debate on tire pressure

[ebpda9]

well i wanna hear your thoughts on tire pressure and lowered cars. shoud the tires be inflated over the manufacturer's specs with a lowering suspension, underinflated, or follow the car's manufacturer's specs ?


i have the koni yellows and ground control coilovers and the specs for my car are 28psi on all 4 wheels cold but i like to have my tires at 35-36 psi cold. the ride is not that harsh as at 28psi and it handles a lot better

[Zexamericano]

I've got 1000 Migila 16's with Ground Control coilovers and 225/p40/r16 tires. I like up pumped to the max. I keep them at about 45. 1 psi over specs. Having underinflated tires makes you pay more at the pump.

[TeriyakiBroccoli]

Bingo. Also, I feel the steering is kind of sloppy with underinflated tires, I just topped mine off yesterday at 42 psi, they were way under that (the fronts for some reason.)

My car would tend to wander around at high speeds, and it was just from underinflated tires ... go figure. (I'm on a 1.5" drop.)

[spoogenet]

I would not recommend running them over the max psi that the tire is rated for.

General tradeoffs:

overinflation - better gas mileage, potentially quieter ride, won't feel so mushy, slightly longer tread life

underinflation - better acceleration traction, my guess is better braking distance, softer ride if that's your bag, could also yield better cornering results

As far as lowered car specific, I'd say it's not too different than for normal cars. Obviously the higher pressure the less likely you are to dent your expensive rims if you've got low profiles, but you're more likely to jar things loose in your suspension because it's an even stiffer ride. I'd rate is as more of a personal preference.

Again, I'd still stay below max cold psi.

Anybody know what temp they measure max cold psi at, though? It does make a difference if you fill them up in the winter when it's 2C out (or -5 for some of you) versus 30C in the summer.

b

[Leets]

I'd never go over max PSI, but I do try to keep mine pretty close. Sure traction isn't as good off the line, but gas mileage is better and steering response is vastly improved... especially with a manual rack.