Radial Tire Pressure

[Bill Lee/Virginia]

I recently put 215/65R16 radial tires on my cabriolet. The tire pressure on the side of the tire reads "44 psi maximum". The car steers, drives and rides good at this tire pressure; however, I do not know if this is a good pressure or not for the weight of this car. What do you recommend????
Bill Lee/Virginia Peninsula

 

[Jordan]

I run #30 in my radials.

 

[Mitch//pa]

32-35 would be sufficient

44 is max psi rated for that tire. At 44 it will ride hard and wear the center tread

 

[modelAsteve]

28-32 depending on ride and temperature

 

[jadatis]

Needed tire pressure is all about load on the tire / maximum load of tire.
so even for oldtimers you can weigh or determiine the loads on the tires .
Front and rear probably different because of the weight division.

I kept myself busy with tire pressure calculation, so if you give actual tire loads seperatly , or axle loads.
And from tires maximum load and pressure needed for that ( here max44 is maximum pressure of P-tire/standard load so Pressure needed for maximum load / maxloadpressure/reference-pressure is most likely 35 psi/2.4bar) , I can calculate the lowest save pressure for the tires.
Also a factor is speed , but I think that wont be above 160km/99m/h here .

Greatings from Holland
Peter

 

[Tom Wesenberg]

Running a wide tire on a narrow rim will make the center of the tire wear more, so you might try lowering the pressure.