Recomended tire pressure

To get tire pressure where I like it, I rub chalk across the tread in about a one inch wide band. I then drive the Jeep on as smooth and level street surface as I can find. Have a look at the chalk. It gives you an indication of the contact the tire is making on the asphalt. If the out side edges are not making contact, I let a little air out and try again. I keep doing this until I have an even contact patch across the entire width of the tire. My 33 inch Micky Thompsons need 20 psi to make even contact. This has resulted in nice even tire wear. I find if I ride on recommended tire pressure, the tires wear in the middle of the tread first.

This last summer they paved my street, worked great.

Gold03

I second gold03! that is the only true way to figure things out and you'll probably end up with different pressures front versus back. It is time consuming, but it is hard to say what the perfect psi would be since tires are different and vehicles are different especially with weight and the # of tire plies.

:rotflmao: That's good. True, but good none the less. I was cruising around a few days ago and thought Man, this thing really is running smooth lately, wonder what happened-maybe it's just happy it warmed up above zero the last week or so. Then I realized-I had dropped to 6 psi and forgot to air back up... :rotflmao: Sure was a smooth ride like that "84 caddy" while it lasted though...

Good advice above. Pick your poison.

Best of Luck,

Mike

Too much or too little pressure and oversize tires will start to wear in a strange pattern.

Here's one method I used: draw a chalk line across the tread of the tire using some "sidewalk chalk" (the big fat stuff) then drive a few tire revolutions. The goal was to get a fairly flat contact patch, with the full width of the tread on the pavement, indicated by an even wear off of the chalk as I drive 10 -20 feet or so. Adjust pressure, repeat.

Tire brand and style, size, rig weight all play a factor.

with my BFG MT 33x12.50x15, 28psi was a pretty good number. Sometimes I'll bump to 30 PSI.

JimmyC said:

its pretty simple...

too much air:
- better fuel economy
- stiff ride
- accelerated center tread wear

"correct" air:
- average fuel economy
- smooth ride
- even tread wear

too little air:
- poor fuel economy
- "1984 Caddy" plush ride
- accelerated shoulder tread wear

figure out that you want from the tire and adjust accordingly

After over 10 years of working in the tire industry, i have learned this...
For cars, follow sticker F/R.
For SUVs, typically follow sticker F/R
For trucks, follow sticker for the front and adjust rear pressure to accomidate for bed load
For Jeeps/Jeep like vehicles and oversize tires its a balancing act. refer to the three statements made above

Click to expand...

This says it all. I have found with my MTRs that 18 is good for comfortable ride, but usually leave them at 30 for wear and mpg. I don't concern myself with the wear pattern as the psi gets changed frequently with airing up/down and I rotate every 3K or less. Also I don't wear them out the way I would street tires on another vehicle. Gotta have good tread on the trail. This may change since when I bought my last set of tires I bought new rims too and now have a set of off road tires and the old set for street use.

35 procomp xterrain, after 18 months, I like 22 on the highway. Might push that up to 26 on a longer drive for better fuel milage. 8-10 off road.
Ron

On one set of MTR (old style) I got over 60 thousand miles on a set of 5 tires and the 5 tire rotation, and that was with a ton of rock crawling and tire burning in Tellico when it was open.
I rotated every oil change and increased or decreased tire pressure as I saw fit ranging from 30 to 37psi. keeping as evenly as possible. Also, rotated the tires in position that would suite best for wear. Wasn't difficult, just kind of watched them and stayed on top of it.
If you just go to the tire shop and say "rotate my tires please" and go sit down, well, you get what you get.
I gave those tires to a friend who put spikes in them and there still rolling

The 35's I have now don't get off road as much and haven't been rotated as well but are still on (hopefully) the same path.