tires at 50 psi

[nextcar]

after owning my ms3 for about a month now, i decided to check the tire pressure, and found the the cold tire pressure at 50 psi! they should be at 34 front and 32 rear. i've been driving around, often at 80 mph at 100 degree weather, for 2400 miles already. not only is this not good for tire wear, but i think there's some risk of overheating and tire failure.

i am pissed at the dealer. i trusted them to do a basic check of new cars when selling them. if you're a new car owner, i suggest checking the tire pressure. i don't know if it's standard procedure to inflate to 50 psi when they load the ms3 onto ships.

after deflating to normal pressure, i noticed that the car rides better. it felt more secure at highway speed, and not as bouncy. so this is how my car should feel!

[Silver Ecstasy]

This happened alot with the Pontiac GTO's too. I believe they increase the PSI from the factory so that the tires don't flat spot on their boat-ride here to the US. The dealers are supposed to adjust the PDI (delivery inspection). Of course, there's never enough time or consideration in the "service" industry. So you can't always expect much.

[MicaSp33d]

yea a lot of these guys working at dealers and tire shops sometimes don't know jack .. and many of them are either ex cons or immigrants (probably just were i am).. don't worry i'm a minority so i can use the word immigrant .. haha

mines came with about 40psi .. that was the first thing i check after waiting for the tires to cool and i set it back to manufacture specs

[FrequentFlyer]

It's amazing that dealers will pump sunshine up your arse and show you paperwork about them doing a "multi-point inspection" before taking delivery when you buy a car, but yet something as simple as checking tire pressure is not performed. It says alot about their practices.

[CHIEFSMS3]

Mine were at 50 psi+ when I got it home and checked them.

Don't ever ASSume that the dealers are going to do the right things.

It is your car look out for yourself.

[BlackCherry06]

Typical across the brands, trust me.

When I drove my new 2002 Altima home, there was a strong burning smell coming from under the hood when I pulled into the garage. Upon investigation, I found several factory build sheets still taped to various parts of the engine. Not to the plastic covers mind you...but to the exaust shield and engine block. Niiiiiiiiiice PDI.

[Silver Ecstasy]

I had the plastic over my radio screen, my Mazdaspeed sticker still on there, and all over the car, there are Alphabet stickers in the door jams, inside the rear hatch, where parts line up together. I started taking those off and got annoyed. Oh, and yellow stickers on my "oh shit" bars.

[slo03.5msp]

Do you really think we are going to go through and take the letter stickers off your on crack. If you saw how the cars come to us you would realize how much they actually do on a pdi. The plastic on the info display gets left on for the consumer to remove. It's sucks that your tire pressure's were high but you have to remember most of the world doesn't check them. You will often find that when you bring your car in for service tires are inflated to 40 psi. It really doesn't hurt them a little bit better fuel mileage and since people don't check pressure by the time they come in for their next oil change they are usually at about 35 psi which is almost spot on for specs.

Plus you have to remember that they only get paid 8 tenths for doing a pdi!

[BlackCherry06]

Plus you have to remember that they only get paid 8 tenths for doing a pdi!

I was with you until you make that statement. Not an excuse to do half-assed work.

But, it's not really thier job to remove all the little assembly stickers. It's their job to make sure the car is safe to operate and operates within the maker's guidlines. 50PSI isn't a safe tire pressure and at the very least, it shortened the already brief treadlife on his tires.

If a tech doesn't like what he's being paid to do, he should go somewhere else and do something else. But this applies to everyone in any line of work.

[Silver Ecstasy]

Do you really think we are going to go through and take the letter stickers off your on crack. If you saw how the cars come to us you would realize how much they actually do on a pdi. The plastic on the info display gets left on for the consumer to remove. It's sucks that your tire pressure's were high but you have to remember most of the world doesn't check them. You will often find that when you bring your car in for service tires are inflated to 40 psi. It really doesn't hurt them a little bit better fuel mileage and since people don't check pressure by the time they come in for their next oil change they are usually at about 35 psi which is almost spot on for specs.

