And maybe Audi or BMW. But do Americans, even mechanics and tire retailers, effort to look for that information, right on the frame or inside the gas lid? Or just send everything out of the bay with ‘35psi’ in it?
In the Philippines, practically any vehicle’s placard I checked had different front and rear pressures, except maybe for Civics and Corollas(basic econoboxes in any country).
Tire pressure is chosen for handling.
The proof of this are FWD or FWD based AWD cars that are heavier in the front yet specify higher rear pressures. Simiar examples are FWD cars with the same pressure at the rear and front even though the rear weight is one 3rd of the front.
So in the U.S., where the majority of the same cars made for other countries specify the same tire pressure for all four wheels, doing so is for handling?
I’ll provide personal evidence contrary to that:
From 2016 to 2019 I drove a low mileage 2015 Hyundai Elantra. MacPherson front, torsion beam rear. Cold tire pressure spec. 33psi.
The rear end on that thing, at those pressures, kicked out on rough roads more than the solid beam rear on an '83 F-body. And that was at or maybe 1-2mph above 30mph posted speed limit on a local road.
So I experimented with lowering the rear tire cold pressures to 32(the original 2011 spec on these Elantras until 2013), and ultimately 31psi.
That rear end calmed right down, I no longer had to correct the steering for all that shake-your-booty going on(!), and it felt more car-like.
Plus, I had no problem with four other adults in the car, plus two large casseroles we were bringing to a friend’s upstate for Christmas one year.
Because I think, therefore I can determine if cold tire pressures, other than OEM door placard all same pressures, might optimize handling.
I also look at how a car’s tires are wearing. If, with the same spec pressure in all four tires, especially low mileage ones, I notice more shoulder or middle-tread wear occurring at one end of the car, I will adjust the cold pressure accordingly. Not just blindly follow a placard specifying the same tire pressures all around, or some convention or shop policy of “35 & out the door”.
I guess doing so makes me “less American” and more… ?
Yes, as I have already stated.
That is a wheel control problem. Pressures are chosen for lateral grip on relatively smooth pavement… basically understeer under nearly all conditions.
If the frequency of those bumps were a little different… you speed up or slow down… the performance would change and maybe you’d need 34 psi… or a little different amplitude and you’d need 36 psi.
I would also state that for the majority of drivers and conditions one psi up or down would be imperceptible.
People’s sensitivity varies linearly. On the low end, a dump truck rides like a Lincoln. On the other end, some could feel a difference in 1 psi tire pressure. Those become development engineers for major manufacturers.
As do Mercedes Benz depending on vehicle and maybe a few others here in the US…
My grandmother had cataracts and then she had the surgery. She swears she saw like a 20-year-old after it was done. It made her very happy. Unfortunately, she didn’t live much longer to really enjoy it. 
What is meant by that, wheel control problem?
I am solely in the minority regarding upping tire pressures.
When I have a handling and/or ride issue with a vehicle, I first lower cold pressures, by 1-2psi, at one or more axles, then go for a drive.
More is often not better, and not just with regards to tire pressures.
Wheel control refers to the tire staying against the road and not hanging in space. It is the shock’s job to control the high frequency road vibration that causes the tire to leap from bump to bump instead of following the road. And roads vary quite a lot. But the natural frequency of the mass of the axle, brake and wheel and the springrate of the tire can go into resonance if the bumps are at a matching frequency. Airborne tires have no traction, laterally or longitudinally. Changing the air pressure shifts that frequency a bit but you can, too, slowing or speeding up the car on that road.
Completely different from the low frequency body bounce, roll and pitch.
In the “How To Check Pressure” section below the list of vehicles, I don’t do any of those things(going to a station and using their air, etc).
I have a 12V tire pump in the trunk, and gauges both in the house and in my glove box. Accordingly, I end up becoming a “mobile service station” for others with low or leaky tires, or those who just want to know what pressures their tires are currently.
Be prepared, carry your own gear!
Heck, I didn’t read any of it other then the vehicle psi ranges, that is the only reason I posted it… I was just adding to VDCdriver’s post and given a reference link of prof… lol
Oh, I already know most German, and some Swedish brands, specify different front and rear tire pressure on most of their lineups.
My whole premise is that Japanese and U.S. makes, of which more Americans buy, specify same pressures all around, presumably to give the masses that buy them less to think about, in maintenance terms.
Sixty years ago, Chevrolet produced a certain rear-engine compact, specified an 11PSI front/rear tire pressure differential, but it’s safe to say that at least half, if not two thirds, of owners and mechanics checking the tires ignored what was probably both in the manual and stickered somewhere on that car…!
The Subarus I checked differed 1 or 2 psi front to back. Hardly worth that distinction, in my opinion.
My neighbor’s 2022 Forester specifies F: 33psi, R:32.
That’s what I set them to for her, and check monthly.
Even if it’s “just 1psi”, what’s the issue with following instructions?
If it makes you feel any better, I have a certain American made car (front engine, rear drive) that I run different front and rear air pressures in, F = 35, R = 26 psi… 
I even made a two tire hose kit to make 99.9 - 100% sure the rears are the same… Yes, it airs up 2 tires at the same time with one gauge, it has twin 6’ whips…
I’m talking more about what pressures are put on the pillar tire placard, not what thinking folks like you and I might run.
A big part of the Corvair’s handling problem was the result of the recommended inflation pressures being buried in the Owner’s Manual, and not noted anywhere else on the car.
Actually, I don’t think that any American cars from the '60s (or even the '70s), had inflation pressures noted anywhere except in the manual. It’s possible that some European cars did have such a sticker.
Do you know of any American cars from that era that had a sticker denoting the recommended inflation pressure?
From under the decklid of a 1964 Buick Skylark:
Problem is, the culture here in America was, and still to a degree is, different than it probably is wherever you are from. It’s rooted in the foundation of the country in fact.
What!? An American car from the 1960s with different front and rear tires pressures??
We have posters that come to incorrect conclusions in their mind and stick to them in the presence of facts to the contrary.
