I recently replaced the tires on my 92SE 5 speed. The originals were bridgestone 205/65V15's ALL SEASONS, but I found them to be a bit rough riders for the roads in PA. The reccomended psi setting for these was 29 psi front and rear as indicated in center console, but my new H tires came with 38-40 psi on all 4. I reduced them to 32-33psi assuming the tire guy just 'blew em up without really checking'. However, now I am wondering what would be the appropriate psi for these H tires on this car?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated. (btw, the replacements are not bridgestones but a generic type 40k TIRE, ALL SEASON called 'WARRIOR'). Thanks again for replies, this site has been a terrific find ! ,

cleaner in PA

 

Air pressure in the tire is determined by several factors. It starts with how the tire is made. Look on the sidewall for the maximum air pressure for that tire. If a tire with a max pressure of 45 psi is run at 30 psi, it is going to give a softer ride than a tire designed for 35 psi max being run at 30 psi. But that 45 psi tire will be somewhat under inflated and wear on the outer edges. Also, the less air you put in the tire, the less of a load it can carry. Manufacrurer's load ratings are made with the tire inflated at the max.

What can you do? I don't have an answer other than experiment for yourself and ask lots of questions. I look for tires that have a max air pressure of 35 psi and run that on my fronts. I run my rears at 32 and this gives me a nice ride and good life from the tires. I have had tires rated at 45 psi and they rode rough at 40+ psi and wore out fast at 35, so I stay away from them.

 

i have yokohama H4S, what i do is i drive my car around and go on highways to get to hot pressure, then go to a gas station and release or put in to the max recommended pressure on the tire..

 

So, basically...what you're saying is with todays tires, one wants to operate them at the max psi idicated on the sidewall after subjecting them to extreme condtions (heat/stress/etc) ??

..cleaner

 

Air pressure in tires is supposed to be checked cold, not when hot. If you inflate the tire to the manufacturer's rated max when cold and then check the pressure hot, it will be higher, but that is OK.

To say that you should run the tires at the max pressure is a personal preference. The higher the air pressure, the rougher the ride, the greater the load carrying capability and longer tread life.

The only thing I recommend is you use maybe 5 psi less in the rear tires because they don't carry as much weight.

 

10 chars

 

Start at 29 psi and increase from there according to taste if you drive harder, otherwise stick to 29 because the type of tire doesn't really matter that much and SEs came with H-rated all-seasons or V-rated summer tires anyway.

Increasing to maximum or increasing too much may induce too much center tread wear though, so monitor carefully if you change anything. I was running close to 29psi myself and just left it as is, and I drive pretty hard.

 

cheap tires =
but besides 95% of all car tires are best in the 30-35psi range