Plus you have to remember that they only get paid 8 tenths for doing a pdi!

That's like saying:

"I went to McDonald's and they had the beef patties on top of the bread, WTF do they know how to make a sandwich??"
"Well..sir, we only make $6 an hour.."

It doesn't matter what line of work you're in and how much you make. Your job is still your job, and it's up to you to perform it to the best of your abilities. It's not the customer's fault you're not paid enough. That's more your fault, because people don't know how to sell themselves properly and get money when they deserve it. It never pays to be quiet and expect someone to "notice" your hard work and willingly shell out more money for your efforts. If an employee is quiet, a manager assumes all is well. But when you're busting your ass and working hard, that's when you demand your work's worth during your yearly review. Otherwise, hit the road jack. And sell yourself to the next dealership as the best damn service tech around, with months of successful work and deliveries.

I can't fucking stand when people complain about the amount of work involved in their job. It's their job, they chose it, not us! I complain when people are ignorant and feel the rules should be bent in their favor, but not when people complain about too much responsibility for what they're paid for.

That's why content people stay where they're at in their job for 20+ years without advancement, and people who are eager and hungry keep moving up and making more!

And maybe that's why service tech's don't like to talk to customers. They don't like confrontation, they don't have personalities, all they know is: Grab wrench, attach wrench to bolt, turn bolt, repeat.

[arkenzo]

I run 38PSI on all four tires. Best handling/gas mileage combo I've tried......

I also tried the recommended 34/32, no thank you, way to low of a PSI for this car.

[viper117630]

I had my MS3 for 2k miles before i checked the tire pressure. The back tires had 55 psi and the front were 50. I was pissed!

[coololddude]

just about everybody puts in the wrong pressure. i have my own commpressor and it overinflates. i use a handheld guage to correct them. the guage on the air-hose is almost always inaccurate. that said, the tires will take way more than recommended and still be safe. more problems are caused by a air-head driver!!

[slo03.5msp]

So i'm supposed to feel bad for you because you didn't check your own air pressure? I mean lets be realistic. We and I mean that in a community sense. When we wether it be this forum or any other are a rare breed of people who actually care about thier cars. Of the 304,139,947 people that live in the U.S. we make up less than an 1/8 of that. So as you can see there are a lot more people that don't give a shit about thier car then there are that do. That being said, i'm sure you know the old tagline if you want it done right the first time do it yourself. If you don't want to do it yourself don't bitch about someone else being lazy because if you weren't lazy you would have done it yourself!


I had my MS3 for 2k miles before i checked the tire pressure. The back tires had 55 psi and the front were 50. I was pissed!

[Silver Ecstasy]

So i'm supposed to feel bad for you because you didn't check your own air pressure? I mean lets be realistic. We and I mean that in a community sense. When we wether it be this forum or any other are a rare breed of people who actually care about thier cars. Of the 304,139,947 people that live in the U.S. we make up less than an 1/8 of that. So as you can see there are a lot more people that don't give a shit about thier car then there are that do. That being said, i'm sure you know the old tagline if you want it done right the first time do it yourself. If you don't want to do it yourself don't bitch about someone else being lazy because if you weren't lazy you would have done it yourself!

So that means when you buy a brand new vehicle, you have to do your own PDI just to make sure it was done right? Why not grab a hard hat and be on-site when a new construction home is built, just to make sure someone wasn't lazy.

There is no excuse for not being "on your shit" relating to work.

Granted, that doesn't mean "Don't check the tires, the dealer did it!", but i'm just saying, you'd think you wouldn't have to worry about something simple like that.

[lestat13]

The techs at the dealer need to do there job REGARDLESS

BUT

we also need to do our part. A few thousand since I bought my car, just check, 50psi cold pressure. I gotta go out tonight, gonna take the recommendation and set to 38psi and see how it drives.

