Tire over-inflation dilemma!
 

Go me! In my Black-Friday-3-hour-of-sleep-daze this morning, I took my Mazda's rear pass side wheel over a freekin curb at the mall. Makes me wanna throw up. I thought no damage was done until the sun came up and I found a nice 1/2" tear in my sidewall! I'm most likely going to have it replaced, but in the meantime I'm confused.

Currently the tire is overinflated to 44psi (probably 41-42 with the recent temp drop). Would it be better to 1, lower the psi to factory spec to minimize internal pressure against the tear. OR 2, keep the psi high to minimize sidewall flex. Can't decide the safest way to go until I at least get the tire checked out by a mechanic.

Thanks!

The damage is shown below... looks big in the pic, but really only about 5/8" wide corner-to-corner.

I would lower the pressure to factory specs.

If you have a tear in the sidewall no shop will fix it. I would replace the tire, you're risking a blow out to keep driving it.

How about running on the spare at whatever psi you wish until you get to the shop for a replacement?

You just should not run on that tire...

K, I just ordered a pair of OEM "take-off" tires off of Ebay... $103 shipped. Tread is good and seller looks good. We're half-way through closing on our first house, so excuse me for sounding cheap with this... but yeah, don't really want to gamble with my family's safety.

Thanks for the advice!

I can appreciate the "cheap" factor ;)

Lower the pressure. Less flexing doesn't mean less internal forces - you still need to support the entire dynamic load ;)

If you have a full sized spare -- swap that on... If it's a donut 3/4 - I would swap it if the gash is deep - if it's more on the surface, I'd risk a blowout (and then switch to spare) rather than run on a donut. I really do not like the concept of donut emergency tires...