There is no amount of air in a tire, less than the maximum psi, that will save your rim from being bent if you hit a sharp curb, pothole, etc.
Think about it. The maximum pressure in our tires is safely 50 psi. One of your tires hits something, the air inside the tire displaces, the rubber compound caves, your wheel is impacted. Boom! Bent!
There is no amount of air in a tire, less than the maximum psi, that will save your rim from being bent if you hit a sharp curb, pothole, etc.
Think about it. The maximum pressure in our tires is safely 50 psi. One of your tires hits something, the air inside the tire displaces, the rubber compound caves, your wheel is impacted. Boom! Bent!
A few years ago, the F Body founder and former NHTSA tire engineer and army veteran recommended to us, a Canaro/Trans am owners, the right RWD car's tire pressures.
The front ones, those that support the engine weight and direct the trajectory of the car must be inflated 3 psi over the sticker tire pressure recommendation. The rear ones, those that provide the car traction need the whole treadwear well planted on the ground, must be inflated 2 psi over the sticker tire pressure recommendation.
I followed these recommendation since I own and drove my former Trans am, without a problem. When I did not follow these recommendations on my Stinger, the front passenger tire blow out even the tires were inflated at 36 psi all around.
I do not try to convince anyone of the writing about this topic, is the absolute truth, I try to share this information given by an expert, only
Reviving this thread. I'm the original owner of a 2018 GT 3.3TT AWD, tires have always been properly inflated to recommended psi since I drove the car off the lot. Tires currently have about 15,000kms (9,300miles) on them. Front tires still have plenty of life and seem to be wearing fairly evenly but a little lower inthe center. The rear tires are definitely wearing a lot more in the center leading me to believe that the oem psi of 36 in the rear is too high to achieve even wear. Has anyone tried running a lower rear pressure with any luck? I'm considering moving the rears to 34psi and the fronts to 36psi as I've noticed the tires heat up quickly and end up around 40-42psi front and 38-40psi rear once I get moving.
Reviving this thread. I'm the original owner of a 2018 GT 3.3TT AWD, tires have always been properly inflated to recommended psi since I drove the car off the lot. Tires currently have about 15,000kms (9,300miles) on them. Front tires still have plenty of life and seem to be wearing fairly evenly but a little lower inthe center. The rear tires are definitely wearing a lot more in the center leading me to believe that the oem psi of 36 in the rear is too high to achieve even wear. Has anyone tried running a lower rear pressure with any luck? I'm considering moving the rears to 34psi and the fronts to 36psi as I've noticed the tires heat up quickly and end up around 40-42psi front and 38-40psi rear once I get moving.
Reviving this thread. I'm the original owner of a 2018 GT 3.3TT AWD, tires have always been properly inflated to recommended psi since I drove the car off the lot. Tires currently have about 15,000kms (9,300miles) on them. Front tires still have plenty of life and seem to be wearing fairly evenly but a little lower inthe center. The rear tires are definitely wearing a lot more in the center leading me to believe that the oem psi of 36 in the rear is too high to achieve even wear. Has anyone tried running a lower rear pressure with any luck? I'm considering moving the rears to 34psi and the fronts to 36psi as I've noticed the tires heat up quickly and end up around 40-42psi front and 38-40psi rear once I get moving.
Inflation to a selected psi is at cold psi. Worrying about how much psi goes up from there is pointless, in my humble opinion; for one thing it's too variable.
My experience was different. On my OEM 19" Michelins the fronts wore faster on the edges, the rears a bit faster in the center, but not enough to make the tires too worn out quicker; only a couple of millimeters difference if that. The front outer edges gave up first; and the FL outer edge actually peeled up c. 1" of tread. On this second set of Michelins I have been running at c. 40 psi cold. In the hottest driving I did I saw the TPMS readout touch 48 psi once (on one tire). Typically, the heated up tires in the summer will peak either side of c. 45 psi. Right now, cold shows 36, 37 psi and the running psi is c. 40 (as it was this morning). Oddly, there can be a 5 psi difference between the car's TPMS readout and my handheld tire gauge. I think that the real psi is somewhere in between. (which reminds me, that I intend, still, to calibrate my handheld gauge with what "my tire guys" inflate my tires to; but still haven't done that)
I’m OCD regarding checking tire pressure regularly. I have the same issue on a GT2 with the rears wearing in the center using 36PSI. I have 11,400 miles. Center at 4mm and sides at 6mm. I will lower them to 33 to see how many more miles I can get out of them.