Maybe this is why my mileage is behind everyone else??? Almost always get 22mpg and maxed out 26 highway

[nextcar]

So i'm supposed to feel bad for you because you didn't check your own air pressure? I mean lets be realistic. We and I mean that in a community sense. When we wether it be this forum or any other are a rare breed of people who actually care about thier cars. Of the 304,139,947 people that live in the U.S. we make up less than an 1/8 of that. So as you can see there are a lot more people that don't give a shit about thier car then there are that do. That being said, i'm sure you know the old tagline if you want it done right the first time do it yourself. If you don't want to do it yourself don't bitch about someone else being lazy because if you weren't lazy you would have done it yourself!

let me see if i understand you.
a buyer spends $25k on a new car, and the dealer fails to do a post delivery inspection that affects safety. instead of blaming the dealer, we're supposed to blame the owner for being lazy, as you put it?

now, i do routine monthly tire pressure checks on my cars. i simply trust a new car because of the huge checklist that they have for PDI. all my previous cars had reasonable pressures when delivered, but this is the first time i've seen 50 psi!!

[matsuda]

If you aren't anal about the tire pressures, you bought the wrong car. Go visit your Buick dealer immediately and trade in your car for a LeSabre.

[happy and angry]

The techs at the dealer need to do there job REGARDLESS

BUT

we also need to do our part. A few thousand since I bought my car, just check, 50psi cold pressure. I gotta go out tonight, gonna take the recommendation and set to 38psi and see how it drives.

Maybe this is why my mileage is behind everyone else??? Almost always get 22mpg and maxed out 26 highwayDon't pull that equivocal "we are all responsible" fence sitting bullshit here. You pay a lot of money to get a PDI done, and it should be done right.

50 PSI doesn't exceed the maximum pressure our tires can handle so all the OP had to deal with was a slightly compromised ride and an odd wear pattern for a bit. This does not excuse the failure of the tech doing the PDI to correctly check tire pressure. It could just as easily have been at 20 PSI (visually almost identical to 32 - 34 PSI) which would have risked sidewall failure during emergency stops, would you guys have been saying "OH well, you should have done your own PDI... ! Gotta double check their work, guys! Dur hurr hurr!" then?

[93mx6]

if you look at your tires, in the small print they will have a maximum PSI handling rate, usually 44 or more if they are performance tires, theres nothing wrong with having your tires at this amount, 44 is the max pressure the tire can be at WITHOUT uneven wear, and will yield better gas mileage, in the summer all mine are at 44 for city driving, it will handle worse, but will be worth it for gas mileage, but winter i run around 30 for snow and better traction.

I do PDI's at my dealership and we always adjust the pressure, they raise them while they are being shipped, and everyone that does pdis has to reduce them.

[viper117630]

So i'm supposed to feel bad for you because you didn't check your own air pressure? I mean lets be realistic. We and I mean that in a community sense. When we wether it be this forum or any other are a rare breed of people who actually care about thier cars. Of the 304,139,947 people that live in the U.S. we make up less than an 1/8 of that. So as you can see there are a lot more people that don't give a shit about thier car then there are that do. That being said, i'm sure you know the old tagline if you want it done right the first time do it yourself. If you don't want to do it yourself don't bitch about someone else being lazy because if you weren't lazy you would have done it yourself!

Hey thanks. Next time I will check every weld, nut and bolt to make sure it's right since the simple things just cant get done.


So that means when you buy a brand new vehicle, you have to do your own PDI just to make sure it was done right? Why not grab a hard hat and be on-site when a new construction home is built, just to make sure someone wasn't lazy.

There is no excuse for not being "on your shit" relating to work.

Granted, that doesn't mean "Don't check the tires, the dealer did it!", but i'm just saying, you'd think you wouldn't have to worry about something simple like that.

Exactly. I am buying a NEW car. I shouldn't have to do anything to this car. It is BRAND NEW. Especially for the other 98% of people that don't care about their vehicles and never check anything on it. Granted, I don't expect my tires to explode but that does put on some improper wear.

