Tire Pressure
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,154
Likes: 1
From: Las Vegas NV
Tire Pressure
I have a C6 with the Z51 super car tires. I normally run my tires at 32#'s in my other performace cars in the past. What is a good all around pressure for normal street and hiway driving with the Z51 tires?
The Chevy dealer who just did my first oil change said they adjusted them to 32#. Yet the DIC read 38#'s. I had the same problem when I purchased the car a few weeks ago. The dealer (different dealer) had filled them up to 38 pounds!
I finally went to a high performance shop and bought a quality tire gauge. Sure enough they were at 38 pounds! I let some air out to 35#'s figuring that when the tires cool down a bit from the drive they will be close to 32.
Am I on the wrong track here or are the dealers over inflating my tires?
At $415 each, I'd like to monitor these a bit closer than in the past.
SB
The Chevy dealer who just did my first oil change said they adjusted them to 32#. Yet the DIC read 38#'s. I had the same problem when I purchased the car a few weeks ago. The dealer (different dealer) had filled them up to 38 pounds!
I finally went to a high performance shop and bought a quality tire gauge. Sure enough they were at 38 pounds! I let some air out to 35#'s figuring that when the tires cool down a bit from the drive they will be close to 32.
Am I on the wrong track here or are the dealers over inflating my tires?
At $415 each, I'd like to monitor these a bit closer than in the past.
SB
Team Owner
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 32,074
Likes: 296
From: San Francisco CA
So which is more accurate the tire guage or the tire sensors readout on DIC?
Originally Posted by Braced
I have a C6 with the Z51 super car tires. I normally run my tires at 32#'s in my other performace cars in the past. What is a good all around pressure for normal street and hiway driving with the Z51 tires?
The Chevy dealer who just did my first oil change said they adjusted them to 32#. Yet the DIC read 38#'s. I had the same problem when I purchased the car a few weeks ago. The dealer (different dealer) had filled them up to 38 pounds!
I finally went to a high performance shop and bought a quality tire gauge. Sure enough they were at 38 pounds! I let some air out to 35#'s figuring that when the tires cool down a bit from the drive they will be close to 32.
Am I on the wrong track here or are the dealers over inflating my tires?
At $415 each, I'd like to monitor these a bit closer than in the past.
SB
The Chevy dealer who just did my first oil change said they adjusted them to 32#. Yet the DIC read 38#'s. I had the same problem when I purchased the car a few weeks ago. The dealer (different dealer) had filled them up to 38 pounds!
I finally went to a high performance shop and bought a quality tire gauge. Sure enough they were at 38 pounds! I let some air out to 35#'s figuring that when the tires cool down a bit from the drive they will be close to 32.
Am I on the wrong track here or are the dealers over inflating my tires?
At $415 each, I'd like to monitor these a bit closer than in the past.
SB
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,154
Likes: 1
From: Las Vegas NV
So which is more accurate the tire guage or the tire sensors readout on DIC?
On my car the DIC reads 2#'s lower than my tire gauge. No big deal. As long as I know the difference I can keep a close watch on it.
I don't know why the dealers put so much air in them. It's not like they are going into the tire business. Maybe its fallout from the Ford/Firestone problems a few years back where many of the problems were attributed to low tires (& over weight SUV's)? Who knows.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 5,529
Likes: 1,943
From: Austin Texas
Tires pressure (from the manual) should be adjusted while the tire is cold; 30-32 PSI. After 5-10 miles of typical city/freeway driving in moderate temperatures you should see about a 4-6 PSI increase (36-38 PSI total from 32PSI cold) in the pressure from the cold pressures. Take the car to the road race track and you may see 10 PSI over cold temperatures (40 PSI from 30 PSI cold).
My rear tires get greasey and slipery when the pressures get above 40 PSI on the track, so while I am there I measure and adjust based on hot pressures (and my pyrometer). Some tracks are slipprier than others and require a different starting pressure to achieve the desired running pressures. Be sure to check and reset to street pressures before leaving the track. I use the pyrometer mainly to check the suspension alignment at the track. A nice linear temperaure profile indicates that the tires and suspension are working together, and other temperature profiles can point to what kind of adjustment will optimize the car.
I tend to enjoy the slightly quicker response at 32 PSI (cold) over the smoother ride of the tires at 30 PSI (cols). You may enjoy the reverse.
My rear tires get greasey and slipery when the pressures get above 40 PSI on the track, so while I am there I measure and adjust based on hot pressures (and my pyrometer). Some tracks are slipprier than others and require a different starting pressure to achieve the desired running pressures. Be sure to check and reset to street pressures before leaving the track. I use the pyrometer mainly to check the suspension alignment at the track. A nice linear temperaure profile indicates that the tires and suspension are working together, and other temperature profiles can point to what kind of adjustment will optimize the car.
I tend to enjoy the slightly quicker response at 32 PSI (cold) over the smoother ride of the tires at 30 PSI (cols). You may enjoy the reverse.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,154
Likes: 1
From: Las Vegas NV
Tires pressure (from the manual) should be adjusted while the tire is cold; 30-32 PSI. After 5-10 miles of typical city/freeway driving in moderate temperatures you should see about a 4-6 PSI increase (36-38 PSI total from 32PSI cold) in the pressure from the cold pressures. Take the car to the road race track and you may see 10 PSI over cold temperatures (40 PSI from 30 PSI cold).
The two dealers I have had the car to have both filled up the tires to nearly 38#'s cold! I saw my DIC read 41#'s and remembered the warning kicks in at 42! I knew that was wrong. I have since set them back to 32 cold. They go up about 3 pounds with normal driving. The car handles great. I just don't want premature wear on $400 tires. It's that simple.
Thanks for the post. Great stuff!
SB
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