tires at 50 psi

[viper117630]

So i'm supposed to feel bad for you because you didn't check your own air pressure? I mean lets be realistic. We and I mean that in a community sense. When we wether it be this forum or any other are a rare breed of people who actually care about thier cars. Of the 304,139,947 people that live in the U.S. we make up less than an 1/8 of that. So as you can see there are a lot more people that don't give a s*** about thier car then there are that do. That being said, i'm sure you know the old tagline if you want it done right the first time do it yourself. If you don't want to do it yourself don't b**** about someone else being lazy because if you weren't lazy you would have done it yourself!

Hey thanks. Next time I will check every weld, nut and bolt to make sure it's right since the simple things just cant get done.

So that means when you buy a brand new vehicle, you have to do your own PDI just to make sure it was done right? Why not grab a hard hat and be on-site when a new construction home is built, just to make sure someone wasn't lazy.

There is no excuse for not being "on your s***" relating to work.

Granted, that doesn't mean "Don't check the tires, the dealer did it!", but i'm just saying, you'd think you wouldn't have to worry about something simple like that.

Exactly. I am buying a NEW car. I shouldn't have to do anything to this car. It is BRAND NEW. Especially for the other 98% of people that don't care about their vehicles and never check anything on it. Granted, I don't expect my tires to explode but that does put on some improper wear.

 

[tiagotiago]

after owning my ms3 for about a month now, i decided to check the tire pressure, and found the the cold tire pressure at 50 psi! they should be at 34 front and 32 rear. i've been driving around, often at 80 mph at 100 degree weather, for 2400 miles already. not only is this not good for tire wear, but i think there's some risk of overheating and tire failure.

i am pissed at the dealer. i trusted them to do a basic check of new cars when selling them. if you're a new car owner, i suggest checking the tire pressure. i don't know if it's standard procedure to inflate to 50 psi when they load the ms3 onto ships.

after deflating to normal pressure, i noticed that the car rides better. it felt more secure at highway speed, and not as bouncy. so this is how my car should feel!

I've read all over the place that underinflation is far more dangerous than overinflation. An overinflated tire has less contact patch on the road (since the central part of the thread is the one in contact) so there is less friction with the road and less heat in the tire. An underinflated tire is sagging and has more contact with the road, even in areas that shouldn't be touching it, and hence there's more friction and more heat(in parts of the tire that arent built to handle such stresses).The same principle is why when a car is stuck on mud/snow, you can drop pressures to get more contact patch, but have to jack em up once you're free.

In any case, it's safer to have the tires a few pounds overinflated, than underinflated (as long as you respect the max psi of the tire). If I'm not mistaken, most tire failures ocurr when tires overheat due to underinflation.

Keep looking after your tires, but I'd guess that unless you drove them hard enough to raise the tire temp/pressure a lot, the only side effect you'll see is increased wear in the central part of the tire. Hope this helps!!

 

[SharkDiver]

I had 55 psi in all 4 of my RX8 tires and the tires only called for 44 psi MAX..I think my MS3 tires were under inflated from the dealer..

 

[MicaSp33d]

i hope nobody takes the advise to go 44 or 50 psi

over inflating is just as bad a under inflating. Don't go by looks, just because it looks like its sagging at stock pressure doesn't mean its under inflated. This is a huge misconception made by many. Let the gauge tell you. If you look right behind the tire at ground level, you will see what kind of contact patch you have on stock inflation which in the front is pretty much the whole width of the tire. Upping the pressure to 50 will reduce that contact patch. Sacrificing braking, handling, acceleration is not worth the 2 mpg you may get. If you are so worried about mpg .. get tires that have higher rolling resistance.

Max psi on the tire is a precaution not a suggestion. If you set your tires at 50psi and drive it .. friction from the ground will cause heat .. the heat will excite the air molecules and raise the PSI up around 3-5 PSI ... 55PSI = possible tire failure. LOL i hope i got my physics right haha

every car has different balances and weight ... our car i believe is a 62/38 weight distrabution which is why the factory specs list to have a few more psi up front. Tires company can't really tell how much air to put in your car, thats for the factory and you to figure out, their just suppose to tell you what is maximum the tire is rated up to ..

 

[happy and angry]

Our tire's maximum pressure is 51 psi. The maximum pressure of a tire is cold pressure, not at running temperatures. The PDI left the tires within manufacturers spec for road use.

 

[MicaSp33d]

Our tire's maximum pressure is 51 psi. The maximum pressure of a tire is cold pressure, not at running temperatures. The PDI left the tires within manufacturers spec for road use.

