I'm also running at 36 (Bridgestones, unfortunately), and like the ride/handling/mileage balance. Treadwear is even at this inflation, and I'd imagine it would be wearing the edges more severely if I used 32. It's been my experience that automakers suggest an inflation that is lower than what I like, and I believe they do this so that the vehicle has a soft and comfortable ride, as that feels good during a test drive and eliminates ride complaints from new owners. It's not necessarily the best inflation. Look at Ford and the Firestone tire debacle. It was at least half Ford's fault, as their recommended inflation pressure was very low for that vehicle/tire combo, according to Firestone (and WAY below the max inflation on the sidewall), again IMHO to give it an acceptable ride at time of purchase.

The best thing to do is experiment with different inflation pressures, but without exceeding the tire manufacturer's max (and probably not going below the automaker's recommended pressure).

 

I'd suggest top priority is to make sure you never let the battery drop to the point where the ICE kicks in just to try to charge it up while you're sitting still in traffic. This is (in my opinion) the biggest risk in full-on stop & go driving. It's great if you just get to cruise along in heavy traffic at say 20-40 mph for a limited period of time before going back up to full speed--gives you time to drive in EV mode for a while then recharge when you get back to speed. But full stop and go means slowly easing it along, never getting up to speed enough to coast and regenerate charge, so you just use charge till it runs too low and you start burning gas.

My solutions have been a) try to accelerate _faster_, waiting a bit for a longer gap, to try to goose it up to ICE mode for the acceleration then coast in to try to regenerate. It's not pretty and may not be that efficient, but it's way more efficient than 0 mpg as far as I'm aware. And 0 mpg is what you get when you sit there with the ICE running because your battery's too low and you can't drive fast enough to recharge it. And b) see if you have any off-highway options that might be less busy without drastically increasing travel time/pain. This is what I mostly do now for my commute. I found by avoiding all but a short bit of interstate, I could go through a few towns, get a fairly consistent 45-55 minute drive, and significantly improve my mileage (at least in warm weather, we'll see how it compares in the cold this winter), rather than take the interstate for what could be 30 or could be 60 minutes, could leave me stuck in stop and go traffic for 30 minutes with no ramps in sight, etc. Dumping the variable travel time for a bit higher drive-time average and definite FE gain has definitely been worth it for me. Probably a shorter commute for me too, so better mileage for fewer miles than driving on the highway. Only loss is the minimum travel time now is greater than the minimum before. But the maximum travel time is probably lower now.

 

The Zero (0) MPH situation is certainly the worst. If you are caught in this situation where the ICE must run to chg the HV battery because you can't get enought speed/Regen to charge between traffic lights, you can mitigate the FE loss by shutting the engine off while sitting there. You STOP using fuel while you wait for traffic to move. It really does help. And since your engine will have to run anyway to charge, and you are trapped in this "can't get charged" situation, you may as well cut stopped fuel usage to zero when you can

I use this technique on my non-hybrid Ford Ranger PU, manual tranny. I recognize the longer traffic lights, and looking ahead, if it changes to Red, I immediately shut off the engine, turn the key back to the 'Run' position so my electronics works, and patiently wait for the light to change and traffic to move before starting. It makes a remarkable increase in overall FE.

However, I am concerned about the wear on starter/flywheel by too frequent cycles on the non-hybrid. These aren't concerns for the hybrid cars.

 

Yeah I do this at lights when warming up (if I can warm up while moving, at even 20 mpg, that's a big improvement over burning gas to warm up at 0 mpg!), and it would work in really _stopped_ traffic, but stop & go you just don't have time to shut off between "goes". You're mostly creeping along with brief stops, so when you're moving you're always draining charge, never regenerating, and at some point you lose the fight and it fires up the gas-waster, hehe.

 

I tried many ways to save on the cold engine battery charging and warming the engine in the mornings. I found the engine really does move the mpg needle close to 5 mpg mark. If I accelerate to 30 or even 35 miles per hour. That takes a lot more fuel when the engine is cold. I found it's best to ease the car up to 25 miles per hour and then use the cruise control. I live two miles off of the main highway on a rough but paved country road. I have two stop signs on that route. I ease the car back to 25 mph and put on the cruise till I get to the highway. Another mile on the highway and the engine is up to full operating temperature. (190-195F)

Others living in town and driving on city streets could do similar to warm the engine before going on the faster streets.

Just my thoughts..