Max rear tire PSI on unloaded pickups?

[wirelessF]

I was looking at this Chevy 2500HD and while it has nice BFG ATs upon closer look the rears had severe center wear. You can't tell from the side but I had to bust out a penny on the center and the thread came out on top Lincoln's head. The bed looks clean so obviously this guy just hauls air instead.

Everyone says to follow the door placard when airing up tires but having several pickups that occasionally carry heavy loads and get daily driven empty I've never followed the door placard as they are too low in the front and too high in the rear.

 

[jmb3675]

I used to run higher air pressure in the rear tires on my truck just in case I ended up carrying a heavy load. I used to do that often without much advance notice. Then one day I realized how silly that was and put a portable compressor in the truck. Now I run the door spec and enjoy the smoother ride. With my Line-X liner, my bed looked unused for years, even though it was used and abused often.

 

[Jimzz]

Could be they did not rotate them as well.

I usually run a couple PSI more in the front than the rear and rotate and that seems to keep tires wearing even.

If you have LT tires and tow a lot then need to adjust to usage so that can vary to much to go by any set number.

 

[CapriRacer]

While overinflation generally causes center wear, there are 3 other factors that should considered.

1) Drive tires tend to wear in the center. Steer tires tend to wear in the shoulders. That why car and manufacturers tell everyone to rotate tires (if you can)

2) It is possible for the tire engineer to adjust the shape of the tire's footprint - and sometimes that results in shoulder or center wear rather than even wear. Tire warranties cover this, but you have to rotate for them to be in effect (see #1 above)

3) Evenness of tire wear is relatively insensitive to inflation pressure - meaning you have to change the pressure a lot to change the wear pattern. There are other things that are more likely to cause uneven wear - and lack of rotation is one of them.

 

[RedOakRanch]

The placard psi allows for maximum payload on all the trucks I've owned. My 1500 crewcab 4X4 is usually driven un loaded but on some twisty roads. I've found to get very even wear with 36f/28r psi, while the a card says 35f/35r.

 

[Chris142]

The tire store put mine at the max which is 80. Soon as I got home I took them down to 50.

 

[Dexters]

Originally Posted By: wirelessF
I was looking at this Chevy 2500HD and while it has nice BFG ATs upon closer look the rears had severe center wear. You can't tell from the side but I had to bust out a penny on the center and the thread came out on top Lincoln's head. The bed looks clean so obviously this guy just hauls air instead.

Everyone says to follow the door placard when airing up tires but having several pickups that occasionally carry heavy loads and get daily driven empty I've never followed the door placard as they are too low in the front and too high in the rear.


He didn't rotate the tires? Not a good sign on mtc.

 

[hattaresguy]

I have noticed some diesel trucks since they have a lot of torque tend to wear out rears pretty fast. A couple of the guys that work for me have 3/4 and 1 ton Dodges with the Cummins and they chew up rear tires. The gas trucks not so much unless an 18 year old drives them.

Typically your going to want to air down the rears a bit unless you haul a lot or the ride will be horrible.

 

[mjoekingz28]

True, ive been gradually airing mine up from the initial 45/45 and now have about 50/70.....door calls for 50/80. I will probably settle on 45/60-65 until i need to tow/haul something heavy. Btw, i dont even have a spare yet, so the rear is as light as it gets.

 

[Chris142]

I have noticed some diesel trucks since they have a lot of torque tend to wear out rears pretty fast. A couple of the guys that work for me have 3/4 and 1 ton Dodges with the Cummins and they chew up rear tires. The gas trucks not so much unless an 18 year old drives them.

Typically your going to want to air down the rears a bit unless you haul a lot or the ride will be horrible. [/quoteI Useless info. I drove a single screw Pete with a 515 hp Detroit 14L in it with a 13speed and 4.11's in the axles. On a long steep pull such as mountain Pass coming out of Vegas it would spin the tires on the rims! Used to mark the tire and rim and see where it was when I got home.

 

[stephen9666]

My Nissan has a loaded and unloaded rear pressure spec on the tire pressure sticker.

If I run rear pressure over the "unloaded" rating for normal driving I get center wear.

 

[TiredTrucker]

One thing the OEM recommendations on tire pressures on the 3/4 tons with LT type tires is that they are figuring in the max payload and gross in their recommendations. So those pressures are for when you are running near gross limit loads.

It is really too bad the tire manufacturers do not have recommended load pressure tables for the light truck tires as they do for the heavy commercial truck tires. On my semi, tire pressures I run are based on those tables. Lighter the general running, the lower the recommended air pressure.

I am in talks with getting a 2015 2500HD this next week. I have seen the recommended tire pressures on the door jam. Forget it. If I am not loaded heavy or towing heavy, the pressures I will run will be lower than those. Will play havoc with the tire pressure sensor junk they have on these rides now, but it is what it is. No use creating a tire uneven wear scenario and a rougher ride by running the OEM pressures unless loaded down. Overall handling, braking, etc should be much improved by keeping pressures down instead of running max pressures in an unloaded truck.