I've been driving my TCH on the 'standard' air pressures for the first ten days and been reading posts on increasing tire pressures purely for mileage purposes with a little concern.

The old adage on tire pressure was that over inflation (and I mean 5psi or more) used to mean that a tire would wear faster in the middle whereas under inflation would mean shoulder wear. No one here is talking about uneven tire wear and as all of our cars are realtively new, no one is seeing the outcome of this wear.

Personally, I'm going to keep my pressures at stock or close to it as a) summer temperatures around here are in the high 90's/low hundreds and b) I sometimes drive fully loaded - four kids, luggage and a roof rack.

I've already lived through the Firestones on Explorer & Excursion recall and as my only contact between my life and the road is four small contact patches, I think I prefer to follow what Toyota recommends.

 

Wasn't the Firestone/Exploder tire issue due to UNDER inflated tires? They created more friction being under inflated and catastrophically failed (burst?).

Never heard about "properly" inflated tires (up to the max as printed by the tire mfg. on the sidewall) having any failure issues. And up to this printed max on the sidewall is NOT over inflated.

 

I brought up the subject of the Firestone debacle on tire inflation to make members aware that manufacturers recommend pressures for a reason.

Why would Toyota recommend a lower pressure when a higher one would increase fuel mileage? If higher pressures mean better fuel economy surely they would recommend those pressures so as advertize even better economy than 43/38?

 

Check out the Prius and FEH forums. Some folks there have been running 42/40 psi and reporting even tire wear and longer tire life than folks running 32 psi. I can't find it right now, but one of these forums had a link to a police department that talked about the improved handling and dramatically longer tire life when using higher pressure on their squad cars used for training.

I had an Explorer with Firestone tires that were recalled. The issue was Ford, not Firestone. Ford spec'd 24 psi for a soft ride, but that also caused very poor handling and tire failures.

I'm running 42/40 on my TCH and will report how my tires wear.

 

I just checked my tire pressures and I only have 28.5 in all four tires! No warning signs from the TPS so I have to assume that is what they were set them to in Japan. I've bumped the fronts to 36 and the backs to 34 and reset the TPS system in deference to my knowledgable friends here.

 

I had a concern about tire pressure when I bought by Supra, 20 years ago. Toyota recommended 28 psig, but my tire dealer suggested a higher pressure. I called Goodyear and questioned them. They stated that 28 psig would result in shorter tire life although it would give a softer more comfortable ride. I used 38 psig and got 70,000 miles on the tires. Toyota is focused on a soft ride. For longer life and better mileage use a pressure within 4 to 6 psig of the maximum.

 

I found the link about lower tread wear / better performance with higher tire pressures Driving Under Pressure - food for thought!

 

Here's the particular post you're referencing:
https://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/...4&postcount=13

I didn't post it, but I reference it a lot because that post/article, in particular, is the reason I upped my PSI from vehicle manufacturer recommendations (35 PSI on all four tires, in the '06 FEH) to 40 PSI (my hybrid's stock tires have a max. sidewall of 44 PSI, so I personally stay well below that when cold filling my tires.)

I personally am not keeping my front tires any higher PSI than my rear ones, simply because I haven't researched what purpose/advantage that might have, and it's easier to remember my desired PSI if I keep them all the same

 

This is info I found on TireSafety.com web site about this:

In order to achieve the handling, tracking, and other driving characteristics, one of the things the manufacturer can do is balance front to rear handling by adjusting the tire pressures. In adding the same air pressure in the front as the rear you will change the handling characteristics from what the manufacturer intended.

 

Thanks. Incidentally, when I checked my tire pressures immediately after purchase (well, after the vehicle had been parked overnight), all 4 tires read identical pressure so I'm not sure what my particular hybrid's manufacturer (Ford) intended. That said, your added insight will prompt me to go digging at some point and see if I should consider a different scheme for the front tires (my FEH is front-wheel drive).

Thanks for that post!

I'll shush up about the FEH, now. I love all hybrids and tire pressures are something we all look at or at least read about in various hybrid/fuel economy forums.