Tire PSI?

mine came from factory/dealer with 38-40,

The cold lowered it enough to kick on my light this winter, dealer has now put in nitrogen at 32.

Just bumped it down to 36 37...butt dyno says it rides smoother but still handles well.

[h=1]CONTINENTAL ExtremeContact DW 235/50ZR18 97Y with 36psi nitrogen.[/h]

36 in the front, 32 out back.

Rule of thumb is 1psi for every 100lbs of vehicle weight which would make ideal pressure around 34 but according to Chrylser, they recommend 36 to 38. At least for mine they do.

Pike said:

Rule of thumb is 1psi for every 100lbs of vehicle weight which would make ideal pressure around 34 but according to Chrylser, they recommend 36 to 38. At least for mine they do.

Click to expand...

Pike, where have you seen Chrysler publish these numbers?

In the door jam of my 2011 V6 touring the sticker states 32 psi at cold for a 225/55/17 tire. At first I thought you were running 18's but then I noticed you have a V6 touring also. I think 32psi cold Air not Nitrogen should heat up about 2 more psi to bring them up to 34-35psi warm.

Gooch said:

Pike, where have you seen Chrysler publish these numbers?

In the door jam of my 2011 V6 touring the sticker states 32 psi at cold for a 225/55/17 tire. At first I thought you were running 18's but then I noticed you have a V6 touring also. I think 32psi cold Air not Nitrogen should heat up about 2 more psi to bring them up to 34-35psi warm.

Click to expand...

My touring comes with 18"

Pike said:

My touring comes with 18"

Click to expand...

Does you door sticker say 38psi? Just curious....

I guess it's 36PSI for a 3600lb vehicle. But then you gotta take into account the weight of the driver, thus adding 2PSI or so? Unless it's already accounted for in vehicle weight by some law or something.

i run 40 all the way around. it doesn't get too cold down here, so the lowest it gets is maybe 38 and might get up to 41-42. i never have a light come on. tires look to be wearing good too.

Gooch said:

Does you door sticker say 38psi? Just curious....

Click to expand...

My door sticker says 32 but I disagree with that. The Goodyear LS2 is an average tire that I feel needs more pressure to function properly. I run mine at 36 and if I go lower to say 32, I can feel a big difference on how the car handles, steers and feels with respect to comfort. I currently have 42,000km on the car and no excessive tire wear from running that pressure. I have 225/50R18's on it. Even Goodyear recommends 32 but the weight of the vehicle would suggest something higher. The max for this tire is 44psi so I'm not worried.

I keep the tires just below what they state on the sidewall. The door jamb is merely a guideline and the minimum pressure to run for optimal efficiency. My Goodyear LS tires are currently nitro filled at 38psi all around.

Chrysler really makes it confusing with the 32 psi callout on the door sticker.
Mine came with 17" Michelin MXV4, Michelin's website and the sidewall calls them out at 44 psi.
A 12 psi difference is pretty big.

My gf put the tire psi up to 51psi, and next thing you know a back tire blows out on her, but if you look at the tire it looks like a little chunk was taken out on the sidewall. I'm certain it blew because of too much air in the tire, would this cause the tire to blow????

staticx314 said:

My gf put the tire psi up to 51psi, and next thing you know a back tire blows out on her, but if you look at the tire it looks like a little chunk was taken out on the sidewall. I'm certain it blew because of too much air in the tire, would this cause the tire to blow????

Click to expand...

Not likely.
The sidewall damage was probably the culprit.

Start out at what the door says for OEM tires, but after a bit of driving, ignore what that says and base your inflation psi according to what the tire wear is doing. if its wearing in the center of the tire, Decease the air pressure by 5 to 10 psi. If its wearing on the inner and outer edges, increase the pressure by 5 to 10 psi. always base your psi on tire wear.

How old were the tires, years/mileage? Any sidewall/thread cracks on the other tires? Without seeing a picture of the damage it is difficult to say.

The psi on the tire is the max cold pressure given that the psi will rise 4-6 psi after being driven. It is possible the tire blew out or was significantly damaged when hitting something on the road, debris/pothole. Not much sidewall flex at 50+psi to absorb the hit.