no. i set mine to what honda recommends. i believe they know more about it than me, and i want to be sure my handling is the best it can be.
I haven't noticed any unusual wear and I have well over 50K miles and the car has never been under 60 psi since I drove it off the lot.
I used to keep it at 43 PSI, which is the sidewall max for the Metzeler Z6 tires I had. The new Heidenau K73 set can't really deal with it, I feel them distort at such pressure, now I went down to 38 to avoid the feeling of balancing on the edge of a blade. Still a bit higher than what BMW recommends for the F650CS (32/37 front/rear).
I believe Honda knows how to sell cars, and that's with a soft and squishy ride. How do your tires normally wear, and how often do you reach their treadlife warranty?
Tires are tested to over 200 PSI. The sidewall max is required to be on there by federal law. Others with different pressure on the front and rear keep that difference. Using your car as an example you could run at 38/43 front/rear.
If I had a car I'd probably go higher. It's trickier with motorcycles though. Keeping front/rear different is still not a bad idea. I'll experiment some more with them.
I have Michelin Energy tires, rated 51 PSI, now pumped @45 PSI each. The fronts are fine, even wear and decent grip. The rear is different story, the wear is becoming apparent only on center while the edges wear slower (approx. 1/4" is left out). When driving on wet road, I must be much more aware than usual and be careful in the turns. The rear of the car likes to break loose and without ESP, that can be quite an event. And that is for example in the town while doing 25 mph into a turn... Any tips? Should I lower the rear pressure or drop speed? Doing the latter would aggravate others even more and slow me down quite a bit. OTOH, FE is astonishing with Energy's at high PSI.
Just a clarification. The law does not say WHAT pressure is supposed to be imbedded on the sidewall, just that there has to be one.
Exactly. I have no way to prove this but, I think the pressure is set where it is nostly for insurance purposes in our litigation-happy society.
I have a downhill left hairpin turn on my daily commute. I can tell you for a FACT that sidewall 44 psi has better grip than Honda's recommended 32. I try to preserve all the momentum I can through that turn so I need less gas to climb the next hill.
i run on my michelin x's about 48psi all the way around where its rated 44psi! i will go up to 50psi in a week or so!
Automakers set the door-placard psi based on comfort rather than handling. It is almost always a minimum to limit the risk of rollovers and blowouts from overheating -- NOT a maximum. I've tried various psi on several cars, and have always found that (except in snow) handling and grip improve with higher psi. By the way, to my surprise my new Elantra Touring was just delivered with the tires already inflated to the max sidewall of 44psi!
I tried to inflate them to 2.5/2.7 bars front/rear (~37/40 PSI) instead of 2.6/2.6 (~38/38), they feel better (2.6/2.6 felt like the very limit of safe level of distortion). It seems to be the way to go.
That may be true, but 32 works just fine for any situation as long as you know how to drive. I like great handling, but it cost too much money to exercise it all the time.
I think honda's have the best compromise of soft ride and handling. I don't think they are squishy, but that is a subjective argument. I have never worn out a brand new set of tires. I bought 80k miles just 6 months ago and expect at least that from them. I used to work on Honda vehicles and know they have excellent tire wear at the recommended pressure.
