Tire Pressures?

[Pcan]

The 2001 Elantra we just purchased has stock 195 tires.
Max pressure is 44 pounds for these tires.
The sticker in the drivers door says pressure should be 30 pounds for this car.
I have always put the max pressure in my tires.
Whats best?

[05xd]

I usually put around 32 psi in my tires.Thats feels pretty good to me.

[soullesselantra]

i was told to watch putting the tires at max pressure, it doesnt leave much room for them to expand and may blow out easier than if you took them down a little

[mtlelantra]

You don't want to deviate too much from recommended... at 44, I think you'll run the risk of running the center tread bald. I run about 35 front, 31 rear, more in the front to compensate for the heavier front end.

[Pcan]

Thanks all for some good advice.

[quickfingerz]

I run 33 front 30 rear with 215/45/17.

With stock I'd run 32/30.

[FinalBreath]

i run 35 in the front 33ish in the rear...

[Gregster]

The OEM recommendations of 30 psi is mainly for ride comfort. I can handle the jolts, and prefer better fuel economy. I upped my pressure to 35 psi all around. Like everyone said, 44 psi is too much. Those are the limits of the tire, you run the risk of blow out or premature wear. Remember tires expand as you drive b/c of the friction/heat generated.

Gregster

[only1db]

do not use full pressure!! i myself have always ran max pressure thinking of the performance gain...but the center of the tires wear extremely quick and you actually lose traction due to the sidewall not being able to "bite"the road...now with my toyo's max press was 50!...i recently put my rims back on and lowered the pressures to around 37 or 38 all around...it handles WAY better!! any other questions you can always PM swortham....he is the one that imformed me

[cbrmale]

I run 250kpa in the front and 240kpa in the rear (36/35) on 195 tyres. I had new tyres fitted once, and the car drove really badly; the steering was light and vague and it had no grip at all. The tyre shop had inflated the new tyres to 280 all round and it was clear that the tyres were only running on the centre part of the tread. As soon as I deflated the tyres, it felt much better.

[SWortham]

Tirerack has a lot of good info on this subject...
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/tiretech.jsp

You should follow Hyundai's recommended tire pressures (30 psi) moreso than the max pressure written on the sidewall.

But there are advantages towards fine tuning the pressures. I like to drive with around 36-38F/ 34-36R psi for daily driving. The slightly higher pressures improve steering response and help prevent the tires from rolling over during hard cornering without decreasing the size of the contact patch too much or screwing up your tire wear.

[Bnystrom]

The 2001 Elantra we just purchased has stock 195 tires.
Max pressure is 44 pounds for these tires.
The sticker in the drivers door says pressure should be 30 pounds for this car.
I have always put the max pressure in my tires.
Whats best?
36 front/32 rear works nicely. In FWD cars, the front wheels carry ~60% of the weight, so you need higher pressure in the front to support it. You get better handling (less understeer) and more even tire wear with the pressures set this way.

[djarsonist]

35/35 on mine...

[Pcan]

Before I started this thread I set the tires at 35/35.
I think I'll try these pressures and If needed go to 35/33.
Thanks again.

[XTRAWLD]

I run 32/33 all around, 44 would burst the bubble so to speak, as mentioned above, no room to expand when the tires heat up. I feel the ride is also more rough, as ther is less of a cushion if completely inflated. Ideally check your tire pressure when the tires are cool, first thing in the morning before you start up for example.

[BlackElantraGT]

With 215/45/17, I set it to 34 psi front, 32 psi rear

[BColeman]

Everytime I go to the air machine to fill up, I always check the pressures with a digital tire pressure gauge, using the same gauge every time. It seems that after driving around, the tires heat up so much, the pressure I'm reading is actually the heated pressure.

I tested a theory when I first bought the car. I ran around for a week or so and then went to check the pressures. After the car had been driven for a while, the pressure at all four tires was 44 PSI. A few weeks later, I drove for a while and checked the pressure, it was considerably less, and noticeable in driving behavior.

I then came up with my own formula, basically comind down to 8 PSI of "inflation" when tires are hot. So when I go to fill up the tires, and they say something like 31 or 34 PSI, I know to increas to 36 or 38 PSI. I'm introducing cold, non-expanded air to a hot tire, so adding too much would risk blow out.

To "prove" my theory,the next morning I checked my cold tires air pressure, and I was sitting at 34 PSI all around. So far my theory seems to be working, so I stick with it.

The optimal thing to do is to check the pressure prior to driving the car, remember or right down how much each tire was at. Drive to the gas station and put in the difference of air between what you had and what you want. For example: Fronts are at 28 and rears are at 29. You want 34 PSI, you add 6 to the fronts and 5 to the rears.

I never thought about staggering the tire inflation, making the front have more. I'm going to give that a shot and see how well that does. 34 up front and 32 out back.

