Tire pressure recommendations?

[jezushadlonghair]

My father has an '02 2500 HD. If I read the sticker on the driver door correctly it says that the rear tires should be inflated to 80 psi. I've run the truck with 60 in the front and 80 in the rear for over a year now. I've recently noticed that the rear tires are wearing more in the middle of the tire than on the edges, typical of overinflation. Did I read the sticker incorrectly or is this just a poor recommendation? I've recently deflated the rears to 65 to try and salvage them. What psi are you guys running and what do you recommend? The truck is mainly used for towing. Thanks.

[422 SS]

I tow heavy trailers frequently and keep my tires at the max psi on the sidewall.I run 80 psi all the way around.You might want to check your gauge.If a gauge is dropped once it will not be accurate anymore in most cases.I drag race alot and I always use 2 gauges to verify each other when setting air pressure on my race car's slicks.You may have 100 psi in your tires and it's only showing 80 psi.If you verify that the pressure is accurate than I would back them down maybe 10 psi in the rear.If the truck's rear doesn't get unstable when towing you should be okay.All of this is dependent on the amount of weight your towing.If towing more that 5-6 k I would stay at max pressure and just live with the tire wear.

[2001 HD]

How often is he rotating? I'm running 65 PSI Rear and 59 PSI Front on a "D" Load Range tire. I rotate every 6-8K and I 'm getting pretty even wear. When you rotate the rear to the front and reset your tire pressures, the tires will look a little underinflated and will wear a little more on the outer edges than the center. They should even up after you get some miles on them.

It's working for me with 35K on the tires. But the HD's are heavy trucks and you might not get the tire life you would out of a 1500.

 

[jezushadlonghair]

d**n good point about rotating. I know for a fact that he hasn't rotated yet and the truck has 15K on it. Its partially my fault as I usually keep up on the maintenance on the vehicles but I've been away at school for 2 years and haven't been doing my part. I'll give it a try. Thanks a lot.

[Shaners]

I run 50 psi in my 265's. I ran 55 psi all around when I had the 245's on the truck.

 

You only need to run the "MAX" pressure when you are loaded to the MAX.

[BlackSilver]

If I'm going to be towing I run 70 pounds front and rear (my trailer is pretty light, only about 9000# wet).

 

If I don't anticipate a load, I run 60 forward and 50 aft. I rotate every 7-8K miles.

 

At 25K the wear on all tires looks good.

[2001 HD]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think 15K is what GM recommends, but BF Goodrich recommends 6-8K. Maintaining tire pressure (check monthly) is important to getting good tire wear.

 

 

P.S. Good time to wash the "inside" of the wheels while your rotating.

 

[2001 HD]

Blacksilver-One Silverado was not enough? Hee Hee!

Ever have trouble deciding which one to drive?

 

Nice trucks!

 

[JimWilson]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think 15K is what GM recommends, but BF Goodrich recommends 6-8K.

I believe the maintenance manual for my truck says every 7500, but I haven't looked at it for a while.

 

And what Shaners said is true; MAX pressure is for MAX load, not everyday driving. You can easily subtract 20PSI from that. You could probably go down 30 without any problems.

[Chevyfreek]

I still have the factory 245's on my truck and they have 51,000mi on them. I run 55lbs of pressure in them all the way around when I am not towing or carrying a large load. I also rotate them every 6000mi. The still have really good tread left and no bad wearing at all. Running 80lbs of pressure without carrying any weight will bald the tires in the middle I think. Not to mention the truck will ride like a brick. Rotating the tires is a must to keep them wearing evenly for sure.