Sorry I deal with a lot of tires just not semis as in the big rigs I do lots of tires from 165/60/13- 335/30r22 (bmw) I also do a lot of truck tires as in LT tires like LT285/75R20 like the Ford F-250 f-350s and high trucks like that ram and chevys 3500’s but the username is about me bchondacivic BC for Brandon Chavez and Honda Civic as in me owning a 2000 Honda Civic. And the LT tries are really easy to mount I just don’t like doing them because there big tires. The tires I do hate doing are the big stupid crome rims like 22 and 24 and that you have to reverse mount them but we have a low profile mounter so it makes it easier for us.
My Ford Ranger says 35 psi front and rear which seems a little strange when the front carries the weight of the engine and the rear is often empty and only carries the weight of a little metal. On the other hand, it is a 97 and I have not seen unusual wear in the center of the tires on the rear but they get rotated every 10K.
Where is the fuel tank, and how much does it hold?
Those rear tires have to handle max load at any time, they can’t have a lower pressure except when carrying a load.
1 Like
One of the dilemmas facing vehicle manufacturers is what to do about tire inflation pressure vs the difference in loads front to rear. Do they specify different inflations pressures? What about empty vs fully loaded?
Many vehicle manufacturers have adopted the stance that since people will rotate tires and NOT adjust inflation pressures, the best thing to do is specify the same pressure front to rear - and to specify the same pressure loaded vs empty - and sort out the handling using springs, shocks, and sway bars.
And since everyone who does this does extensive vehicle testing, I think deviating from the vehicle tire placard pressure is a bit fool hardy.
The tank is in the rear a little forward of the rear axle. And I agree
with the second reply that one should stick with the recommended pressure.
When I fill the truck with firewood (about 1,000 lbs) I am sure I need the
35 psi. Also, given the truck is 20 years old and only has about 100K on
it it probably does not matter all that much. The same pressure in the
truck tires and then the 32 (front) and 30 (rear) in the Honda Accord
seemed to speak to two different thought processes. The Honda shaves the
pressures pretty close when it comes to front and rear whereas the Ranger
does not.
We all know about what changes of temperatures do to tire pressure but it is seldom mentioned what changes in elevation do to tire pressure. For example, if you inflate your tires in Santa Fe, New Mexico, 7199 ft. above sea level, to the specified pressure, by the time you drive to Santa Rosa, NM, 4616 ft above sea level, your tires will be underinflated by about 1.13 psi, and if you keep driving to Corpus Christi, Texas, your tires will be underinflated by 3.38 psi.
Another way to look at it, if you inflate a tire to 30 psi at sea level, and then take it to outer space, the tire pressure will read 30+14.7 psi or 44.7 psi.
So, if you drive to the top of Pike’s Peak and notice that your tires are overinflated by 5 psi, leave it alone. They will drop back to the normal pressure when you come back down.
2 Likes
**DefalteGate Comes to CarTalk.com!**
kobowden93, thanks for asking the question!
I’m a guy … safe to say (based on your photo) that I’ve been driving L-O-N-G before you were born 
I DIDN’T KNOW that I should always use the tire pressure from the door jamb sticker. Probably the majority of the time I’ve checked air/tire pressure I went by the information on the tire. Maybe once in awhile I used info from the owner’s manual … so, thanks to you I now know something I didn’t before you asked your question! ; ) (of course, the explanation makes perfect sense – but 'ya don’t know what 'ya don’t know.)
I confess I don’t check tire pressure as often as one ‘ought to’ – once-a-week seems (to me) to really be on the high-side … but I don’t dispute any knowledgeable person who gives that advice. I did buy, btw, a dial-type tire pressure gauge that screws onto the tire valve. I found it WAYYY easier to use and accurately read, then the less expensive “push and slide” gauges. As they say, “back-in-the-day” gauges connected to air hoses at gas stations were generally considered to be inaccurate – as were the air-hose dispensers where you dial the pressure you want. A couple of comments in this tread ; ) intimated that those gauges may be more accurate now.
As an homage to Click & Clack I leave you with this chuckle ; ) I used to live in Colorado (Denver elevation 5,280 feet – the “mile-high city”). When friends/acquaintances would move to Colorado, it would not be ‘unusual’ for someone to ask if they had their carburetor adjusted, and the air changed in their tires. They usually had done the carburetor adjustment, but (of course) would ask “whadda mean, change the air in the tires?” With a straight face one would simply explain that they had low-altitude air in their tires, and because of the atmospheric difference at this much higher altitude, the old air needed to be removed and replaced … adding “any gas station will gladly do that for you”.
And off they would go – to make some mechanic’s day! ; )
–of course I would never do such a thing – but some would.
Are all the tires the same?25 psi? If not,thete may be a problem as in a slow leak. It slould look low compared to the others. They should be set to the door indication. If only one tire is low, fill it up and check it daily for the next few days
The local government (town, city, county, state) would be the first “target” for the lawsuits.
Explain this to someone who cares–the finance director? Mayor, commissioners, select person.
Someone should care…if not about the potential for death (their kids???) then for the money hit!
I’m just the little guy . . . a mechanic
I’m not going to raise a stink and storm into the mayor’s office to rat out my colleagues
Word will get out, and I will be a hated man
Just remember, I have to work with these guys and maintain a good relationship with them
They are not the enemy, you know
I have a little Black and Decker tire inflator I use at home if the need arises-fairly inexpensive, but very handy. The only downside is the really short 120V power cord that pretty much requires an extension cord to plug into. It has a really long DC cord, though, probably because of needing to hook into the car to get power to inflate the tires on the side of the road.
I hook the inflator nozzle to the tire, set the gauge to my desired PSI setting, then turn the thing on. When it gets to the marked spot, it automatically stops. I then turn the power off, pull the nozzle off and repeat 3 more times for each tire.
https://www.amazon.com/Decker-ASI300-Station-Performance-Inflator/dp/B000IE0YIQ
Did you even read this thread? It is about adding air to tires so you apparently can’t do that or you are posting Spam about a repair place. I am flagging you as spam.
3 Likes
Yep, I checked this person’s profile, and her/his only comment in this forum recommends a service provider that doesn’t appear to service the type of vehicle the OP likely owns. I too suspect it is spam.
2 Likes
[“Whitey, post:95, topic:106243”]
recommends a service provider that doesn’t appear to service the type of vehicle the OP likely owns.
'jus wanna say I appreciate responses such as this. There are fewer and fewer smiles in my day these days…
edited to remove newbie html errors
1 Like