Of course, I was referring to the common tires that are used on FEFH's that limit pressures to 40lbs. The comparison for you would be to raise your Load D range tires to 80psi and your Load Range E tires to over 100psi. Not wise.

 

Here we go, YATIT..... (Yet Another Tire Inflation Thread) People get so defensive in them.

You should find out his tire type and their maximum pressure rating, before making a bold statement like that.

I have the factory Michelin tires, which are rated at 44 psi, so 45 psi wouldn't be too off base. Still, in preparation for winter (when temps and tire pressures drop), I just bumped mine to 50 psi last week, like Gary and others do.

Have you ever inflated a car tire to 60+ psi and driven in the vehicle? 80/100psi is not a good comparison, since the ride would be bone-jiggling.

 

The tires are marked with a mas tire pressure for sure but what else is marked along with the max tire pressure?

 

RiverRat, yes I meant lighter not liter. If you add 20 pounds to the inside of your car, it's much different than adding 20 pounds (5 pounds per tire) to your tires and rims regarding MPG. I never thought about this much until the Michelin Tours were developed for the '09 FEH and gas Escapes. I spent many hours researching any information I could find about the Tours starting in April of '08 when I ordered my '09 FEH. At that time, I had my full size Eco-Plus spare on the front of my '05 FEH because I had damaged one of the front tires which could not be repaired. I had to use my original donut spare until the Michelin Tours became available.

This caused me to read everything being printed on the Tours and there was a lot of information on LRR tires. States like California were considering mandating LRR tires by law to reduce pollution because of the better MPG. It's not only the reduced weight of LRR tires that increases MPG, it's the compound and tread cut also as I found in my research.

I wanted to purchase a full size matching Limited FEH rim and new Tour for a spare for my '09 FEH on order and two Tours for the front of my '05 FEH. After my '09 FEH was built, my Ford parts manager was able to look up the rim and Tours part numbers with my VIN and order them for me. Since I had read so much about LRR tires and that weight was a big factor, I wanted to compare the weight of my new Limited rim to the standard FEH rim. When the tires and rim arrived, I had a chance to weigh the new Tours and the Limited rim. I was disappointed to find out the Limited rim was 2.2 pounds heavier than the standard FEH rim which I weighed when the old Eco-Plus tire was removed.

Think about adding 200 pounds in your car and adding 200 pounds (50 pounds each) to the weight of your tires. Much less energy is needed to carry that 200 pounds inside your car by the drivetrain but when you add 200 pounds to spin that drivetrain at a high RPM, there is a much different effect. I never thought just reducing the tire weight by 5 pounds would increase MPG so much. When I picked up my new Tours from the parts department to take them to my car, I was shocked how light they were compared to other tires I had carried in the past.

I've had 5 years experience with the Eco-Plus and a little over two years experience with the Tours. My mileage log is real consistent tank after tank and I drain my tank within a few 1/10s of a gallon (45 - 55 miles past 0 MTE) before each fill-up. I then add 13.6 gallons every tank now and I can tell how my mileage is being effected and by what throughout my tank of gas. Take a look at my mileage log and you will see what I mean. Make sure you scroll down to my first tank from the day I got the FEH with 6 miles on the car. http://www.cleanmpg.com/index.php?pa...9&viewcar=2612

GaryG

 

Bold move Rick, now you can start getting the kind of long glides I experience with 50psi. Now check closely for any signs of bad tire wear that has begun and have your alignment checked if you see any. This is another reason I don't rotate the tires. If there is problems with your alignment or front end, it will show up on your tires since they've been in the same location since day one.

With my '09 front Tour tires off while they were being replaced with new ones, I discovered a wear problem with one of tires. This means I'm taking it to my Ford dealer to get to the bottom of the problem. If I was getting strange wear at 50psi, the wear would have been worst at the suggested tire pressure. The other front tire looked perfect.

I'll post what the tech finds next week.

GaryG

 

Are you going to leave them at 50psi when you take it in? I wonder what they'll say about that?

 

I can think of worse things.

 

Why would I want to change my tire pressure? I take all responsibility of my actions and most likely the wear is because the alignment was off from the factory.

I've had the best results with 50psi in my '05 FEH and the Tours are wearing perfect on it so far after 25,000 miles on the front with no rotations. Some of my dealership employees have known me for over 20 years and we're on a first name basis. There is no reasons for tricks or BS so they shoot straight with me and I shoot straight with them. The techs enjoy talking to me personally and I enjoy sharing my experiences with them. I get employee pricing on parts and service so what more could I ask for.

The decision to go above the Max tire pressure rating is strictly the decision of the operator of the vehicle. For myself, I will adjust the tire pressure in a tire so it performs best in the most safe way.

Rick has choose to try my decision and we will see his comments in the future. I of course make my decisions on results on a day to day basis.

GaryG

 

Actually 50 is only a couple psi over what I used all year.

 

The new front Tours are really dragging my average tank mileage down with the added weight. I bumped them up to 55psi but it's not doing me any better. It looks like 50psi is the magic number for these Tours because any less I get a decrease in MPG and any more than 52psi doesn't seem to do me any better. I'm hoping an alignment will help me out a bit, otherwise I'm looking at dropping to a ~57mpg tank just because of the added weight of the new rubber. My original rear tires still have plenty of rubber and are still picking up some little stones between the tread which is the only problem I've seen with the Tours. There is no sign of center wear on the old front or the rear Tours and the same thing with the front Tours on the '05 FEH. This makes about ~80,000 miles I've had 50psi in the Eco-Plus and the Tours on both my FEH's with good results with wear, handling and mileage. I tend to take corners fast to maintain my speed and still the outside edges of my tires don't show any wear like tires with 35psi do that I've seen in the past with other vehicles I owned. Those days are over now that I've learned to fine tune a set of tires with air pressure. I even bought a big air compressor for my garage to maintain all my tires and run air tools now.

GaryG