Mike in Atlanta

What pressure is everyone running their stock tires at? My tire pressue is at 30-31 new from the dealer.

JRM

Mike,

On the SO2s I believe the general concenses is 33-35 depending upon use!

Mike Schuster

I think the suggestions on page 185 and 186 in the owner's manual are pretty good. 32 psi cold, 36-38 psi hot. The hot, operating pressures are the most important for good performance. Try to keep them within this range.

nwk00

Questoin 1. I am currently running on 17 inch wheels. I haven't checked my tire pressure in a while so when I just inspected it, it was at around 18psi on all 4 sides. I ran at this pressure for about 100miles. Have I done any damage?

Question 2. Its now 41 degree F, I pumped the air up to 32 psi. Is that too high or too low? Because air contracts in cold weather the readout would not be an accurate estimate of the correct psi. I know the manual recommends 32psi when the tires are cold, but I think they are referring to it being not driven for a while in temperate weather. So is 32 the correct psi level at low temp?

thanks

Mike Schuster

nwk00,

#1: I say 18psi for 100 miles is nothing to worry about.

#2: Honda says that tires can be considered "cold" if the car has been parked at least three hours and then has been driven at most one mile. Otherwise they are "hot".

Honda also says that hot pressures are about 4 to 6 psi higher than cold. In my experience tires will gain more than 6 psi if I drive really aggressively, no matter what the cold pressure was. An 8 to 10 psi gain is not unusual and I have seen even a 12 psi gain from cold to hot - this was during an open track event.

In my opinion what is important is the hot pressure since the tires are hot for most of the drive. When you stop for gas after they are warmed up, check them. Add or remove air to get 36 to 38 psi. Doing this will compensate for both weather and driving style.

nwk00

One last newbie quetion. If you upgrade to a larger rim lower profile tire combo, do you still keep the original psi as the same for when you are running on 16inches?

thanks

Mike Schuster

My guess is that Honda's recommendations are a good starting point, unless you have better information from the tire's manufacturer. I think this is the tire vendor's party line answer. After a couple thousand miles check for uneven tire wear. If the middles of the tires are wearing more than the edges, release some air, if wearing less, add air.