, but they aren't hiring the best of the best who are even smart enough to know the difference between the sidewall pressure and the tire placard pressure.

You rarely get what you don't pay for. And but you almost certainly never get what you do NOT pay for.

 

[John105]

I’ve worked for minimum wage before. Didn’t mean I just didn’t care about anything. In CA I assume min wage is a decent amount. And tire pressure can’t match the door label? Maybe they should give amazing and valuable prizes to the techs who can get the most correct inflations in a week

 

[bdcardinal]

Curious how tires are “shipped already inflated”?

When the new cars are delivered to dealers it is very common for the tires to be at max sidewall pressure. This prevents flatspotting when they are being shipped in a container.

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

The tire shops I have gone to have always inflated them right by the sticker on the door jam.

 

[Patman]

I have never really experienced having a tire shop way overinflating new tires for me. I will always check the pressure immediately after getting them installed and I find it’s usually somewhere around 35 PSI, plus or minus a few. On my recent purchase of back tires for my Corvette they set them at exactly 30 PSI for me, which is the recommended pressure.

 

[altaylar]

They probably have an automated inflator that was set to 50 for a previous job and they weren't attentive enough to reset it or bleed down.

I mount my own tires and send mine to 45-50 to seat beads, but bleed them down before hitting the street. I'd never do it for a customer car though.

In winter when I worked at a tire shop I put in an extra four pounds to account for the room temperature shop air "shrinking" at outside temps.

I think you are in that top 1%. I wish we all were your customers.

My OEM rec is 35 psi. I asked them to put 33 to account for change in sidewall hardness and width. Left with a cocktail of 36s and 38s

 

[Zee09]

I just don't like dealers messing with my car...32 psi means 45 psi and 35 psi means 50...

Every time... I do what @f355spider does....quick and easy to adjust the next moring. Dials right in, takes 5 minutes

 

[Mackelroy]

Can anyone shed light on why tire dealers inflate tires to their max pressure? Had 4 new tires tires mounted today and my SUV was wandering all over the road. I knew there was too much air in them. My inflation monitor showed 50# in each before they got warm. The side of the tire states max inflation 50#. Mercedes says to run 32 front and rear for normal loads. I run 35 all around and have all my tires wear evenly and the ride and handling is nice.
Even Costco inflates your tires to 50# when they rotate them. I've argued with them.

I had to let out 15# out of each tire after they cooled down when I got home.

Im the opposite, id be more pissed if they put at 32psi.

which means I have to fill em up

 

[robbobster]

My wife’s cousin asked me to look at her car, said it was riding extremely rough. I drove it about 100 yards and sure enough, it was bad.

Couldn’t see anything amiss, so I put a gauge in a tire…80 psi on a P-metric car tire.

I asked her why the heck was there so much air in her tires?

“Oh, every time I get gas, I top-up my tires.”



She didn’t own a tire gauge.
These people walk among us.

 

[grabgears6]

Please don't anyone be mad when I say this: they probably don't pay enough for the person doing the work to care. I have worked with so many people who take no pride in their work and just point to a seemingly low pay for them to just do the absolute bare minimum or less to get by.

HAH! when I asked if the tech cleans the hub and wheel mating surfaces while doing a tire rotation, The GM said no! then said, well maybe the older techs do it bc they were instinctively taught that. I said, well then ad that to the list for the newbie Z Tech. If the Z tech who did the wifes car OCI last worked for me, Id pull a "The Apprentice" slogan, YOU`RE FIRED!

so as Im` instructing the service writer, Do not touch the air pressure, do not touch the cabin filter, and don`t even look in the engine AF box... Charleton Heston > Get your stinking paws off me you dam dirty APE... lol Dont touch this!

 

[altaylar]

My wife’s cousin asked me to look at her car, said it was riding extremely rough. I drove it about 100 yards and sure enough, it was bad.

Couldn’t see anything amiss, so I put a gauge in a tire…80 psi on a P-metric car tire.

I asked her why the heck was there so much air in her tires?

“Oh, every time I get gas, I top-up my tires.”



She didn’t own a tire gauge.
These people walk among us.

I sure hope you are joking,
But i am afraid I believe you

 

[robbobster]

I sure hope you are joking,
But i am afraid I believe you

True story…my wife’s fam is terrible with cars. The stories I could tell

 

[Dave Hess]

OK, back to the topic at hand.

In order to get the correct inflation pressure, the tire buster has to either look at the doorframe, which takes time and requires a bit of ambition to do the job right - OR - it's got to be on the paperwork. They don't pay tire busters very much. It's a dirty job, and they don't get anything extra for doing the job completely correct - hence they take shortcuts: Put in enough pressure to fully seat the beads and be done with it.

I tip tire tech $20 for mounting and balancing 4 new tires before they move car into service bay.

They do a very good job and tire pressures accurate.