9D1BURD

I recently put 245/50/16's on my bird. Got a steal of a deal on the wheels(polished alum. formula wheels) Anyways, they are mounted and balanced and all that good stuff. But now when i drive my car it almost bounces down the road. The air pressure it correct according to the tires(44 pounds) which seems like a lot to me.

Now, the only idea i have may seem crazy, but i am desperate. Could it be that my v6 car is so much lighter than the v8 car that the air pressure should be lowered a little? I have been driving the same road for 2 years, now i bounce all over. Could it be the tires.?

Mikes86SC

Every car I've owned I inflate the tires 30-33 psi. The tire show the max amount it can handle, but on your door sticker it should tell you a recommended tire pressure. Go with that.

9D1BURD

My door sticker would reflect that of a V6 car, i need to know what pressure a formula needs. i just realized i should probably ask somewhere else then. Maybe somewhere where people actually have v8 cars.

TomP

Holy sht, 44 pounds??!? No way, dude! I've never heard of pressure that high- sounds like you've got max inflation, not recommended inflation. I inflate my fronts to 32, rears to 33. (I doubt that 1 PSI does anything, but I like doing it, haha!) But I wouldn't trust 44 pounds, that's probably why you're all over the road. What did you inflate your old tires to... you should use that pressure.

Dale

iTrader: (12)

Hey tom, but not to burst your bubble, but my nittos on my dodge 255/50/vr17 require 44 psi and same with the ones on my s10 215/40/vr16 and if you dont have them 38 n above, the tire shows it also. Provided he got some high performace tires, it will need that. I suggest lowering them to the mid 30's and see if that helps.

I Cant Drive 55

The POS Goodyears I had on my 16 inch aluminum Lumina wheels required 44psi
I chanced over to Kelly tires and they required 35psi
car did ride better with Kelly tires.

9D1BURD

"The POS Goodyears I had on my 16 inch aluminum Lumina wheels required 44psi
I chanced over to Kelly tires and they required 35psi
car did ride better with Kelly tires."


They are goodyears on there, forget the model though. So do you guys suggest lowering them to about 35?

TomP

Wow, wild... maybe it's different for my 15" wheels as opposed to 16" and 17"? 'Cause this sheet here http://www.drivegreen.com/PressureValue/DodgeTrucks.htm says pressure should be 36-41.. but I imagine that's for a stock sized tire. And that eems to go along with the last "letter" on this page: http://www.startribune.com/stories/435/686510.html

Keep me posted, 9D1; and thanks for the correction, guys!

stuart69427

I (the dumbass) used to keep 44psi on my 15s, until i figured out that was STUPID and lowered it to 34psi. Car rides much better, handling is far better, and its faster

Camar_Hunter_c

You sound like alot of people I know... They think its fine to keep the tires MAX PSI in it, but then wonder why the center of the tire is gone in 2 months... OVER INFLATEION!. The required PSI is on the DOOR PANEL NOT THE TIRE! I have a RS that has 16's on it. Tomarrow I will go out and check the PSI on it. I would bet its around 30-32.
My g0d going by that theory alot of trucks(Pick-ups) need 80 PSI! just cause the tire has a MAX PSI rating!.

Camar_Hunter_c

A Lumina "Requires" 32 PSI rear, 34 PSI front. REQUARDLESS OF TIRES! If they are 16's I would lower to 30-32. Hell most 17's only "require" 28-30!

85f-bird

yep...front p.o.s. tires on my car are 44psi but that's a max setting, in other words, run 44psi, hit a big pot hole, watch ur tire explode all around you. I'd say lower that to 34 psi or so, should have any probs then. Good luck.

9D1BURD

I knew that the psi rating was on the door, but my car is the base model bird. So i checked the tire and filled them up.

Once i started bouncing like my avatarover there, i assumed i had way to air in there. Thanks for all the help. Iwill go with 32 psi.

I Cant Drive 55

You guys know what .
You cant always go by the rating on the door. Different tire manufacturers have different tire structures and ratings. I have always run my tires within 2or 3 lbs. of the max tire ratings and have never had the centers wear out.

RICHRAD

I agree, run a tire a few within the max. A worn center area while running right at the max psi means too small a rim width.

Deviate4420

D@mn,Maybe it's because i have non factory 16" rims and the tires are a different size but i keep them at around 25-30lbs and they do exactly what the tire brand says they do "Road Hugger".....Andy

9D1BURD

Okay one more quick question, will lowering the psi hurt anything? Just wanna be 100% sure. I would hate to hurt my baby.

MDv6man

as long as its within 30 to 35 psi's you'll be okay. Do you have an owners manual in the car? It should give the recommended tire pressure for all of the tire sizes in the specifications. Chances are the psi setting is the same no matter what size tire you have and the owners manual will verify this

Camar_Hunter_c

thats if you have a 10 inch wide tire on a 5 inch rim. Over inflation is the biggest ccause of the centers wearing out. Trust me I did this shizniot for enough years...

Just like Underinflation causes the outter edges to wear(along with a bad alignment)

I have never put "almost max"psi in my tires. I know alot of people that have, and there tires burn up quicker. Case in point. Me and my freind have sister cars. 92 Camaro here, 92 'Bird his. V6 same cars. We both get new tires, even same brand and type. My fronts are STILL on the car 3 years later. He is on his 3rd set. I even drive my car harder and faster then he does.

AFrikinGoodTime

I have 40 psi in mine and they wear beautifully. What everyone needs to realize is the door tag recomends psi in accordenace to the factory tire with whatever stiffness of sidewall it has. This has everything to do with it. When you run a better quality tire than what originally came with the car, (and believe me a decent aftermarket performance tire is much better), you need to adjust the pressure accordingly.

Now here's how to do that accurately. Take a bottle of white shoe polish and make a mark (as small as possible because it is hard to remove) on the inner and outer edge of each tire where the tread meets the sidewall, about an inch and a half to two inch mark will do rotation wise and over the sidewall edge about a half an inch.
Next get behind the wheel in a large empty parking lot and drive the car around in a circle each way once or twice. When you stop. check the white shoe polish marks you made and see how much was scrubed of down to the edge of the tire sidewall.You basically want it to scuff off to about 1/2" form the end of the tread where it meets the sidewall for street use. As the tire wears on top, it will wear down the side more.

If the mark is not scrubed off to this point, then your tire pressure is too high. If it is past this point, then your tire pressure is to low.

Heres the catch, the inside and outside marks should match whether the marks are high, low or just right. If they do not, then your camber settings are off (Alignment stuff). This is something you cannot accurately set yourself so take it to an alignment shop.

stuart69427

open up your haynes/chiltons and look at tire wear. If you see the "Center" burns out, it is most lickly cuased by Overinflation, where inpropper size CAN cuase it, but it is most likly cuased by overinflation.

Camar_Hunter_c

With big A$$ mud truck tires I had to do that alot for customers, but I just used powered chalk and a large flat board. When the "foot print" was even, the pressure was right. had to do front and rear separetly though, and it was a bitoch to do...