Quote:
Originally Posted by franktafl
so, do you go by the tire max inflation or the sticker?
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IMHO:
Never, ever go by the car/truck/trailer/RV sticker for tire pressure. That pressure is a compromise put on by the manufacturer...mostly for a good ride. AND...the tires may not be the original tires put on at the factory. The MAX cold pressure on the tire is what you should consider as your "baseline" pressure. IE, the pressure you should use when running a loaded vehicle. You can go down in lbs from there if lightly loaded. I do by 4 to 6 lbs....if lightly loaded. Just depends.
Example:
My heavy touring motorcycle has 2 tires....max tire pressure is 42lbs. When we load up both of us for a ride, I set rear tire pressure to 42lbs. Front to 40lbs. When riding by myself, I set rear to 40 and front to 38. This gives me the best safety, ride comfort and mileage out of a tire.
Truck: Tires say 44 lbs and truck sticker says 35lbs! When empty by myself, I run 38-40 lbs. When towing trailer, I go to max...44 lbs. Again, best safety and handling and tire wear.
Sailboat: 4200 lbs loaded all the time. Tires say 50 lbs...always inflated to 50 lbs.
RV trailer: Tires say 65 lbs. Sticker says 50lbs. (New tires put on by selling dealer for me as they knew I travel across the country a lot. I went to Knoxville, TN from Tucson to pick up used trailer.) Guess what I do? Every trip I set tires at 65lbs. Now the trailer may not be at max, but the tires will run nice and cool at max pressure and less weight.
I'm not a tire engineer and do appreciate their input and opinions...BUT...
I've been doing this for 15 years with the 4,200 lb sailboat all across the country at 65mph...and never had a failure. Tires stay cool and last long enough that I have to replace due to age of tire, not tread wear. The truck tires go over 70K miles with no failures and great wear. Now my max weight trailer (6500lbs) is being towed and I use the same concept. Run at 65lbs @ 65 mph, and they run cool as can be and handle very nicely in our curvy 2 lane mountain roads. I carry a thermometer gun to check the tires at every stop. I run them at this pressure even if my trailer weight may be only half way to max.
This is my opinion guys, but this works for me and works well. Do your own research and choose the best way for you. MY life and that of my wife's is on the line when we ride the motorcycle with only 2 tires to keep us safe. So safety is paramount to everything I do. I just carried this concept over to the truck, the boat and now the trailer. Works for me.
As an aside: About 10 years ago I ran into trouble at Costco. They refused to set my truck tire pressures to the max of 44 lbs. They wanted to set them to the door sticker on the truck. I said no. That would be way underinflated and I wasn't going to cross the desert in July with air temps hovering over 110 degrees towing a 4200 lb sailboat to San Diego. (divide 35 lbs by 44 lbs= .77%. That's 23% underinflated!) Uh...even Michelin rep said "No". I sent a letter to Costco saying they might want to re-think their policy with respect to tire inflation. Their current policy might get them into legal trouble if a member blows a tire while under a load at the door sticker tire pressures. Never heard back from them...but a few months later when I was getting ready for another trip across the desert I had no issues and they set the truck tires at 44 lbs. BTW, they always set the trailer tires at the max rating for me without question. Go figure.
Sorry for the long post. But this subject is important to me. That and wheel bearings. Don't get me started on those things. I got advice from an engineer at the bearing buddy company. Followed that advice and have never had a failed bearing. Never. And that's on my dual axle sailboat trailer!