How much air should be in my tires...

[mars_man]

Yeah, I know it's a newbie question, and the awnswer is prolly really simple, but my tires are wearing only in the center with 50 lbs. of air. If I take a short highway ride, I can clearly see that the rubber in the center of the tires is nice and black and clean, while the outside 2 inches is still all dusty.

They are 31 X 10.5 M + S ROUGHRIDERS.

The sidewall of the tire says inflate to 50 psi. Can I run say like 35 psi safely on the highway. I would imagine I could without any problem at all...but I wanna make sure.

Should the amount of air vary depending on how much a vehicle weighs? Obviously, I would think that a 3\4 ton truck would take the full 50 psi. and his tires would wear evenly, but with my little Zook, 50 psi. might be too much?? ......makes sense in my head anyways...but most of the time that don't account for much... heh.

Thanks,
Later.

[Twinkie]

HOLY S**T!!!!! 50 PSI?????

Must ride like a fokin lumber wagon. I keep mine (31's) around 21 psi on the road and down to 15 on the trails.

[Superzuk]

Dude, 30lbs is plenty. You can run even less. Sidekicks are really light so I wouldn't worry about running a low tire pressure like 30lbs. Heck, I'd even go as far as saying 25lbs would be plenty. You'll probably enjoy the ride more as well. 50lbs is for big trucks, carrying huge loads that weigh a lot. Seriously, try 30, see what you think, if you're still not satisfied, try 25, or go the other way if you prefer the stiffer ride.

I ran a samurai with 35's running 17 lbs on the highway, and it rode fine. Now that's probably lower than you want, but seriously, 50lbs is crazy.

The weight of the sidekick isn't even close to enough to necessitate running the tires at that weight. Hope that helps.

[Mudslug]

50lbs!!! Are you sure its not "do not inflate over 50lbs"?

[mars_man]

Hmmm...well at least now I know... LOL

What was my tire guy thinking??? I thought he was the best. He put 50 psi. and gave me back the keys...I never played around with it... Maybe that is why I can chirp second gear sometimes with 31's on there.... You should see the look people give me when I do that... priceless.

I use my Kick like 40% on and 60% off-road, cause I have a car sitting in the driveway to run me around. So I will prolly try out 25 psi. and see how it feels. Going wheeling tommorrow with the woman, hope she enjoys the ride. haha

Thanks for the help guys.

[Twinkie]

Sounds like a Canadian Tire special, never let those kids adjust air pressure!

[Superzuk]

If you do 60% offroad, I'd even consider going lower tire pressure. The sidekick doesn't have enough weight to create a proper footprint for offroading at higher psi levels a normal truck would. experiment. Try lower, and lower, and lower, till you find your comfort zone. I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

[Dxray]

Originally posted by sidekick_nut
Sounds like a Canadian Tire special, never let those kids adjust air pressure!

Bingo!:D

[Lucy]

Back when I had my 90 kick with the 33"s I found that running 15psi worked quite nicely.

[Lucy]

In reference to Canadian Tire, I've got a story for you. I made the mistake of getting an oil change there once as I was pressed for time and was leaving for the north, I figured a "special needs" monkey could change oil so what's the harm. They tried to tell me that my U joints were shot and they would be negligent to let me drive away in a vehicle in such a state. I walked over to my truck , pulled my old u joint off my dash and said " so your trying telling me that the u joints that I just put in there last week look something like this" I've never been shuttled out of a shop so quickly before.
If you have to deal with Canadian tire just be glad your male ,if your female they think your a farmer shopping for cow paddies.:po:

[Mudslug]

About 3 years ago I had no time and mom needed some work done on her car, i told her to call me if the bill went over $300 (brakes, oil change, lube and rotate) and i'll talk her through it.

Well she calls me in a panic with a $2100 bill and they going tostart work even though she said not to. i was like???!!!?!?!?

So I told her to demand the store manager and freak out and make sure they do not touch the car and i was on my way down.

