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Tire pressure....how much is too much air??
Locust Fork
Member Posts: 32,057 ✭✭✭✭
Ok, we have reached the dreaded tire warning weather. My tires typically read 34…but the dash is showing alerts and warning me with 29 in the morning and evenings. How much is too much air? I don't want to see the silly warnings just because its cold….but I don't want to overfill my tires because its fine once the sun comes out for a while.
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Comments
Depends on the tire. Mostly 35psi. If you have LT tires that are rated for it, some up to 60psi.
Personally for a general tire in general conditions, 35psi is my go to
Your owners manual should give you max and min pressure. Check pressure after a long drive to see where the hot pressure is, and add air in winter such that you stay above the min when cold and below the max when hot.
Brad Steele
If you REALLY hate the warnings, remove the air and charge with nitrogen. Nitrogen has less fluctuations with temp change, just not as readily available as an air pump.
There should be a sticker on the door or door frame.. Tire pressures should be there..
JIM………..
Go according to vehicle door jam sticker recommendation, never what is listed as max pressure on tire sidewall.
Check and adjust "cold" as in not driven since yesterday.
You can drive one mile on a warm day and the tire pressure can go up 3 psi.
I use the door frame tag as a guide and go one or two pounds over just for the hope of better gas mileage. Never more than that. It's also good to have a reliable gauge. I had the tire warning light come on in my truck last night. And it did get cold the night before. 33 degrees. I'm still going to check the lowest tire for leaks. I normally run 34# and one of the fronts was 27.5.
For years the standard tire pressure was 32 psi. Over the last 25 years in an effort to improve gas mileage, not only have manufactured been forced to design more efficient engines and transmissions but also to look at tires and rim size as well. The more air in the tire the rounder the tread, making for less resistance between tread and road surface. Seems the standard anymore is 35 psi still allowing the tread to remain flat on the surface and give you a more sure grip on the road surface. If you go over the recommended tire pressure the tire will start to become more rounded tread to surface and you won’t have as good as grip on the road, how ever there is less resistance and mileage possibly could improve.
Ya'll would have a meltdown if you saw my PSI. 70-75 in the rear tires and 60-65 in the front tires. 💥
Depends on year of car and new type of tires. Many are rated at 50 psi and my mechanic puts that much in them when he replaces them, although the door panel on a 2007 rates at 35 psi.
Yup…use the door frame numbers. As a rule of thumb, tire pressure will drop 2 psi for every 10 degrees F of air temp drop.
It has dropped here from daily highs of 80s to 70s. Yesterday, my tires were at 34 instead of 36. Last night the temp dropped 30 degrees, so chances are, my dash warning will come on if I drive today. My local Discount Tire shop does check and fill for free, for anyone. There'll be a long line there today, I predict.
My 2008 4runner calls for 32lbs..........but, due to weight distribution and wanting even tread wear, I run 35# front and 32# rear. This has worked well for 3 sets of tires.
BTW........because the spare is somewhat difficult to get to.......I put 45# in it when at the tire shop(keeps the TPMS dash light OFF!!😉).
That low pressure in the spare used to drive me nuts in my previous Highlander. Pain in the chestnuts to get to. My new one has one of those "skinny mini" emergency spares - with no sensor.
I agree with Walter for years 32 psi was the norm for passenger car tires, but that was quite awhile ago… Now a days there is no standard or the norm and door plates stickers are only applied to the original equipment installed on the vehicle, with so many choices on types and sizes of wheels and tires you have to know what you got and what the specs are for the combination your are using… With that said, I have no sensors on anything I drive so I just go by looks and feel along with an old fashion pen style gauge and what is written on the tires, give or take….
35 PSI cold tire on lite truck or car.
35 PSI in my F-150 per tire company recommendations. Same for my Bride's Escape…
Both read a lower pressure when a cold spell hits. When cold, I only get worked up when they drop below 32 PSI. Then a quick trip to the our shop. For whatever reason, some aluminum wheels seem to react more to weather changes. At least that is my experience..
Tire pressure sensors go off on wife's car around -25 degrees. She runs it by the dealer and top off the pressure. They tell her they were 2psi low.
Min/max pressures are part of the nomenclature on each tire produced worldwide. These are safety requirements that all manufacturers must abide by, and it's a global standard.
Stay within those specifications regardless of the sticky notes in the door jamb, as the vehicle may have upgraded or aftermarket tires/wheels (this happens very often).
Very good point.
Wife just encountered a pressure warning situation on her Honda CRV, tire pressures seemed ok. She went through a reset procedure in the owners manual which seems to have resolved the problem.
In colder temperature, a bit more pressure is needed to properly inflate the tire which is more stiff in the colder temp. Here we run about 35PSI in warm weather, 40PSI in the winter.
I never understood this fad, seeing as air is already 78% nitrogen. Could that extra bit really make that much difference?
I agree Gregor. The data on the door is general data. The data on the tire is for that specific tire. Go with the data on the tire.
Yes, it makes a big difference when you are concerned about temperature causing PSI fluctuations.
Personally, i use normal air. BUT nitrogen does a better job of maintaining PSI throughout temperature swings.
I still scratch my head when I see compressed air costs money most places these days.
I've even had to fork out my wallet a few times when out on the road away from home.
Again, I will say that there is no place like HOME!
When you're driving the Big Rig you have 18 tires to worry about. You run 95 psi in a truck tire.
My little company, to save money used retreads. Sixteen retreads, only the two front tires were new tires. And those retreads leaked air frequently, and sometimes blew. Drive down the interstate and you'll see a blown truck retread on the shoulder, one or two every mile. I wasted many hours, sitting on an exit ramp, waiting for a road crew to show up to fix a flat tire.
Of course I checked my pressure every morning, I used a tire thumper. I used a ball peen hammer and struck the tire with the ball side of the hammer head. I got really good at thumping, I could tell whether I had 95 pounds, or 85 pounds in a tire.
The top trucking companies like UPS do not run any retreads, they only use new tires. They don't want their drivers waiting on exit ramps.