What psi do you keep your tires at?

 

I matched what a few others were using on the forums. I keep my Michelin Energy S8 tires at 40 psi when cold. They seem to ride fine. I'm not sure what it is about this tire that allows a good ride at that high of pressure.

 

Slight (uneducated) warning.
Tire pressure is set by the manufacturer to provide the best ride at, presumably, the safest range.
I am not an expert, far from it, but in terms of road handling performance (which can be the difference between safely navigating a tough situation, and not), I'd prefer to have the safest tire pressure. I don't think personal safety should be bargained for with the hope of saving a few pennies at the pump.
If you want to drive safely, follow the manufacturers recommendation.
If you want to save money on gas, walk, ride a bike, car pool, hitch hike or take the bus.
Again, I'm no expert nor have I done any research on this topic, but I believe road handling suffers if you have the pressure set too high.

 

There is this "hypermiler" at the Ford Escape Hybrid site who keeps his tires at 50psi. He swears that not only does he get excellent fuel economy, but he has better handling on turns. He posts that the only drawback is a stiffer ride.
If I can find his post, I will link it.

 

What is the recommended max psi for the Michelin's?
(I'm too lazy to look, plus it's dark out)

 

I searched the forms and found two TCH owners, one running 42 and the other 46 psi. That last fellow mentioned his tires would go to 51 max.

I tried the recommended factory pressure on some older new cars I had bought. I found the steering was sloppy. The car felt like it wanted to go into the other lane of turns in the city. It would move around on the highway with any medium crosswind.

I have experimented with tire pressures for over 35 years. I find that driving at 30 to 33 psi the tires will wear more and it will also pull the mpg down some. Yes, nice soft ride I will agree. My all time favorite for all tires is 35 psi cold. Very little wear, they run cooler and make turns easier.

Try making slow turns in a empty parking lot at 35 psi then let all 4 down to 32 or 33. Try making a few short turns in a parking lot. It's effortless at 35 psi in comparison. I had two sets of michelin tires that went 75,000 miles at 35 psi and they all had even wear. I could have put another 5000 on them but they did start getting noisy. There not available anymore and were replaced by the rather expensive michelin pilot tire.

I figure the easier the TCH steers the lower current draw for the TCH electric steering.

Any crash in the TCH would be from me driving slower than the other traffic. I am sluggish at the red lights but i'm at 46.6 on my last tank in this cold weather. My best this last fall was 50.9 combined driving. My overall average is 48.5 so far.

In the early 60's I was a record holder in drag racing. I stopped after 7 years and spending lots of money. I wanted to do something to keep me occupied while driving. I choose gas mileage. That was back in 1967. I owned a stock 57 chevy that was getting 18 highway. Adding tire pressure and kicking the timing up to 45 degrees, then driving a constant 60. I upped it to 24.5 mpg highway.

They do it different today, with the lightweight aluminum engine with fine spray injectors and coil over plug (no spark plug wires), low friction pistons and rings. Lightweight pistons and rods that spin up quicker. Large wheel bearings that roll easier, low friction tires and etc. You have no idea how wonderful it is to go to a dealer and buy a TCH with all these great features.

Thank you Toyota.

White Lightning

 

Jimmy,
Thanks for that post. It was very helpful.

 

I find it hard to believe that someone is actually running over 50psi in their tires?! That's not very smart, in my mind. The Michelin LRR tires i have only allow 45psi max. I have been trying different pressures and have settled on 38. It seems to provide a good balance of mpg, ride and handling. I tried 40-42 and that seemed very stiff. The TCH drivers sideboard recommends 32psi. I think much over 40 is too high. Your risk of a blowout will increase exponentially above that, i would think.

 

I am also wondering if the Tire Pressure Warning light will go on if it is over inflated by too much? This is exactly what happened in my Subaru Tribeca when I went a few lbs. over max.

 

I thought the TCH ABS system looked for one tire that would rotate at a higher rpm than the other tires. This would indicate a low tire and give a warning alarm and lamp. I'm only guessing as I don't know for sure how the low tire warning works.