In the past, I haven’t been the best at keeping my tires properly inflated. My new Hyundai Sonata Limited has a display that reports the pressure in each tire with 1 PSI resolution – a damned nice feature. Recommend pressure is 34 PSI (front & rear). Cold, I think. My plan is to inflate the tires to 36 PSI (Note), then re-inflate when the pressure drops to 32 PSI cold. Is that a reasonable plan?

BTW – I have a Milton S-921 pencil tire gage (recommended by member henryaz). It’s a good instrument. It agrees exactly with the pressures reported by my Sonata, and it’s easy to read. I use it when filling my tires at the gas station, instead of relying on the lousy air pump gauge.

Note – I know from experience that tire pressure rises by 2 PSI when I drive from my home to the gas station, so I’ll actually inflate to 38 PSI, expecting that the cold pressure will be 36 PSI.

I keep my Continental Cross Contact all weather tires on our Sorento at the recommended pressure. Longevity is a bigger goal to me than a very small increase in fuel mileage. That's just me. Your priority may be different.

Jim

Just bought a new car. Says front at 33 and rear at 41. So being me I did them at 34 front and 42 rear. I have bridgestone driveguard runflat tires. Don’t know if that makes a difference.

I had Yokohamas on my Subaru Legacy which I did 37 all around.

It neither helps nor hurts. There isn't one driver in a thousand who can tell a difference in ride, handling or tire life with a 2 psi difference. Unless you're that one.

Yes, but only by a few pounds.

I'd set them at 37# or 38#. Even 40# if you don't mind a harsher ride.

I drive at 4-6 over because of the potholes. It improves tire life by reducing friction as well (I was informed).

You'll think someone installed new power steering in the vehicle. Steering feels better and braking improves.

I round up to the next five pounds. Been doing that since the car manufacturers used to tell us to basically underinflate for a smoother ride.

I don't know if they still do that as they are now clawing for improved gas mileage, but fool me once.

I'll add air if a tire is 2 lbs low, as I have a small compressor in the garage making it easy.

I’m generally in the ballpark but adjust through trial and error to maximize handling, braking and rough roads (hopping/skipping with stiff suspension). Safety performance is #1. Gas mileage and Longevity is a distant 3rd.

I usually inflate my tires when they're cold. I usually go with about 3 psi over the door sticker (which is well under the tires rating). When it gets down to 1 psi or the door sticker pressure I re-inflate.

Tires with higher inflation levels handle drastically better at highway speeds.

I always run my tires about 4-5 PSI above door sticker. When they get back to 32 PSI, I put them back up to 36 PSI. This way my tires are never under the cold pressure.

And yes, its the cold pressure that you set your tires at. Your tires will heat up while driving and raise the pressure 2-4 PSI.

And everyone should have a compressor at their house, instead of relying on those crappy gas station jobs. A Harbor Freight 3 gallon compressor will set you back like what, $50, and you can literally use it for the rest of your life.
https://www.harborfreight.com/...ompressor-95275.html

And winter is approaching. Remember, for every 10 degrees the temperature lowers, that's 1 PSI less. So a 40 degree drop is 4 pounds less. Very easy for your tires to be well under-inflated when the first cold snap of the year hits. Another good reason to keep a few pounds extra in your tires to counter any cold snaps.

And remember, the door sticker is the recommended pressure ONLY with the OEM tires that came on the car. If you have changed the tires to a different brand, the door sticker is a general guide, but not an absolute. In fact, your car may be unsafe with different brand tires at the factory door jam pressure.

Nope. My '11 Sonata Ltd tires are kept at 33 psi which is what the tires call for.

My '03 S2000 specs at 32 but I invariably go to 32.5 psi which seems to best compliment the aggressive 4 wheel alignment and suspension tweaks. I use a 3.5" dial Intercomp 0-60 psi gauge.

No, never.

Not a good idea, IMHO. The engineers that design the vehicle and the tires determine the recommended inflation pressures for specific reasons, none of which would be known to the average consumer. I'd never assume to second guess them.

I recommend keeping a Viair 88P tire inflator in your car. Fast, quiet, compact, and $57 shipped by Amazon Prime.

As with many maintenance related things in life, the frequency with which you check and add air is more important than the particulars of what PSI to set it at. If you've got real time pressure monitoring, set it at the recommended level and just top off whenever it drops.

Careful where you get the air from. Many of those public air places aren't good about draining the water from their compressor and lines.
Moist air has a larger effect on the pressure rise as they heat up and enough water can even cause balance problems. Sometimes you can even hear going through the lines it as you are inflating the tires.
If you frequently use those sources, consider a small compressor for your home instead.
The fact that you check your tire pressures at all makes you in the top 5% of car owners so anything close will probably be fine. Too high, as long as it's not over the maximum load rating, is better than too low.

I usually inflate my tires(cold, of course) 2-3 lbs. over recommended pressures. That way, I am in the zone for the next 2-3 months. I inflate my tires using my own compressors, and digital gauges.

The mere fact that you are posting, or even reading, in this thread probably puts you in the top 1% of people who care about your tire pressure.
I think that's why TPMS was mandated...
Otherwise, most people don't know their tire is low until it's flat.

No, as mentioned above, as you drive, pressures will increase 5-10psi.

Let's say the manufacturer says 33 psi and you overinflate 4 psi, now you are starting a trip at 37 psi and will be driving on tires at 42 to 47 psi. Does this seem like a good thing to do?

I start at recommended pressure and then adjust up or down to try and achieve even wear across the tread.

quote:

Originally posted by 64dodge:
Not a good idea, IMHO. The engineers that design the vehicle and the tires determine the recommended inflation pressures for specific reasons, none of which would be known to the average consumer. I'd never assume to second guess them.

All depends on their priorities. Older (late 90's) Ford Explorers originally had a factory recommended tire pressure setting of 26 PSI, which was chosen specifically for ride comfort. It was way too low for the weight of the vehicle so it led to some handling and legal "issues". The problem was at 26 recommended most bozos let them get down to 18-20 PSI and then wondered why their SUV rolled while emulating NASCAR on the highway. Ford ended up amending it and mailed out replacement door stickers increasing the recommended PSI to 30 (still a bit low). I won't run mine on less than 34 PSI.

OEM recommendations are a good place to start but accommodations must be made for driving style, load, non-OEM tires, modifications, etc. Every vehicle is different so a little experimentation is in order to optimize pressures. Even if you don't optimize just regular checking puts you ahead of most folks.

I've seen fools running the interstate at 65+ with two donuts and the other two tires so low you wondered how the beads were still seated. More shimmy than a double-jointed belly dancer.