Let's talk tire pressure

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Hello everyone. Hope your all doing great. I wanted to start a thread about tire pressure so here goes. Do you all run your tires at the recommended pressure on the door placard or do you run them a pound or two higher? Do you get better performance from your tires with stock tire pressure or higher tire pressure? Does your vehicle handle better with stock tire pressure or higher tire pressure? Do your tires wear better with stock tire pressure or higher tire pressure?
 
On some cars the manufacturers are setting tire pressures high in order to reduce rolling resistance which gets them the lowest emissions ratings. My car only just scrapes into an emission band. 10mm wider tires and it's in the next band. Ordinary tires instead of low rolling resistance tires and it's in the next band. So they were desperate but I'm not so I drop them back 5% to get some of the ride comfort back and to stop the rears in particular from wearing in the centre of the tread. According to the research I've done that's costing me 0.4% loss in fuel economy. I'm more than happy with the trade off.
 
I run a bit higher myself. I find some cars and tire combos need higher PSI for good handling.

I would never recommend anyone to go higher than 40psi and won't enter that debate.

But a bit higher, if you notice a benefit, I say go for it. But stop as soon as that benefit is met.

Also, in the Winter, if you are running 34psi, on a really cold day you are running around on pretty soft (IMO) tires as the temps will make the PSI drop a bit more to around 32 (just a guess but I'm mentioning it just for the sake of it).
 
I have had very few vehicles with the stock wheel/tire size, but for the ones I did, I ran the recommended PSI save for Continental DWS gen 1 where I ran them 5PSI high to help with the squishy sidewall.

For all my aftermarket wheels I just run whatever feels right within the realm of reality. For example, on the front on my MR2 I have a 205/45r16 on a 7.5" wheel (TINY but of stretch, but not much) I run 40 psi and it feels good. I have 225/50r16s on the back on the same 7.5" wheel where I run 38psi. I like the setup.

Embarrassingly enough, I did partake in the "slammed Volkswagens with lots of tire stretch" fad back in like 2011 where I ran some decent stretch front and back and ran the tires at 50PSI to compensate.
 
I've played around with higher,lower,and recommended pressure,and the recommended pressure is definitely the best. Mine calls for 33 in the front and 36 in the back.
 
Most of my driving in my daily driver is highway driving (about 95%), and so to reduce rolling resistance I tend to inflate mine over a bit. Door placard says 32PSI, which I think is low.. and I inflate my tires to 35-36 PSI, depending on the time of year and weather. Rides a bit harder when I'm off the highway, but on the highway, it's fine.
 
My dd is specced for 34psi but once the temps drop, so does the tire pressures
As a result, fuel consumption goes WAY up!

I've started running 37 in the winter any boy does the car come alive!
Fuel consumption goes WAAAYY down too, almost to summer levels.
 
I run all my cars 1-2 PSI high so I have a buffer when the temps fluctuate. The Accord tends to ride a bit splashy at the spec'd 30 PSI.
 
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I run 35F-35R despite the door label saying 30F-35R in my Silverado. Have been running those pressures since the tires were new and with regular rotations the tires have been wearing evenly.
 
Originally Posted By: The_German
I run a bit higher myself. I find some cars and tire combos need higher PSI for good handling.

I would never recommend anyone to go higher than 40psi and won't enter that debate.

But a bit higher, if you notice a benefit, I say go for it. But stop as soon as that benefit is met.

Also, in the Winter, if you are running 34psi, on a really cold day you are running around on pretty soft (IMO) tires as the temps will make the PSI drop a bit more to around 32 (just a guess but I'm mentioning it just for the sake of it).


Roger Goddell disagrees with you
laugh.gif
 
I set mine to the door sticker numbers. If it's a sunny day then they'll actually run a few psi higher because of the road heat.

The main thing for me is even wear. I hate to ruin a tires expected life because the center tread wore out before the rest.
 
I usually run 2-3 lbs. over recommended, except when the number is already high. For example, my Saabs recommend 42 lbs. on the front. I stick with that.
 
My 265/70R-17's say max 44 psi on the sidewall, that's where I run them. I don't care what the door tag says.
 
I run a larger tire at the stock pressure which gives me a smoother ride.

Oem is 205/70/15 I run 215/70/15, which is slightly wider and taller as well as having a higher load index at the same pressure. I could actually run them less than the door pressure and have the same load index but the rolling resistance is worse.
 
My Camry calls for 29 unloaded or 32 loaded down. I run it at 36 psi. I hate driving around on the sidewalls.

Sonata calls for 34 and I put in 35 to see how it does. I just bought it so I'm still in a trial phase.
 
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