What tire pressures are everyone running? And other question

[acensor]

My new ...only 250 miles so far....came set at 36psi, which is the stated recommended front and back per the manual.

In terms of feel or the ride ( I neither purchased for, expected, or wanted a "cushy" ride) the ride is even at that pressure is firm. And for the moment I've left it set at 36 so as to not create culture shock for my wife who was used to the softer ride of our Subaru and ex-Toyota.
And offhand it seems like a reasonable compromise between comfort, wear, range, and handling.

But now that she's fallen in love with it (she's named it "Eviey" ... pronounced "E-V") she'd likely be OK with firmer.

I noticed some here mention running 50 or even 60psi.
Curious of where others have settled on, and reports of trade offs in wear, ride, handling,and of course range.
For now in our pattern of expected use getting absolute max range doesn't look like it's going to be the critical issue (would be a rare day when we'd drive it more than 45 miles, but of course more range is always welcome.

Anyone running the higher pressures notice uneven wear...more in center?

Also I noticed one member here reporting that his Mitsu was delivered with wheels not correctly aligned.. Casting him tire wear. Long ago that used to be common on new Detroit cars....but I've come it assume that all manufacturer's quality control is way pas letting that happen, so was surprised at that report.so my question re that is did anyone else encounter that ... And think that at low mileage the dealer might have to correct that under warenty or policy? Hope and expect my alignment is fine but if it's not prefer not to find out by seeing uneven or excessive wear at 10,000 miles.

Do you rotate tires?

And one other tire question to you cold country folks: anyone try snow tires?
Was cost/availability tough issue in these unusual sizes ?
Manual says install snow tires on all four but I'd be inclined to just put them on rear.

Alex

 

[peterdambier]

I did drive snow tires and got them changed only after Easter. We had a long winter and I was afraid I was too early.

My dealer takes care of the tires and pressure. They are very fond of "their" i-Miev and they almost regretted selling her after all.

We are on the normal pressure but I think of 50 or 60 if that really improves range.

Snow and ice - I dont like salt so I tried to stay away from wet streets in winter. On a frozen parking our i-MiEV behaved better than ICE cars and on a muddy road with two wheels on tarmac and two in the mud, climbing uphill our little "i" showed qualities of a 4WD. It looks like an SUV after all, only a bit narrower :lol:

 

[ElectricAvenue]

We run what's on the tire but we fill em' up with nitrogen ...

 

[Zelenec]

Winter tires are required by law in our country. They were not hard to find. All four cost € 220. I rotate them, even though it does not have such a big effect as if they were all four the same size.

I inflate them to 40 PSI. My tire dealer recommended pressure 10% above recommended, thereby increasing the efficiency without any safety risk.

 

[MPT]

50psi front and rear at the moment... let's watch!

 

[JoeS]

After running 60psi in my lightweight Gen1 Insights for many years and experiencing negligible tire wear (replaced one set at 70Kmiles simply due to age but plenty of evenly-worn tread left), I'm now doing the same and running 60psi in the iMiEV in the belief that it improves handling and reduces rolling resistance at the expense of a slightly harsher ride. It's been pointed out that this could be a dangerous practice, so I'm not recommending it. After 14K miles haven't bothered rotating the tires yet (side-to-side), and the wear 'looks' even but I should measure it.

The old saw about high pressure causing accelerated wear in the center is perhaps a carryover from bias-ply tires? There was a discussion of this on the Insight Forum that I can't now find.

Since the iMiEV is running the tires much closer to their rated load, I don't have any illusions about their longevity and personally am hoping they'll last at least 30Kmiles.

For the record, maximum pressure shown on the sidewall is 51psi with the manufacturer recommending 36psi all-round.

 

[jennrod12]

47 lbs. is what we run.

Jenn

 

[jray3]

I've settled on 50 psi for all-around driving in this wet climate, and brought it down to 36 in the depths of winter. The misalignment was front toe-in and it was adjusted under warranty. I'd rather replace a few more tires than always drive sedately.

 

[Don]

The old saw about high pressure causing accelerated wear in the center is perhaps a carryover from bias-ply tires? There was a discussion of this on the Insight Forum that I can't now find.