51psi at cold pressure ... once it warms up it will become 54-56 psi which is beyond the stated MAX pressure the tire can handle ... GOOD LUCK

50psi is not a safe number to use ... go hit a pot hole with 50 psi in your tire see what happens.

y would you want to make your tires rock hard any ways .. this is a performance car ... well you probably shouldn't be putting that kind of pressure in any car.

 

[tiagotiago]

51psi at cold pressure ... once it warms up it will become 54-56 psi which is beyond the stated MAX pressure the tire can handle ... GOOD LUCK

50psi is not a safe number to use ... go hit a pot hole with 50 psi in your tire see what happens.

y would you want to make your tires rock hard any ways .. this is a performance car ... well you probably shouldn't be putting that kind of pressure in any car.

+1 A regular full size street tire at such a high pressure, so far away from it's recommended setting is asking for trouble. Even if the tire survives, the rest of your car is taking a beating. I understand raising the pressure of the tire a few pounds to suit one's taste in the cars handling/complement a car's setup, but you can't just ignore the recommended settings, they are there for a very good reason.

 

[happy and angry]

51psi at cold pressure ... once it warms up it will become 54-56 psi which is beyond the stated MAX pressure the tire can handle ... GOOD LUCK

50psi is not a safe number to use ... go hit a pot hole with 50 psi in your tire see what happens.

y would you want to make your tires rock hard any ways .. this is a performance car ... well you probably shouldn't be putting that kind of pressure in any car.

Let's try this again.

The manufacturer lists the maximum COLD pressure at 51 PSI. Tire manufacturers (surprisingly) are aware that the air in the tire will heat up and increase the pressure during use. They take this into account when they list the maximum pressure, and as with ALL pressures, list it as the maximum when measured cold. This does not mean that when the tire heats up you have magically exceeded the max pressure.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/tirespecskey.jsp#maxinflation

I never said it was a smart pressure to run. I have argued the exact opposite. I have simply pointed out that it does not exceed manufacturers spec, as some have suggested.

 

[MicaSp33d]

yes i agree that the tire shouldn't blow up at 50psi cold pressure even when its hot .. but for just street driving ... i would follow the factory recommended psi

of course this doesn't apply to other types of drivers such as drag or auto x ...

 

[Hyun]

mines usually around 30-35psi if anybody cares

 

[DennisW]

just about everybody puts in the wrong pressure. i have my own commpressor and it overinflates. i use a handheld guage to correct them. the guage on the air-hose is almost always inaccurate. that said, the tires will take way more than recommended and still be safe. more problems are caused by a air-head driver!!

Huh..?


Most compressors are designed for multiple purposes, not just filling tires to an exact pressure. And there are also many different correct pressures for different cars and tires, so there is really no one "correct" pressure.

Yep, gauges on the hose are horribly inaccurate, which is why it's in your best interests to buy yourself a good tire gauge.

And don't underestimate the advantages of **correct** tire inflation. Too much air can be as damaging to your tires and their life as too little.

 

[ecniemann]

I just let the TPMS tell me where I'm at. (poke)

 

[MikeHTally]

51 psi is the maximum inflation pressure when mounting the tire, not the maximum running pressure. Over 51 psi and the tire bead might keep going past the tire rim. I saw that happen once and the result was not pretty.

Interestingly, a friend of mine stopped by my shop many years ago to show me his new RX-7. I took it for a spin, and it seemed REALLY up on its toes. Turned out it had almost 50 psi in the tires. I wondered if somehow two people aired up the tires on the assembly line.

 

[mr_mazda329]

first thing I did too when I bought the car was cheack the pressure. It was at 50psi. I'm running 40 all the way around.

 

[dokx]

not to stir the pot, but just a thought...

I wonder how tire pressure affects warranty (both manufacturer and dealer)...but I'm too lazy to go dig up the paperwork. I wonder if you tried to file a claim, if they would come back and say, "We can't honor this because your tires had 50psi in them". I'm not really much of a conspiracy theorist, so this may be pushing it. (shrug)

 

[FrequentFlyer]

not to stir the pot, but just a thought...

I wonder how tire pressure affects warranty (both manufacturer and dealer)...but I'm too lazy to go dig up the paperwork. I wonder if you tried to file a claim, if they would come back and say, "We can't honor this because your tires had 50psi in them". I'm not really much of a conspiracy theorist, so this may be pushing it. (shrug)

Don't give them any ideas. Anything is possible with a crooked service department.

 

[MikeHTally]

first thing I did too when I bought the car was cheack the pressure. It was at 50psi. I'm running 40 all the way around.

That'll sure wear 'em out early.