Tire pressures

[silverton]

I've always been an advocate for running what it says on the placard, manufacturer knows best right?, the subaru dealership I used to work at was pretty hard headed about doing 35psi all around no matter what. Nothing like setting your placard pressures and then the customer buys a rotation so you need to adjust again, 35 did make that easier. So I was recently given some information that kinda turned that all upside down.  Someone handed knowledge down to me, that was handed down to them... ideal tire pressure is 80% of max psi listed on the sidewall.

I absolutely hated the way my '17 L3.6R rode running placard pressure, 33F32R. When given this new information I set my tire pressures accordingly, 51psi max on my continentals, 80% of that is ~41psi so that's what I've been running for two or three months now.  The car rides exponentially better and the TPMS isn't bothered by it. Just as an aside, I hated the way the car rode with its original Eagle LS-2's at placard pressure, and that didn't change with the continentals so I just assumed it was the way the car was.

Thoughts, opinions?

[GearJamr]

I get the OEM would know best part.....but also have to consider that is for the tires they originally equipped the vehicle with.  Not sure how the 80% suggestion would work....I would think the manufacturers would set their recommended pressure based on tire construction/load bearing ability, fuel efficiency, vehicle weight, intended vehicle use, etc etc.

I would think the higher the air pressure the worse the ride would get, but have not experimented to find out.  Might be worth trying out.

[silverton]

On 10/3/2023 at 8:47 AM, GearJamr said:

I get the OEM would know best part.....but also have to consider that is for the tires they originally equipped the vehicle with.  Not sure how the 80% suggestion would work....I would think the manufacturers would set their recommended pressure based on tire construction/load bearing ability, fuel efficiency, vehicle weight, intended vehicle use, etc etc.

I would think the higher the air pressure the worse the ride would get, but have not experimented to find out.  Might be worth trying out.

Continental does recommend using manufacturer tire pressure specs. I was also assuming that I was going to hate the higher pressures but as I said, it is definitely better.