I think that's true, Joe - Radial tires have parallel steel belts running the circumference of the tread, so excess pressures should not wear the center of the tread any more than the normal recommended pressures

But, excessive pressure does take most of the flex out of the sidewalls and that reduces the contact patch (which is why higher pressure gives you a lower rolling resistance) and that does not promote better handling

Since I'm soon going to be mounting aftermarket wheels and tires, I've been reading everything I can find on tires and specifically LRR tires and it seems like everywhere I look, I keep running across the fact that "Lower Rolling Resistance is NEVER Good for Handling" and it is achieved at the expense of adhesion. Once again, it appears there is no free lunch

For the record, I've been running 48 to 50 psi for a year and 9,000 miles and the tires look like they would probably last another 50,000 miles - I haven't measured tread depth, but to look at them, you couldn't tell them from new

Don

 

[sandange]

I was at 40 lbs with the winter tires, had a front tire blowout from a pot hole this winter.
Our back roads are so bad with pot holes that the mechanic had to hammer out about 4 different dents on the rims when we changed our tires.

Combination of many pot holes and a thin layer of snow hiding them.
No I'm not an aggressive driver. Don't want to use any higher pressure.

I just change to summer tires & running 42 lbs pressure on all 4, not using the back road until they repair it.
or unless I have an extended range trip I have to do to cut down distance

 

[acensor]

...........The misalignment was front toe-in and it was adjusted under warranty. ....

Hi Jay-ray,

How did you detect /notice the misalignment?
(I ask because in the hopefully unlikely event mine a misaligned I would prefer not to wait to see uneven or excessive wear to detect it.... and if I have a similar issue to the one you had figure the sooner I bring it to the dealers attention the more likely they are to adjust it under warrenty rather than maybe dismiss it as "normal wear" or some exclusion.)

 

[jray3]

How did you detect /notice the misalignment?

I was a bit disappointed in initial range, but as I purchased my car on Dec 29th, 2011, had chalked that up to the cold weather. Well before 5000 miles, I noticed significant wear on the front edges of outer tread blocks with the telltale 'feathering' that indicates excessive toe-in rather than positive camber. The leading edges were rounded, while the trailing edges were 'pulled back' into a sharp, thin tail. Kinda like if you were to rub a square of silly putty across the table...
Of course the dealer's first defense was that I must be cornering too hard, but years of driving Karmann Ghias with only 20% weight on the front end :shock: told me that no amount of understeer should cause this wear pattern..

 

[Llecentaur]

After installing original summer tires I tried 44 psi instead of the stock 36.

That far both handling and range are excellent and the is not that much of discomfort compared to original pressure.

 

[archie_b]

The importance of maintaining proper tire pressure hit home this week. Temperatures had cooled significantly in Wisconsin the last week and I noticed my range had declined slightly. It had been about two months, way too long, since I last checked tire pressure. Found all four tires 2-3 lbs underinflated. Not good.

Tire pressure is critical on EVs. You never want to run your EV with tire pressure less than the manufacturers recommendation. I have the tires filled with nitrogen to minimize loss and it has been 7 months since the last charge. I had set the initial fill and recharges to 4 lbs higher than recommended. This seem to be working well until this last check.

Small tires have less air volume than tires on larger cars and SUVs. That means any air loss will have a greater affect on tire pressure. Bottom line, check your tires frequently and keep pressure at or above recommended pressure.

 

[RobbW]

When I bought my Meepster back in July, I immediately inflated all four tires to 41 psi. With my daily commute, I've been averaging a beginning RR of 75-80 miles in the morning after a full charge. Just tonight, I decided to bump up the tire pressure to 51.5 psi all around just to see if it makes any difference.

 

[JoeS]

Just a reminder: DO check your tire pressures regularly. I don't know if it's the alloy wheels in my SE or that I run at 60psi, but when I checked my tires after not doing so for six weeks the fronts were down by 10psi and the rears down about 8psi. I check consistently when they're cold in the morning.

 

[NeilBlanchard]

Alloy wheels in general can be leaky; unfortunately. Sometimes it takes rim seal to keep them from losing pressure over time.

 

[Llecentaur]

I have the same issue even with iron wheels.

Definitely recommend regularly checking the i's tyre pressure, I find the tyres undersized for the weight of the body and run the, at 44 and they still seem crushed by the weight of the car and no sign of uneven wear in the center either.

 

[tigger19687]

I am bumping this older thread to find out updates.
I didn't want to start a new thread as there is great info already started.

At what PSI do you notice longer Range ?

At what PSI do you notice better handling ?


Anyone LOWER the PSI they listed before ? And for what reason ?

I have to check my PSI today and fill accordingly, so I wanted updates.
I drive to avoid potholes and "dips". Kinda like I did when I had a Motorcycle

 

[jsantala]

I think my tires said 44 PSI max so I've kept it there (or 3.0 bars as we usually say around these parts).