How much PSI are you running in your tires?

YOUR 100%, no simple answer. Everyone is different. Find what works for you.

 

120? Wow. All you doing that make sure you’ve got a good gauge. Also watch when the temps get high in the summer. For years meaning a decade + I ran 100 COLD 110 COLD in the steers. Even wear. No problems. Now I run 110 COLD all around. Why I don’t know. But again check your gauges. I’ve had shop gauges I caught being off by 10 psi or more and mine was correct. So here they are airing up my tires to what they think is 110 and it’s really 120. Now add in hot weather and you’re talking sky high pressure. So you 120 boys who request that with a bad gauge would be seeing even higher psi in high temps.

… what am I doing? How bored am I to ramble on about tire pressure!

 

How much PSI? All of them!

 

Low pressure allows the sidewall to flex more, and that is where most of the heat comes from. You might think hot roads in the Summer are contributing, but they're like a heat sink, and will actually keep the tires cooler. If the air in the tire is 180* from flex, and the roadway is 150*, then the road will help cool the tire.

Keep the sidewalls stiff, that lowers flex, which lowers heat and the chance of blowout. I run max cold PSI for that reason.

 

I run 105 PSI on steers and drives and 100 PSI on trailer. All Michelin tires. Even wear and smooth ride

 

Whatever the sidewall says. Though if i know im going to spend all day in mud soup i will drop em to 90 drives and 100 steer for the traction.

 

What is on the sidewall is minimum PSI

 

No, it’s minimum psi at a given maximum weight. If you have less weight you can run less psi.
The tire manufacturer has charts for figuring out the minimum pressure for the weight you have.
Michelin is about 75 or 80 psi minimum for a standard USA 80,000 lbs load on tandem drives which is only 4,250 lbs weight per tire. Steers can have over 6,000 lbs per tire, so usually the number you see on the sidewall is probably pretty close to what you need.

 

I have been running michelin's for years and was told to run them at 110 to 115 PSI and found out when running that high it causes abnormal wear patterns. My latest set I've been running at 100 PSI and it wears very evenly. I have noticed though when I checked the pressure during my pre-trip that generally within a couple days they will go down to about 95 PSI and stay there for quite a while. I generally don't top them off until they get below that