Question about tire pressure???

[gofishingtom]

we were discussing at work today what to inflate your tires to..just purchased a 07 impala and the tires are inflated to 30psi and says that on the door also..but on the tire its say up to 44 psi what would be the best inflation to get the best mileage and tire wear? also on my truck it says 50 psi and i inflate to 45psi on the car i went to 40 psi should i back off and go with what it say on the door of car or go with what i have always been told to inflate to about 4 or 5 psi below what is on tire... Thanks

[Shack]

Always follow the factory recommend tire pressure on the vin tag or chart in the door jam. That pressure amount is what has been tested by the factory for best handling, maximum tire wear and fuel economy for that particular vehicle. The tire manufacture can only put the max amount of PSI the tire will handle, before it becomes a safety issue. The tire manufacture will not recommend a proper operating PSI, because they do not know what kind of vehicle the tire is being put on.

Certainly for future tire warranty issues, you will want to make sure you are running the tires at factory recommended specs in the door jam.

Good luck!

[Outfitter17]

I alway run my tires at Max PSI. Weather it be 40 or 60. I think you need to put the max in the tire to get proper wear and your best mileage.

Why would they stamp 44psi, if they want you to run 30?

Go with the max, I have never had a problem in 12 years of doing this.

[jwhjr]

I typically go about a pound over what's on the door in my truck unless I'm hauling something. I'll add air to help keep the heat down because of the tire running lower because of the added weight.

[Jeremy airjer W]

Shack is correct! The manufacturer decides what the tire pressure is. The max rating is to handle the max load of the tire that is right next to the max pressure. It will say something like Maximum load 1800 lbs at 44 psi max. That means if you take your Aunt Bertha and Uncle Charley out for a Sunday cruise you will need to add more air to the tires to support the added weight, up to 44 pounds.

If you keep them at the max pressure without the extra load than there are a multitude of problems that can result from this. Tires will tend to wear out the center of the tread faster. You will decrease traction due to the smaller foot print of the tire, You will increase breaking distance because of the loss of traction (increasing is bad decreasing is much better).

Unless you have custom rims and different sized tires than the manufacturer recommended pressure on the door is the safest bet!!

[Dragonsm]

This is a good question...and I was just wondering this last night. Initially on my F-150 with stock rims setup, I tried to keep it close to "factory" psi that it recommended.

However, about a month ago, I ran across a deal (steal is more like it) on a set of aftermarket American Racing rims that looked brand new wrapped with a set of BFGoodrich All Terrain T/A KO's (about 70% of the tread is left). They are about an inch taller than my current set and the tires are calling for 65 psi cold.

I believe my prior setup was around 35 psi. At 40 psi, the BF's had quite a footprint. I did fill them up to around 50 psi to fill them out comparable to what my old set of tires/rims looked like. Anyone want to chime in on the rule of thumb on this? Granted, I won't go up to the 65 psi as I know with max you get less traction and I don't have a gauge that goes that high.

help!?!?!?

[Scott K]

I think you have it about right at 50 psi, watch the tire wear and adjust if it starts to wear.

[DinkADunk]

Go look up the pressure curve for the tires you now have. You'll want to set the pressure to correspond to the load you're carrying. Tire pressure is load dependent. For example, my 3/4 ton suggests 60psi front, 80psi rear, which is good for a maximal load, 65-70psi in the rear is better for what I normally have in the bed or tow.