candymanjl

I never rotate my tires. on every car I've owned, FWD or RWD, I've had the alignment set to factory specs and used tire pressure alone to adjust for tire wear and it's worked great. on FWD I just replace the fronts when they go first, the opposite for RWD. plus the last couple cars I've had run staggered sizes so you can't rotate those anyway. I think it's the tire shops that want to sell you 4 tires at a time or charge you for a rotation that want you to rotate your tires

the only time it makes sense to me to rotate tires is to delay a new tire purchase. I'm going to do that just to hold me over another month until I buy my new staggered wheel and tire setup. currently my tires are all wearing dead even from side to side, I've just killed the rears from burnouts and doughnuts staggering will never fix a problem related to tire pressure and wrong alignment settings. it makes sense when you think about it, the front would have to have the opposite problem/settings as the rear for one to even out the wear of the other. it makes more sense to just keep an eye on the tire wear and adjust the pressure as needed.

Stoenr

You know, I really never thought about it that way, but I think you are on to something with that for sure.

All the 3 combined really, just spirited driving all together.

I may get 20k out of a set of tires and brakes.
Were as if it was my dad driving the same car, he would get 40k out of both.
Driving styles have a lot to do with it as you know.

BryceJankowski

No Offence Stoenr but even with a wider tire, riding at 18 psi is not good for any tire. you are putting way to much stress on the sidewall causing chafing on the inner wall. plus the second you hit a large pothole, or un seen bump your gunna be buying a wheel. I have 315's in the rear and they are wearing even at 35 pounds. I agree to just let a few pounds out and see if that helps. If not the i guess your outa luck. Maybe you just need to stop doing so many burnouts! :P

candymanjl

every tire is a little different. my buddy's 04 GT had 305 drag radials and they wore dead even at 18 psi, probably 22-24 hot. he ran that setup for a long time, never had a problem.

Stoenr

I never said to run any tire psi, let alone 18psi!

Ok, maybe in another thread I may have said that regarding drag radials at the strip, lol

candymanjl

I think he meant to quote something I wrote

Tylus

door sticker psi is great for when you have the OEM tires and/or you have the same size tires, but different brands


the second you change out your tires though to a different size, that sticker is worthless. You have to figure out the optimum pressure, and keep a minimum spec in mind.


anybody remember the Firestone debacle back in 2000-2001? That was a combination of 3 things.
I highly suggest that you only run 30 psi in the tires at the lowest...period. Too low a pressure and you run the risk of sidewall damage. Be very careful here. Running 10-20 psi at the track is one thing. The tire never really gets hot. Running under 30 psi on the highway is 100% different. The tire will get to an equilibrium temperature...and the less air the more sidewall will be crushed. This will break down the rubber/steel/nylon and you will get a blowout.


To properly set the pressure, air up the tire to 32 psi. with the tire cold. on a nice straight, even, flat stretch of ground, take some chalk and throroughly mark a section of your tire.adjust your pressure and repeat....alternatively, you can do this with water...but the chalk is easier.





drive the car for about 1,000 miles. check the wear pattern on the tire. adjust your psi as needed.


I drive extremely hard. my tires last only a short amount of time due to my behavior...but they wear evenly. I can replace the rears 2 times before the fronts ever need replacement.

Stoenr

Lol, I have had 20 tires on my car, 5 different sizes, 14 wheels. Only 37k on the clock.
Granted most of the tires were still ok and sold, like the OE's and snows.

235/50/18 BFG OE 4 on Fanblades
235/55/17 GY snows 4 on Bullits
255/45/18 GY summer 8 on Fanblades/CTR
285/40/18 GY summer 2 on CTR
275/40/17 GY drag radials 2 on FR500's

candymanjl

tire pressure needed will vary based on the size and type of the tire and the weight on the tire. there's no blanket rule that works for everything, ask anyone who does any real road racing. if it were as simple as reading the sticker on the car then race teams wouldn't spend time trying different setups.

there's some good reading in this article written by Michelin...

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...nd_Feeding.pdf

page 7 of the PDF they flat out say that for road racing that cold 25psi front and 28psi rear are good starting points and that you can go lower from there if you're hot pressure gets too high. 20 psi is their recommended minimum cold psi to keep from risking the bead unseating from the rim. that suggestion is based on the assumption that you're road racing the car with their sport cup tires and not at the drag strip.

Mickey Thompson suggests starting at 12psi on their drag radials in cars over 3,000 pounds, even less psi on larger tires...

http://www.mickeythompsontires.com/tech.php?bulletin=s3

there's a lot of variables, it comes down to the type of tire, the size, and the weight on the tire as to what pressure is "right". easiest way to tell what's "right" is to find a cold starting pressure that leads to even tread wear on the tire. whatever that number ends up being is "right" for your car and tire combination. someone else could run something different and still be right for their setup, again there's no magic number that always works, it's not that simple

Tylus

yep, with you 100% on that one.

however I'm hesitant to even suggest to anybody that they try anything under 30 psi for normal everyday driving. it's just a dangerous proposition

racing applications...yeah, different story.