OT-Correct tire pressure question!

What's the truth about tire pressures. I emailed Cooper about the 60,000 mile tread wear warranty. I told them I wasn't given any info or papers on it. Today I got a phone call from them, they said they would mail it to me. The girl asked me what psi pressure I was running in the tires. I told her 35, that's what the dealer told me. She said that sounded high, asked what my vehicle was, looked it up and said to put 26 psi in the front and 26 psi in the back. She said that 35 psi was probably the reason I wasn't getting any mileage on the tires. I asked her why would the seller/installer put too much air in them. She said they're in business to sell tires, the sooner they wear out, the sooner I'll buy more. Plus, I'll get a better ride at 26 psi. So, I looked up tire pressure on the Internet. Most articles agreed, run what the vehicle manufacturer recommends, found in the owner's manual and on the door jam. Which in my case is 26 psi. Then I found another article that said to run higher pressure than recommended. This will result in less sidewall flexing which causes more heat which causes more tire wear. So, I remain confused.

She said that 35 psi was probably the reason I wasn't getting any mileage

If I feel my tires wear out prematurely, I'll probably buy a different brand of tire. That means I'll probably also try a different dealer. In my locale (Orygun) I think the tire dealers tend to go out of their way to give good service due to competition (Les Schwab) I really think the dealers would prefer to have repeat business and try to give the customer a good product for the money.

You'll get a softer ride, but better is kind of in the eye of the beholder. If you are a 'performance' driver, you run a higher pressure to reduce sidewall flex etc. when cornering.

Depending on your search techniques (ie use of key words) you can get results that may or may not reflect reality.

I have only dealt with 2 tire dealers over the last 20 years (because of their good service) and both recommended I run P Metric radials at 35 PSI for maximum tire life/fuel mileage. The car makers run lower pressure to give a softer ride.

Do you remember a vehicle called a Ford Explorer and a tire company called

<< Do you remember a vehicle called a Ford Explorer and a tire company called Firestone? >>

You mean like the Ford Explorer/Firestone combo?

If you look at your tire, see if it's worn evenly across the tread. If the centre is worn more than the edges, the pressure is too high. If the edges are worn more, it's too low. Higher pressure might increase fuel mileage a bit, at the expense of ride and traction and tire life. On the front tires, wear along one edge indicates a wheel alignment is called for. My Ford pickup is notorious for using up front tires, and the stupid thing needs an alignment almost every year. Here in the North where we deal with ice in the winter, we sometimes run the pressures a bit lower to increase traction: it increases the size of the footprint. And then we forget to bring the pressures back up when the conditions get better, and end up buying new tires shortly thereafter.

Dan

Rotating them helps a lot. Front tires wear more on the edges and rear tires wear more in the middle on the taxi. I rotate them every four to six weeks and get more even wear. The right front wears the most and the left rear wears the least with 70,000 miles a year on average...

For my private cars, I typically drive three to seven thousand miles a year on each one. Tires last several years, yet I still rotate them once a year or so to get that even wear...

-'91 Caprice taxi -'87 Caravelle sedan [RWD] -'68 Montego coupe