What's your preferred tire pressure?

[SugarMouth]

Most cars that I've owned or looked at have a recommended tire pressure of 30-32 psi on the door frame. Just about every time I've gotten new tires, the tire shop fills them up to 35-40 psi, sometimes higher. What's your preferred tire pressure compared to the vehicle's recommendation? Do you factor in vehicle weight distribution when setting the front vs rear?

Personally, if they recommend 30 psi, I'll generally set them to about 32 psi cold (first thing in the morning when they're coldest). I try to check and adjust at least once a month.

Depends on the vehicle.

For most passenger cars and if I had to pick only one pressure it would be 35psi cold.
For an E rated tire, unloaded, 1/2 ton truck I like 43R-45F cold. Loaded I'd add 5-7 psi.

This conversation could get complicated depending on tire, vehicle weight distribution, load and intended use.

 

[Gasbuggy]

Being a longtime ecomodder, I run all my tires at or near the MAX PSI unless they have TPMS then I run at the limit of the warning (usually that is 42 psi). Better fuel economy, better wet performance, and little difference in ride quality. In some cases it improves it overall.

 

[Heywood_6078]

48 psi in my LT 255/75r/17's on my Pickup Truck.
36 psi on my wife's new Toyota Rav 4 XLE AWD.

 

[Zaedock]

<--- 3 PSI

 

[dumkid]

that's too much, it makes my back hurt when I hit potholes

 

[AJW001]

So after 4 months of trying 5 different brands of tires we finally found one that works on the van. The issue was, no matter what PSI the tires are inflated to, they kept wanting to over flex with their weak sidewalls. The only tires that did not over flex, but failed on wet roads was the Nokian One tires. We're willing to give Nokian another chance and it paid off. We tried a set of their WRG4's and what a difference the handling was far beyond anything we've ever hand on any of our vehicle.. these tires want to grip the road no matter the conditions. So for the record, the Nokian 245/40/R19 WRG4's at 44 F / 46 R work perfectly on our 19x8.5 AXE CS Lite wheels.

Great choice. The WRG4s are neck-neck in terms of popularity with the Michelin CC2 here in Metro Vancouver.

 

[SaberOne]

The door jam sticker says 36 but I’m currently running 42. Then again, I’m running slightly oversized tires, but I’m not seeing any uneven wear after ~15K.

 

[Rand]

I generally start about 3psi over the door placard and adjust from there.

A little extra also keeps them in range for those mornings its 30f colder.

35psi on a 75f day can be 37 or 31 the next day here... both of which are acceptable imo. even the 31psi will shortly become 33 after a few miles.

 

[nomas]

Whatever the door sticker says .

 

[Propflux01]

33 is my ideal for average passenger car tire.

 

[goingplacesanddoingstuff]

Street? 42, but I run E-rated ATs. Dirt, 10-25.

 

[Marcozi]

36psi front, 37 psi rear. Car gets a bit tail happy but it handles superbly.

 

[dumkid]

Between 30 and 40 psi. All of my tires leak slightly so I just air them all up to 40 when one gets down to 30

 

[NO2]

On our Outbacks 38 front, 36 rear. That evens out treadwear on a relatively heavy car.

 

[Luftmasse]

Currently +2 over Placard.

 

[Soft Cars]

40 PSI

 

[mr_boring]

Fawty, fawty one if it's over 90. placard says 35. I run my tires full in my F150. Weather is cooling down, my console said I was at 36 this morning. About time to air up. Friendly reminder that tire pressure will be 5-10 PSI off between 65-90 degrees ambient temp

Regular car, maybe 2-3 over placard.

Grippy car, about 30. Never know when I might want to play vroom vroom, though I no longer own a vroom vroom.