Do you think it is showing ignorance or bothering the customer with too many questions if you ask them what tire pressures they prefer instead of going off the door label or the max setting listed on the tire?You dont know what is the cars normal load what the customer preference is in regards to tire life over ride softness or is the customer going for max mileage.
First you need to find out what your company’s policy is. Many require that you use the “book” or door label pressures, period. If a customer wants tire pressures other than the ones on the door label, then they should state that preference when the service order is signed. The max setting on the tire generally should not be used unless substantiated by the door label or some other documentation. That’s my opinion, anyway.
I do not recall a mechanic ever asking me my preference in tire pressure. And it never bothered me that he didn’t check with me first.
Follow the industry standard of inflating to the label. Don’t open the door for any headaches, yours or his.
Our local Costco tire guy puts in 40 lbs when I get my tires rotated even though the car needs only 32. He either has a faulty gauge or mistakenly believes this is good for the tires.
I would only put in what’s on the door post, unless a client REQUESTS more air. Asking a client will likely lead to endless confusion!
Oddly, enough, Costco is one of the places that is insistent on using the door label, or their data base. I thought that was their corporate policy, but could be mistaken. However, their policy works for me.
I believe that you should use the car manufacturer’s recommendations (door post label). If the customer wants to change it, that’s up to them.
Not true. I always have to re-check my tire pressure after every tire rotation & balancing from Costco. I think they use the tire’s max presure instead of using the door label.
My guy always asks me what I want when it comes to issues like tire pressure and brands of parts, because he knows I will have a preference (e.g., I normally run my tire pressure about 2 psi above the recommended value). I really think it depends on the customer. BTW, I wouldn’t even go to cosco if I needed to buy 12 gallons of mustard, certainly I wouldn’t let them touch my cars.
Max pressure listed on tire is ignorance by the mechanic IMHO.
My mechanic always asks me what I want in my tires. Usually, he’ll check one of the rears and tell me what’s in it, like 60 to 65 psi and ask if that’s ok, then hit the fronts and ask about them. Last time the fronts were at 70 and I had 5 psi dropped out.
Skipper
What are you driving,some kind of truck?
If the service inflates the tyres to the number in the book or door sticker and there is a problem later, they are safe. The pressure they used can not be said to be too high or too low since it is what the guys who make the cars say is right (safe) for the car. Even the tyre manufacturers say to use what is on the sticker.
If I would providing the service, I would stick with the sticker value and demand that my employees do also. If the customer wants something else, they will need to do it themselves.
I have noticed that more and more services are using the proper pressure and they are even using torque wrenches and checking the proper torque on the lug nuts. AMAZING!
Yep, 3/4 ton Dodge with a Cummins diesel. Tires are load range E and I routinely run more air in the front to handle the engine weight less in the rear for ride comfort.
Skipper
“I have noticed that more and more services are using the proper pressure and they are even using torque wrenches and checking the proper torque on the lug nuts. AMAZING!”
Would you go near a shop (more than once) that didn’t use a torque wrench on wheel studs?
What are you driving,some kind of truck?
About 20 years ago when I use to do a lot of bike racing…(10-speed). My typical tire pressure was 95lbs.
My bike tires are about 75 psi at the moment (hopefully), but I assumed he was talking about a fairly heavy duty truck.
Most of the time on any truck tire there’s a range of pressures that you can run depending on conditions.
With a half ton (1500 of F150) most of the time they’ve got 6 or 8 ply tires on them and you can run between 35 and 50 psi on them. 35 psi is generally too light but it will ride better empty. The tires will wear faster though. I’ve found 40 to 45 more optimum and it depends on the tire brand. I ran mostly Kelly and BF Goodrich on my half tons both at 45 psi and averaged about 75,000 miles a set out of the tires and got good performance both hauling and empty.
3/4 tons have E rated tires on them. Minimum is 50 psi cold. A lot of it depends on the truck, what you are hauling, and the terrain. A 3/4 ton gas truck can stand less front pressure than a 3/4 ton diesel. The difference is the weight of the engine. I live in hill country and need a lot of pressure to hold the front end going through curves. Generally my cold psi is around 60 on the front. Hot, they’ll heat up to about 70.
The rears generally don’t have a lot of weight on them. I believe in putting the weight on a trailer and pulling it rather than trying to haul it. Think about it, tear up a $1500 trailer with a load of stuff thrown in and beat around on it or tear up a $40,000 truck. About 55 cold will generally do on the rears although I’ve been running 60 lately to get better mileage. At one time I had a 72 F250 with a 1 ton axle under the rear 12 ply tires. I hauled coal on it quite a bit at right close to 3 tons and when I went to pick it up, I’d air up to around 85 psi.
Skipper
Because I used to re-torque them as soon as I got home. I can remember when they all did it.
From the OP. Concerning the label in the door jam didnt they used to give various pressure settings according to how many passengers or how much weight you were going to carry? Just checked a label on a 05 Dodge Stratus and its settings were for a car with 5 passengers or comparable weight only. Iam retired now and have the time to ponder these things. Really I do want to help. I have had managers (from chain shops) who said you dumb *** its right on the side of the tire. Just shut up and did the job.
Hi, oldschool. Great question. You are definately not a dumb*** for asking about tire pressures. I always check the sidewalls for max psi and run pressures up to within 3 lbs of max. On my Sumitomo performance Z-rated tires max pressure is 51 psi, as are the Sumitomo non-high performance H rated tires. I run 48 (checked cold). Door pillars say 30 lbs. Those recs are for the standard Goodyear tires, which came with the car new. No way will the pillar pressures work for these tires. Been running sidewall pressures on all my vehicles for at least 20 years and get excellent performance. One size does not fit all. I understand a tire company’s reticence when you ask them re tire pressures. They think they are avoiding future probs if they tell you to follow pillar recomendations. Even the reps at Michelin parrot the door pillar advice when queried in re to your question. I know, because I called Michelin re their BF Goodrich tires(Yep, BFs are Michelin made). As far as the dumb*** comment, consider the source.