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A recent thread on tires got me thinking about tire pressures. Wondering about what pressure you run in your tires. If you want to post your tires and sizes that may be helpful too.
I'm running B.F.G. 255/60/15 on all four corners and used to run 32lbs. but for the last couple of weeks this year I dropped it to 30. Thinking about running 28 in the spring to see how the handling/wear is for thenew season.
From: Graceland in a Not Correctly Restored Stingray
Didn't vote. Been setting my pressures on everything I've owned for the past 20 years by pyrometer. Only way to get it exactly right for any car/driver/tire combination IMCO.
275/40-17s and 315/35-17s - 35 PSI all the way around. A little stiff but that's what I expect from short sidewall tires anyway.
I have been running my 17 inch tires @40lbs. The tires are rated up to 45lbs so I think 40 will be OK. Maybe 35 will smooth out the ride, but I don't know what that will do to the tires?
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Like you shmoky, I have 255/60 T/As front & rear. The sticker on the door of a '76 says 20 psi front and 26 rear cold. Back in the day I ran all four around 30-32. But now that I'm an old fart I've found that 22 front & 28 rear seems to feel just right.......
Tire pressure needed depends on tire 'footprint'. Wider tires require lower air pressure...if you want to get good life from the tire. That's one of the downsides of installing huge tires on a relatively light vehicle. When you set pressure where the tire 'rides' well, you wear tires out too soon. (Of course, if you only put a couple of thousand miles a year on the car, who cares....)
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Originally Posted by SEVNT6
Like you shmoky, I have 255/60 T/As front & rear. The sticker on the door of a '76 says 20 psi front and 26 rear cold. Back in the day I ran all four around 30-32. But now that I'm an old fart I've found that 22 front & 28 rear seems to feel just right.......
I thought those numbers were for bias ply tires which no one has on their car anymore. Everything is radial now and requires a little more pressure to get the full life out of the tire. Probably rides pretty smooth though.
I run 255/60/15 on mine and run 30 PSI all around on mine.
Great info here and a lot of help. The reason I originally asked is because as I said earlier I've been running 30 lbs all around with my 255/60/15 BFG T/A's. But my tires wear out in the middle of the tire so I figured that I was running too much pressure. (or my right foot is way too heavy) It is way more obvious on the rear tires than the front but it is still wearing in the middle on the front.
I don't mind replacing a set of rear tires every year as I put over 8,000 miles on the car every year (so far). It's also cheap entertainment But having to replace the tires with still at least 50% of tread on the outside edges is annoying. Also the last month of driving can get pretty dicey if it rains.
So next year I am going to try running 28 lbs all around and see what happens. I feel that if I go to low (below 24) that it will be too soft and will have control problems. Although with SEVNT6's pressure I may try that for a day and see how it feels.
What I do is take a roll of 2" wide masking tape and put a piece across the tread on every tire. Drive it a couple miles and check the tape. If it is wearing on the outside edges I add some air and if it's wearing in the center I let some air out. I keep doing this till I get nice even wear, then write down the pressures. Tires should be warm before you start.