[tiagotiago]

after owning my ms3 for about a month now, i decided to check the tire pressure, and found the the cold tire pressure at 50 psi! they should be at 34 front and 32 rear. i've been driving around, often at 80 mph at 100 degree weather, for 2400 miles already. not only is this not good for tire wear, but i think there's some risk of overheating and tire failure.

i am pissed at the dealer. i trusted them to do a basic check of new cars when selling them. if you're a new car owner, i suggest checking the tire pressure. i don't know if it's standard procedure to inflate to 50 psi when they load the ms3 onto ships.

after deflating to normal pressure, i noticed that the car rides better. it felt more secure at highway speed, and not as bouncy. so this is how my car should feel!

I've read all over the place that underinflation is far more dangerous than overinflation. An overinflated tire has less contact patch on the road (since the central part of the thread is the one in contact) so there is less friction with the road and less heat in the tire. An underinflated tire is sagging and has more contact with the road, even in areas that shouldn't be touching it, and hence there's more friction and more heat(in parts of the tire that arent built to handle such stresses).The same principle is why when a car is stuck on mud/snow, you can drop pressures to get more contact patch, but have to jack em up once you're free.

In any case, it's safer to have the tires a few pounds overinflated, than underinflated (as long as you respect the max psi of the tire). If I'm not mistaken, most tire failures ocurr when tires overheat due to underinflation.

Keep looking after your tires, but I'd guess that unless you drove them hard enough to raise the tire temp/pressure a lot, the only side effect you'll see is increased wear in the central part of the tire. Hope this helps!!

[SharkDiver]

I had 55 psi in all 4 of my RX8 tires and the tires only called for 44 psi MAX..I think my MS3 tires were under inflated from the dealer..

[MicaSp33d]

i hope nobody takes the advise to go 44 or 50 psi

over inflating is just as bad a under inflating. Don't go by looks, just because it looks like its sagging at stock pressure doesn't mean its under inflated. This is a huge misconception made by many. Let the gauge tell you. If you look right behind the tire at ground level, you will see what kind of contact patch you have on stock inflation which in the front is pretty much the whole width of the tire. Upping the pressure to 50 will reduce that contact patch. Sacrificing braking, handling, acceleration is not worth the 2 mpg you may get. If you are so worried about mpg .. get tires that have higher rolling resistance.

Max psi on the tire is a precaution not a suggestion. If you set your tires at 50psi and drive it .. friction from the ground will cause heat .. the heat will excite the air molecules and raise the PSI up around 3-5 PSI ... 55PSI = possible tire failure. LOL i hope i got my physics right haha

every car has different balances and weight ... our car i believe is a 62/38 weight distrabution which is why the factory specs list to have a few more psi up front. Tires company can't really tell how much air to put in your car, thats for the factory and you to figure out, their just suppose to tell you what is maximum the tire is rated up to ..

[happy and angry]

Our tire's maximum pressure is 51 psi. The maximum pressure of a tire is cold pressure, not at running temperatures. The PDI left the tires within manufacturers spec for road use.

[MicaSp33d]

Our tire's maximum pressure is 51 psi. The maximum pressure of a tire is cold pressure, not at running temperatures. The PDI left the tires within manufacturers spec for road use.

51psi at cold pressure ... once it warms up it will become 54-56 psi which is beyond the stated MAX pressure the tire can handle ... GOOD LUCK

50psi is not a safe number to use ... go hit a pot hole with 50 psi in your tire see what happens.

y would you want to make your tires rock hard any ways .. this is a performance car ... well you probably shouldn't be putting that kind of pressure in any car.

[tiagotiago]

51psi at cold pressure ... once it warms up it will become 54-56 psi which is beyond the stated MAX pressure the tire can handle ... GOOD LUCK

50psi is not a safe number to use ... go hit a pot hole with 50 psi in your tire see what happens.

y would you want to make your tires rock hard any ways .. this is a performance car ... well you probably shouldn't be putting that kind of pressure in any car.

