Over inflated tires vs tire wear

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jrcowboys

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Round Rock Texas
Guys:

Noticed heavy center tread wear on my rear tires at about 30K miles. I keep my tires at 34-35 PSI to improve gas mileage and hopefully improve tire life. Apparently, 34-35 PSI was too much for my rear tires as tire life was reduced by quite a bit. Car is 1999 Lexus SC300, weight 3600, recommended tire pressure 32PSI front and back. Tire is 225-16.

Are you guys surprised at this problem with addition of only 2PSI over recommended pressure? I noticed a similiar problem on my son-in-law's SUV and he also keeps pressure at 34-35 PSI.

Thoughts?

JR
 
Indeed. Seen it many times. In addition, if you adjust your tires say in early May when it's cooler out, by July, if you haven't checked them again, they'll be way overinflated from higher overall ambient temperatures.

This is why I stick to the recommended pressure and always add air in the fall/winter, and usually end up taking about 2 or 3 psi by summer to adjust for hot temps.
 
Are you taking the tire pressure reading 34-35 PSI while the tire is cold? You sure your tire gauge is accurate.

I leave my tires 2-3 PSI over the recommended but I mainly do city diving.
 
I'm not too surprised. Usually the factory setting of 32 psi is at about the maximum pressure you can go without causing increased tire wear especially on the rear. Have you checked your pressure guage against another? It's not too uncommon for some to read a pound or two higher than another.
 
A tire guy once told me that you need to run higher pressure in the front than the rear tires to compensate for the weight of the motor etc... He said doing this while also keeping the tires rotated will give maximum life... also he stated that he could never understand why the manufactures did not recommend doing this because it was an obvious difference in weight between the front of the vehicle than the rear.

Now as for me I pretty much run the maximum rated tire pressure going by the tire, the door jam sticker specs a few PSI lower than the tire I looking for maximum tire life, and max gas mileage as well. I don't think 2 PSI will lead to any more wear, little to no gain in mileage, and when you get down to it most gauges are not even accurate to within 2 PSI !!
 
2 lbs did not cause this.
Maybe your gauge is off?
At 40 lbs, maybe you would start to see a difference in wear over a long time.
 
Did you rotate your tires regularly? How do you drive your car?

I drive mine at almost 10 psi above what is recommended by the manufacturer (42 psi instead of 33) and don't have any wear issue, but I baby the car at every starts.

I use nitrogen in them in order to avoid the variation of pressure of cold vs hot.
 
Originally Posted By: rclint
A tire guy once told me that you need to run higher pressure in the front than the rear tires to compensate for the weight of the motor etc... He said doing this while also keeping the tires rotated will give maximum life... also he stated that he could never understand why the manufactures did not recommend doing this because it was an obvious difference in weight between the front of the vehicle than the rear.



It's less confusing to the general motoring public.

There is a reason for selecting tire pressure that is more important than load (assuming load capacity is adequate). Tire pressure effects handling characteristics and the manufacturers design most cars to handle they way they want them to handle with equal pressure on both ends of the car. Upset that balance and you change the handling characteristics from what the mfr intended. Do it right and you can improve the handling of most cars a bit, do it wrong and you make it worse.
 
Originally Posted By: rclint
A tire guy once told me that you need to run higher pressure in the front than the rear tires to compensate for the weight of the motor etc... He said doing this while also keeping the tires rotated will give maximum life... also he stated that he could never understand why the manufactures did not recommend doing this because it was an obvious difference in weight between the front of the vehicle than the rear.

Now as for me I pretty much run the maximum rated tire pressure going by the tire, the door jam sticker specs a few PSI lower than the tire I looking for maximum tire life, and max gas mileage as well. I don't think 2 PSI will lead to any more wear, little to no gain in mileage, and when you get down to it most gauges are not even accurate to within 2 PSI !!


Amen, Amen, Amen!
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I had to work that out for myself- but on the Neon I wound up running 36-37 psi front, 32 psi rear, no problems. Remember, most front-wheel drive cars carry about 1.5 up to almost double the weight on the front tires as on the back. And I also found that if I rotated the tires opposite of the way the factory & everyone else recommended, the 350-4xx mile gas mileage drop *disappeared*.(I'd noticed that after every tire rotation, for at least a full tank of gas, my 32-37 mpg car suddenly dropped about 2-2.5 mpg for at least a full tank). All said rotate: cross 'em rear to front, straight back front to rear. No Sir! On front wheel drive, go straight from rear to front, cross 'em going back from front to rear. That gas milaged drop also just plain disappeared.
 
I keep the BFG Ruggeds on my sierra at 55 front, 50 rear, If I tow all tires go to 60 max pressure is something like 75 or so.

Remember most of the weight is at the front, engine, trans, people.
 
Last edited:
I've seen this on my car. Sticker called for 30psi cold front and back. I ran 35 up front and 32 out back. Bald stripe around all tires prematurely.
 
Originally Posted By: XCELERATIONRULES
I always run 35 cold inflation pressure.
The mileage difference makes up for slightly lower tire wear.
I always replace my tires way before they actually wear out.
Try some nitrogen.


I use some Nitrogen, 78%.
 
I've seen the same thing with some tires, not with others, when I overinflate.

My larger truck tires are sensitive to pressures, while the tires on my little CRX are not. The Z28 tires are quite wide and are sensitive to pressures, while the tires on the Prius are not so much.
 
Some cars do recommend staggered air pressure but very few. About the only one I can recall is some years of Malibu called for 29 F 26 R while just about every other GM car calls for 30 psi all around.
 
Originally Posted By: Pesca
... I use nitrogen in them in order to avoid the variation of pressure of cold vs hot.

Nitrogen doesn't help with that. Nitrogen doesn't seep out of the tire as quickly so the tires maintain pressure longer.

Nitrogen is just as susceptible to pressure changes due to heat as any other gas.
 
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