[BlackElantraGT]

Here's a good read for a Tire Pressure Guide. It'll give you a good starting point. What works for me may or may not necessarily be right for you.

http://www.sportcompactcarweb.com/tech/0208scc_tires/index.html

[2loud2k2xd]

i would advise you to go by what the tires says for pressure. because most people change tires and wheels its not a good idea to rely on the car manufacturers psi for the car now. i ran 35 in my 17's, and now i run 40 psi in my 18's.

[Bnystrom]

The maximum pressure that's on the sidewall of a tire is the maximum running pressure that the manufacturer recommends. It is NOT the maximum pressure that a tire can withstand. Tires are tested against blowouts to well above their maximum, typically to around double the max rating. Although there's little or no point in running tires in the 40 PSI+ range (unless they are grossly undersize for the weight of the car), doing so is not going to cause them to blow out. My EGT had ~50 PSI all around when I picked it up. This is routinely done for shipping in order to prevent the tires from compressing too much when the car is strapped down on the ship and the car carrier. Dealers are supposed to reduce the pressure when the receive the car, but mine evidently goofed. It was unpleasantly harsh riding, to say the least. Driving them that way for any significant length of time would have caused excessive wear in the center of the tread and would wear suspension components faster, so it's obviously not advisable.

[CTele02]

I also noticed my car's tires were over inflated by alot when I got it and while I do fill them up I always just go by 30/30.

[fgummett]

i would advise you to go by what the tires says for pressure. because most people change tires and wheels its not a good idea to rely on the car manufacturers psi for the car now. i ran 35 in my 17's, and now i run 40 psi in my 18's.If you are suggesting that we go by the maximum running pressure on the side of the tire I don't think this is good advice at all. I agree that the manufacturers guideline is based on economy and comfort when using stock wheel and tire sizes but some common sense must be applied beyond that. Are you saying that your 17's said 35 psi on the side and your 18's say 40 psi, or did you come up with that figure through some other means?

[2loud2k2xd]

If you are suggesting that we go by the maximum running pressure on the side of the tire I don't think this is good advice at all. I agree that the manufacturers guideline is based on economy and comfort when using stock wheel and tire sizes but some common sense must be applied beyond that. Are you saying that your 17's said 35 psi on the side and your 18's say 40 psi, or did you come up with that figure through some other means?

if i remember right, my kumho's said 42psi max, and my nitto neo gens say 44psi max. i run 40psi now in my nittos. and i ran 35in my kumhos. when you change tire sizes, and wheel sizes i dont think the factory recommended psi scale will be ok to go by. factory psi ratings are for stock tire/wheel sizes only. imo.

[fgummett]

if i remember right, my kumho's said 42psi max, and my nitto neo gens say 44psi max. i run 40psi now in my nittos. and i ran 35in my kumhos. when you change tire sizes, and wheel sizes i dont think the factory recommended psi scale will be ok to go by. factory psi ratings are for stock tire/wheel sizes only. imo.I'm agreeing with you that when you change rim/tire size from stock, the stock recommended 30 psi (cold) all round doesn't just cut it anymore :) I'm disagreeing with your advice to instead "go by what the tires says for pressure" (the maximum pressure recommended by the tire manufacturer without any knowledge of the car's weight, suspension, steering geometry etc... etc...)... advice which you seem not to have taken yourself.

This is a good article and worth reading for those interested in this subject... Here's a good read for a Tire Pressure Guide. It'll give you a good starting point. What works for me may or may not necessarily be right for you.

http://www.sportcompactcarweb.com/tech/0208scc_tires/index.html

[BlackElantraGT]

It would be a lot easier and this question wouldn't exist if on the tires, the manufacturers said... "Inflate to this pressure". Unfortunately, those same tires are made for a variety of cars, which all have different loads so there's no way the manufacturer can suggest the proper PSI for you and your car, at least not on the sidewall of the tire!

The PSI that is listed is the MAX pressure that you should ever inflate those tires to. I don't care if the tires were tested to double the MAX PSI, I would still never run them anywhere close to MAX pressure. Anytime a manufacturer says something is the max, it's a warning sign.

For example, the redline on our car is 6500 RPM. Does this mean that you should shift at this point? Does this mean that the engine can't rev any more than 6500 RPM? No! Technically you can do this but doing so will shorten the life of your engine or increase the risk of it blowing up.

[Gun5]

35 for all mine.. although the fronts keep losing it each week and discount tire still wont do anything about it so my budd up there said hed give me one free and half off the other one ($30 or so total) seems like a good deal since i have been making alot pullin alot of U's and hard corning

[Kens GLS]

Since i read this thread ive changed my tire pressure from 33 all around to 36 front and 32 rear and I like the way it feels now. Thanks!!

[DeepWaterBlue]

for whatever reason........this was what I used to use for great handeling/comfort/milage combinations:

32.5 front
34 rear