Wanted to see what tire pressure others are running with 16" steelies and 215/55/16 snow tires?I have them at 32 lbs.

 

use the manufacturers recommended psi

 

Use what your door sticker says.

 

Thats what I thought but I thought it might be different for 16" versus 18"

 

pls post in correct forum. moved

 

Sorry

 

no prob

 

I usually run between 30-32lbs in my snows. Lower pressure=better traction in snow but crap fuel mileage and possibly premature tire wear. 30lbs isn't crazy low though.

 

30 for the fronts ..33 for the rear

 

Why more in the back? There is more weight over the front wheels.

 

I run mine at 32 psi COLD. Just keep an eye on how your tires are wearing. If the tred in wearing on the inside and outside edges (I"m not talking alighment wear here) then you probably need to add a few pounds and if your tires are wearing in the center then you probably need to take a few pounds out.

 

open up your car door and see what gm says to do...cause they kinda know what theyre doing.
i wouldnt know cause im on 225/17/45

 

Kind of like Ford knew what they were doing with the air pressure on the Ford Explorers a few years back when their tires were blowing out and the SUV's were rolling over? Seriously that's a recommended happy medium for morons who have no idea how to read the tread wear patterns on the tire and know when to add or remove air from their tires. You have to monitor your tires and read the tred. That's the only what you'll be sure you have the proper tire pressure for the way you drive, weight you carry in your car, etc.

 

Thanks

 

No problem. Like I said keep an eye on how the tread wears on your tires. If both the inside and outside are wearing while the center isn't your tires are under inflated. Don't confuse this with alignment wear in which only the inside or only the outside of the tire are wearing. If the middle tread on your tires are wearing faster than the outside edges it means your tires are over inflated. Think about blowing up a balloon...the more air you put in the balloon the rounder it becomes. Both are bad and can create excess heat in the tires causing them to blister inside the tire and blow out (this is what happened a few years back with the Ford Explorers...they were under inflated).

Tire pressure wear...





These are examples of alignment wear...

 

^ Great Example . Like the pics ^

 

TY sir

 

different tires want different psi though dont they? i just got new tires put on my car and the tire guy put them at 45psi, he said because its a high performance tire and that you done want them down to 35 psi

 

He's a moron!!! Take them down to 30-32 PSI!! The only tires that should tke that much in the way of PSI is truck tires on heavy duty trucks or when you're towing a heavy trailer with your pickup. If anything you want them a little below recommended specs when the tires are cold because high performance tires heat up a lot more than regular tires when you're driving down the road. for every 5* the temperature of the tire rises or falls from the temperature you last checked the pressure in your tires it's worth about 1 PSI. If you put 30 PSI in your tires when the weather is say 70* outside and the temp drops to 35* that night.and checked your air pressure again that night your tire pressure will be between 23 and 25 psi. This is why you see so many people with low tires on really cold days. The reverse happens when the temperature of the tire goes up. As you drive your car the tires heat up. If you have too much air in the tires to begin with this will only compound the problem and make your tires wear the centers faster.

 

see i knew that was messed up. I called bfgoodrich a few minutes ago to ask them what they recommend and they said gm will say 32 psi on the door but because i bought a bit bigger tires, they recommend 35-36 psi. So i went and changed them right away.

Luckily i have only put 10km on the brand new tires so 45 psi didnt hurt them lol

 

35-36 is a bit hi too. I wouldn't go any higher than 32

 

i will stick with the bfg recommendations. The 32 psi recommendation for my car is with the stock sized perrelli's. I have a different size, different brand and a different type of tire.

I stated that the stock psi was 32 to the person at bfg but they explained to me that, that is specifically for that vehicle and tire combo and that it does not always apply to different sizes and types of tires.

 

I agree. I would never put 35 psi in a passenger car tire high performance or otherwise. I have 255/50/16's on my Camaro (which is a much heavier car) and I run 30 PSI cold and that's actually a tad much. Just watch how it wears. I'll guarantee it wears the centers at 35 PSI but if that makes you feel comfortable that's all that matters. Just keep an eye on it and adjust it as necessary. Remember how I said to read the tread on the bottom of the last page.

 

Low 40's for tire pressure isnt unheard of for high performance driving, IE: AutoX. If you run 30-35psi on a solo course youll wear the shoulder right off the tires and be riding in your sidewall all day.

Regardless of tire size or style I would never put more than 35psi COLD in a tire on a Balt for daily driving.

I keep my 15's at 32psi cold.

 

I agree but I wasn't talking about autox or anything like that I was talking about daily driving and ongoing preventative maintenance on your tires...