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How Much Tire Pressure Are You Guys Running Out There? The Door Tag States To Run Around 55psi, That Seems A Little Low For This Truck, The Tires State They Can Handle 80psi.
I run what the door sticker says (45 front, 55 rear) except when towing,then I up the rear to the max (or near there).
I've always been told that you should run what the vechicle manufacturer says and not what the tires say - those tire can go on many different vehicles, so they put the max pressure only.
On a side note - I noticed my mpg started dropping off, so I checked my tire pressure. I found the right front had dropped off to 35 psi, all of the other tires we w/in 5 psi of norm. After getting them all up to specs, my mpg have been stedily increasing back up to norm. I always knew tire pressure played a big role in mpg, just never really saw it until i got the X with the trip computer. In all I lost about .5 mpg due to the tire pressure. I know the RF tire has a slow leak, the tire were off due to a recent temp change here (i assume).
I run the maximum stated on my tires (65 PSI in my case). The door jamb info provides the minimum pressures that would keep the ride soft enough to keep the soccer-moms happy.
Think about this ... The X weighs close to 8K lbs. My old F350 only weighed 5K lbs, and came with load range E tires with 80 PSI in them ... and the GVWR for that F350 was 10K lbs.
The X was built on a truck chassis, but Ford tried to get a car-like ride out of it. Pump 'em up ... even if the X is really nothing more than an overgrown staion-wagon.
MarkMoore - If you pump up the rears when towing, then why not the fronts, too? Aren't you using a weight distributing hitch on your rig, and doesn't that transfer a lot of the weight to the front tires?
What it says on the door jam only works for the tires that came with it, I'm guessing D. If you have tires with a different rating then the OEM's, then that's invalid, go by what the tire your truck actually has on it. If you have E rating tires you may need more pressure than that, but not necessarily 80lbs. If you do run them at 80, and your rig is well below their max rating, your tire will wear in the center because it is over inflated. Here is an example, BUT not necessarily for your tires:http://www.bornfreervclub.org/bullet...ion_gr_106.pdf
How much pressure your supposed to run is a linear from the how much below the vehicle is from the max rating. Each manufacture has a tire inflation chart similiar to the one above that help you. I put that there because it's a better visual of the actual thoery. On my F350 I have E rating tires all around, but the fronts only get 70, while the rear gets 80 because that's where all the weight is, and I know exactly how much because I weighed it in on a scale. When I take the camper off, the tires get aired down and are almost equeal. The Ex is different because it doesn't carry nearly as much weight, but the thoery remains. Do some google searches for your tire brand for inflation charts, and some searching on RV.net, where tire pressure is of one of the most critical "preflight" items, thus a lot of info there.
MarkMoore - If you pump up the rears when towing, then why not the fronts, too? Aren't you using a weight distributing hitch on your rig, and doesn't that transfer a lot of the weight to the front tires?
Yes I'm using a WD setup - but I pump up the tires in the rear to "firm up" the ride and reduce bounce, that's all. I guess I could increase the front tires, but I really didn't see the need.
Last edited by MarkMoore; Oct 27, 2006 at 11:31 AM.
I kept my LTXs at 65 and were still wearing on the outer walls, ie not enough pressure... depends on your load and how willing you are to have a harsh ride. More pressure = better mpgs too...
I run 10# over the recommended by Ford on long distance highway trips. I run 10# under the door jamb sticker when off-road or snow conditions. Other than that, I stick to the 45/55.
I have been told that I was too particular about the air pressure in my vehicles tires.