+1 A regular full size street tire at such a high pressure, so far away from it's recommended setting is asking for trouble. Even if the tire survives, the rest of your car is taking a beating. I understand raising the pressure of the tire a few pounds to suit one's taste in the cars handling/complement a car's setup, but you can't just ignore the recommended settings, they are there for a very good reason.

[happy and angry]

51psi at cold pressure ... once it warms up it will become 54-56 psi which is beyond the stated MAX pressure the tire can handle ... GOOD LUCK

50psi is not a safe number to use ... go hit a pot hole with 50 psi in your tire see what happens.

y would you want to make your tires rock hard any ways .. this is a performance car ... well you probably shouldn't be putting that kind of pressure in any car.Let's try this again.

The manufacturer lists the maximum COLD pressure at 51 PSI. Tire manufacturers (surprisingly) are aware that the air in the tire will heat up and increase the pressure during use. They take this into account when they list the maximum pressure, and as with ALL pressures, list it as the maximum when measured cold. This does not mean that when the tire heats up you have magically exceeded the max pressure.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/tirespecskey.jsp#maxinflation

I never said it was a smart pressure to run. I have argued the exact opposite. I have simply pointed out that it does not exceed manufacturers spec, as some have suggested.

[MicaSp33d]

yes i agree that the tire shouldn't blow up at 50psi cold pressure even when its hot .. but for just street driving ... i would follow the factory recommended psi

of course this doesn't apply to other types of drivers such as drag or auto x ...

[Hyun]

mines usually around 30-35psi if anybody cares :)

[DennisW]

just about everybody puts in the wrong pressure. i have my own commpressor and it overinflates. i use a handheld guage to correct them. the guage on the air-hose is almost always inaccurate. that said, the tires will take way more than recommended and still be safe. more problems are caused by a air-head driver!!


Huh..?


Most compressors are designed for multiple purposes, not just filling tires to an exact pressure. And there are also many different correct pressures for different cars and tires, so there is really no one "correct" pressure.

Yep, gauges on the hose are horribly inaccurate, which is why it's in your best interests to buy yourself a good tire gauge.

And don't underestimate the advantages of **correct** tire inflation. Too much air can be as damaging to your tires and their life as too little.

[ecniemann]

I just let the TPMS tell me where I'm at. (poke)

[MikeHTally]

51 psi is the maximum inflation pressure when mounting the tire, not the maximum running pressure. Over 51 psi and the tire bead might keep going past the tire rim. I saw that happen once and the result was not pretty.

Interestingly, a friend of mine stopped by my shop many years ago to show me his new RX-7. I took it for a spin, and it seemed REALLY up on its toes. Turned out it had almost 50 psi in the tires. I wondered if somehow two people aired up the tires on the assembly line.

[mr_mazda329]

first thing I did too when I bought the car was cheack the pressure. It was at 50psi. I'm running 40 all the way around.

[dokx]

not to stir the pot, but just a thought...

I wonder how tire pressure affects warranty (both manufacturer and dealer)...but I'm too lazy to go dig up the paperwork. I wonder if you tried to file a claim, if they would come back and say, "We can't honor this because your tires had 50psi in them". I'm not really much of a conspiracy theorist, so this may be pushing it. (shrug)

[FrequentFlyer]

not to stir the pot, but just a thought...

I wonder how tire pressure affects warranty (both manufacturer and dealer)...but I'm too lazy to go dig up the paperwork. I wonder if you tried to file a claim, if they would come back and say, "We can't honor this because your tires had 50psi in them". I'm not really much of a conspiracy theorist, so this may be pushing it. (shrug)

Don't give them any ideas. Anything is possible with a crooked service department.

[MikeHTally]

first thing I did too when I bought the car was cheack the pressure. It was at 50psi. I'm running 40 all the way around.
That'll sure wear 'em out early.