jgp1843
New Member
I've been reading with interest everyone's comments on their preferred tire pressures, so here's a question and comment from the other side.
I've accumulated over 350,000 miles in Toyota 4WD pickups and a '99 V6 4WD Amigo prior to getting my Liberty. All of these vehicles weigh within 200 pounds of the Libby, are geared almost identically, have 7-inch wide rims, and use tires almost the same section width and diameter (although they were all LT-rated tires). The sizes were 30x9.50-15, 225/75-16, and 245/70-16. In all cases, the tire pressure that gave best tire wear, i.e. even accross the tread, was 26 psi all around. In fact, the factory recommended pressure on the Amigo was 26/26. I'm arare that underinflated tires will run hot and destroy the tire, but none of these tires never ran warm. (Yokohama Geolandar ATII Plus, Bridgestone Duelers, Armstrong Norsemans, Original Equipment Dunlops).
I'm amazed at the recommended 33/33 presseure from Jeep, and can only assume that this has two reasons: higher pressures increase gas mileage, and higher pressures increase load carrying capacity (and allow the use of, shall we say, sleazier tires with poor load-carrying capacity).
I have noticed that lowering my pressures to 30/30 (which do not generate extra heat) makes the Libby considerably less "darty" on rutted pavement, and my gas mileage is hanging steady at around 22 MPG highway. This also considerably improved stability when pulling my popup camp trailer.
So those of you who have upgraded your tires to something better than the STs, what pressures do you use in everyday street driving, and how are your tires wearing? I'd expect that 36 plus would result in excessive center wear from overinflation, but I'm open to real observations from real users. What are you seeing?
Jim P.
I've accumulated over 350,000 miles in Toyota 4WD pickups and a '99 V6 4WD Amigo prior to getting my Liberty. All of these vehicles weigh within 200 pounds of the Libby, are geared almost identically, have 7-inch wide rims, and use tires almost the same section width and diameter (although they were all LT-rated tires). The sizes were 30x9.50-15, 225/75-16, and 245/70-16. In all cases, the tire pressure that gave best tire wear, i.e. even accross the tread, was 26 psi all around. In fact, the factory recommended pressure on the Amigo was 26/26. I'm arare that underinflated tires will run hot and destroy the tire, but none of these tires never ran warm. (Yokohama Geolandar ATII Plus, Bridgestone Duelers, Armstrong Norsemans, Original Equipment Dunlops).
I'm amazed at the recommended 33/33 presseure from Jeep, and can only assume that this has two reasons: higher pressures increase gas mileage, and higher pressures increase load carrying capacity (and allow the use of, shall we say, sleazier tires with poor load-carrying capacity).
I have noticed that lowering my pressures to 30/30 (which do not generate extra heat) makes the Libby considerably less "darty" on rutted pavement, and my gas mileage is hanging steady at around 22 MPG highway. This also considerably improved stability when pulling my popup camp trailer.
So those of you who have upgraded your tires to something better than the STs, what pressures do you use in everyday street driving, and how are your tires wearing? I'd expect that 36 plus would result in excessive center wear from overinflation, but I'm open to real observations from real users. What are you seeing?
Jim P.
