tire pressure/new membership
 

hello fuel economists!! i have a '03 subie baja, it's too new to start strapping on air dams and sheet metal. but, will increasing tire psi help? i see some of u are up to 55-60 psi, thats alot. has it helped??

Welcome to the site.

Yes the increased psi helps. Ive ran close to or max sidewall psi for years.

psy

it helps a TON. you can P&g so much farther and it just helps on rolling resistance. try to go up to your max side wall and go from there. i run mine at 48-50 psi

I understand some of you hypermilers use probably a harder compound tire than say I would... but doesn't over inflating cause uneven wear on the wires?

Further more, how safe is it? I have my kids in the car at times. I don't know how many of you drive these cars with your family in it? Is there a brand of tire which is better than others, but not a high dollar tire? I have a 93 Acura Vigor. Any ideas about increasing mileage? If I need to post in another thread, let me know.

I have always ran 32psi or so in my tires with great results, obviously I drop it down in the rear for traction when racing but that is another bird. I like 32psi for road trips cross country in any vehicle. Inflating more to like 45-50 if its within the tire than I don't think that would be a real problem although I have done little testing on the subject. I know a tire with LOW air pressure will get real floaty on the interstate.

this hypermiler stuff is new to me, but I would think a harder compound tire would help... many good tires out there.

I would not worry at all running a tire at its max sidewall pressure. I mean, that is why the rating is there. The tire generates less heat at the max than at the car manufacturer's recommended inflation. But, you would want to try it for yourself, see how the car handles, etc. We have driven almost 100k miles on our family minivan with the tires set above the car mfg's recommendation, some at 38 psi in 44 psi max tires, and some at 35 psi in 35 psi max tires.

As far as wear, most cars tend to wear out tires on the edges first, so inflating to higher pressure can actually help even out the wear. I have never seen anyone report that inflating to a higher pressure caused the tire to prematurely wear out in the middle. It just doesn't happen.

I wouldn't go so far as to say it doesn't change the wear pattern. However, I am running 55psi and the only way I can tell the tires are wearing in the middle is because the tires are down to the thin side, so a 1/32 or 1/16 is now noticable. I get far more wear from my rear tires which are running with a bit of slack in the camber angle. As far as safety, I haven't encountered anything, yet that makes me feel it's a significant risk.

As far as the tires go, you can get LRR tires, and I might consider that when I need to get replacement tires. However, at the moment I am running whatever they happen to have available as used tire's. I think their Bridgestone, at the moment.

why is it i have read people r putting more air up front and just a tad less n the rear