Tesla tire pressure, almost inflate to sidewall value.

[Ferzerp]

I was shopping replacement tires on Tirerack to get an idea of what my tire costs will be (a small fraction of what I am used to with the PSC2s I have now), and saw a note to only purchase tires with ratings of greater that 45 psi because that is the recommended pressure for the 19" tires on one.

Sure enough that's true. I recognize that it is a heavy car, and they're going for maximum mileage, but I was still pretty surprised it is high enough that Tirerack warns me.

 

[overst33r]

How about the 21"s? Pressure the same?

 

[Ferzerp]

38/40 for those.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Inflate to sidewall? Oh no...... please no.....

 

[tortillasoup]

Yeah the door says like 44psi for front and rear so I suggest following that. Tesla choose the pressures that were good for tire wear and fuel efficiency unlike a lot of manufacturers. I find that the Tesla tires wear evenly but that rotation is really important as the front does wear more than the rear, even if just a RWD car.

 

[overst33r]

Tesla choose the pressures that were good for tire wear and fuel efficiency unlike a lot of manufacturers.

Really? I'd imagine most non-sports cars have that as a primary criteria.

 

[NutBucket]

Ride comfort and handling are also considerarions. Our Forester recommends 29 which I find too soft. 32 or 33 strikes a better balance between comfort and handling in my opinion.

 

[bigi]

You may get a better feedback here as Tesla's issues are still rarity in here, unfortunately.

 

[natto fire]

You may get a better feedback here as Tesla's issues are still rarity in here, unfortunately.

This Garage forum is leaps and bounds above the know-it-alls and general douchebaggery of OT, but yeah, electric cars are not the forte here.

 

[Yuriman]

I've been running ~46psi for years, with tires that say 50 on the sidewall. These particular tires actually wear more evenly at that pressure than the 38/40 on the door jam, and fuel economy improvements are large enough to show up outside of background noise, but road noise and ride harshness are a bit worse.

Look at it this way: If you're building an electric car and could get an extra 20-40 miles of advertised range by simply adding 10PSI to the tires (and then compensate with better suspension), rather than add another $10,000 in batteries and a significant amount of extra weight, wouldn't you?

 

[Ferzerp]

Well. A lot of it is that the car weighs almost 5,000 lbs too.

 

[natto fire]

Well. A lot of it is that the car weighs almost 5,000 lbs too.

Having driven a Tesla, and several other vehicles weighing around that, it is amazing what center of gravity will do to change the characteristics of how a vehicle handles. The instantaneous torque of a Tesla might be clouding that judgement...

 

[thomsbrain]

Ride comfort and handling are also considerarions. Our Forester recommends 29 which I find too soft. 32 or 33 strikes a better balance between comfort and handling in my opinion.

Our 2003 CR-V recommends 26 on all 4! That's crazy low IMO.

I run 42 on the Accord to keep the sidewalls from grinding off on my mountain commute and to improve MPG, but it comes at a noticeable penalty to ride comfort and the car becomes more skittish over bumps, because you're essentially raising the overall spring rate without changing anything in the dampers to compensate.

That the Teslas can run such high pressure and still ride so smoothly speaks very highly of their shock valving and body rigidity.

 

[NutBucket]

It just means it was designed that way more than anything.

 

[Shawn]

*Shrug* I've always filled my tires to 40psi. Never had any unusual wear.