Hey guys - my wife recently got a new set of tires on her civic. The recommended pressure on the door jam says 32 psi but i noticed the shop pumped them up to 38.

out of curiosity - is the door jam suggested PSI gospel or does it depend on the particular tires?

 

Embarassing for you and I'll get smoked for responding....anyway, 38 psi seem high-cold?. Check the sidewall of tires for the rec and the max pressure-cold. The 95 EX I have "seems" better when I run 35 psi cold-sticker says 32 psi....where is Ang on this one?????

 

ha yea - well, we're arguing about it right now.

tires in my exp just have the max psi - which in this case is 40. i've never put 40 in a tire.

is this a dumbass question? (yes)

 

My opinion is that generally you should be following the recommended PSI on the doorjamb sticker. You can fill it higher by a few PSI for better gas mileage, etc. But I feel 38 is high-cold for a Civic, even if it is not over the max PSI of the tire.

Tirerack probably has something on this.

 

Here's some info. from Tirerack.

tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=8&

 

Typically you will want to follow the vehicle manufacturer's recommended pressure (if using stock size tires). If the door jam says 32psi then I wouldn't really go much higher than 35psi but not any lower than 32psi for sure.

 

awesome. thanks. so yeah - that's what i figured. follow the placard. 38 seemed high to me. i'll just bleed them down to 32 and see how they do

 

well, they're not stock tyres...

 

What size are they?

 

If they're the size from say a Civic Si, then you can probably find Honda's recommended pressure for that car in your owner's manual.

A tread-depth gauge is a really inexpensive tool. I adjust pressure based on tire wear. You can measure wear difference (center vs/ edge) long before you can SEE the difference.

Do you race? There's a whole different philosophy about tire pressure for racing.