I walked in the door, and completely freaked out before anyone could even talk....it was funny the whole place was absolutely silent as I was running up and down this guy about how he was raping my mother.

Just then the "manager" showed up and I looked at him and said, "You best straighten these mother fawkers out and get my mother car back into the bristol condition it came in as or i swear to god I am going to get mad"

You should have seen the running around.....the car was delivered to the front and I told my mother to get in and drive and i would look after the bill.

When the bill came in I gave it to the manager and told him he was paying for the oil change that they got done and i won't go to the paper about the head gasket that was a month old, the calipers that were out of alinment (its true they said it) and the gas tank pump that was broken...(but the car was running)

I walked out

[Superzuk]

OK. I couldn't help but tell my story.

They had a deal a few years ago where they would diagnose a problem, and it was free to diagnose it. Then you could choose to get it fixed or not.
I had some struts that I thought needed replacing. I took it to Canadian Tire to get the "free inspection", with the intent of having them do it if I could afford it, and if needed it.
Well, they said the struts were shot, and that it would be $595 to replace the struts, and they were even including installation at a good deal for me too!!!
Well, after nearly puking at the price, I said I could not afford it,and they handed me a $90 inspection bill!!!!
I freaked, said it was supposed to be a free inspection, and that I would not pay. They said that it was only free if the job was done there. (that's something like the free motor you get when you buy a new car ):argue:

Anyways, then they said they could not let me leave that way because the car was unsafe, and that they could lose their Mechanics license for letting me leave. I was 18 at the time, so I went, grabbed my dad, and the shiat hit the fan!!!

After nearly getting a new bumhole ripped into me, I have decided never to let them do any work on my vehicles, not even an oil change.


BTW, I am surprised they didn't charge me when they changed the air in my tires!!! :yike

[Richard]

I am no expert on tire pressure but here is what I have heard.

The recommended pressure on my 2003 tracker is 26lbs.

The required pressure in the tire depends on the weight of the vehicle. You want to have a flat patch to get good tire wear.

The bigger tires are meant to be used on bigger vehicles and I would expect that you would use a proportionately lower pressure on a tracker.

I would not be surprised that you would run your big tires at 20PSI... the ride would be much softer....


Richard

[mars_man]

I ended up trying out 21 psi. in each tire. Feels like I bought a new truck. I will try to run it even lower next time. The tires now have a black patch that takes up the whole tire after a highway run. Cool!

I also found it made the thing steer easier to...Why? ...the hell if I know...but it did.

Thanks.

Later.

[CaptN Air Time]

It shouldn't be EASIER to steer. I find that my 31's on 8" wheels are hard to turn on pavement at less than ~22#, so thats what I run. If I bother to air down, anything down to about 5psi is pretty good, but again the armstrong steering is a biatch so I usually don't go much below 10-12#. With my 4500 pound Bronco my daily pressure was 15 (in 35's). saved a lot of hassle while everyone else airs up, airs down, airs up, airs down..... PITA. Power Steering tho, you know... makes a big difference!
Back to the sidekick, besides the steering effort, I notice no difference in milage between 14psi and 25psi, so its all just prefference on a vehicle this light. wider rims will of course improve the contact patch at higher pressures.

[bakelite]

I spoke to my tire guy about this, he said tire manufacturers suggest the high psi so as to get longer life out of the tire on the highway, normal tires apparently have the deepest tread in the centre and will last longer this way making you think wow what great tires......then he told me that around 30 psi would be good on the kick. :roll:

[Buzzuki]

I spoke to my tire guy about this, he said tire manufacturers suggest the high psi so as to get longer life out of the tire on the highway, normal tires apparently have the deepest tread in the centre and will last longer this way making you think wow what great tires......then he told me that around 30 psi would be good on the kick. :roll:
Dunno bout longer life.I know they will wear quicker down the middle, thats about it.And i think 30 psi is still a little high for a zook, i like to run my 31/11's at 24lbs, i think thats perfect for the road and you get a full contact patch :beer: