Tire Pressure Public Service Announcement
07-01-2010, 10:03 AM
#1
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My Ride: 2010 535i, Sports Package, Nav, Prem Sound
I just realized how important tire pressure is to the handling of our cars.
I got my car back from the dealer (60k Miles Vehicle Check service) and realized that the car felt completely different. The handling was sloppy, and I felt a lot of twitching where I had to constantly adjust the steering to stay on center with the car veering to one side. It was as if the road was pushing the car around. Also I felt lower levels of grip during cornering. Something wasn't right.
So then I thought about the tire pressure and remembered what I had set all four tires to previously. When I checked the tire pressure this morning (cold) it was 35PSI Front, 35.5 Rear on one side and 36PSI Front, 36.5 PSI on the other side.
I then set the pressures to: 38.5 PSI Front, and 40 PSI Rear. The car felt completely different with a sharp turn in, and no twitching on the freeway. Now the car felt like it was controlling the road, not the other way around, with plenty of grip. I guess a higher tire pressure is essential for non-RFT tires, at least for Michelin PS2 tires that I'm running.
I got my car back from the dealer (60k Miles Vehicle Check service) and realized that the car felt completely different. The handling was sloppy, and I felt a lot of twitching where I had to constantly adjust the steering to stay on center with the car veering to one side. It was as if the road was pushing the car around. Also I felt lower levels of grip during cornering. Something wasn't right.
So then I thought about the tire pressure and remembered what I had set all four tires to previously. When I checked the tire pressure this morning (cold) it was 35PSI Front, 35.5 Rear on one side and 36PSI Front, 36.5 PSI on the other side.
I then set the pressures to: 38.5 PSI Front, and 40 PSI Rear. The car felt completely different with a sharp turn in, and no twitching on the freeway. Now the car felt like it was controlling the road, not the other way around, with plenty of grip. I guess a higher tire pressure is essential for non-RFT tires, at least for Michelin PS2 tires that I'm running.
I haven't checked my tire pressure in a long time...
07-13-2010, 05:20 AM
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My Ride: 2004 545i, 6-speed Manual, Silver Grey Metallic, Grey Dakota Leather, Cold Weather Pkg, Premium Sound Pkg, Sport Pkg, Lumbar Support
07-13-2010, 05:43 AM
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My Ride: 2005 E60 523 executive
20"ASA / Bi-Xenon / Full M-tech / LED Angel Eyes / Matte Black Kidney's / LED Side Markers
Altough I am a complete noob when it come to doing mechanical stuff and maintanance to my car, I check my tire pressure once a week when washing the car and almost every week I have to add some (minor) pressure to them...running on 20's and low pressure drives like shit...It is well worth the effort to check the pressure on a regular basis!
07-13-2010, 06:35 AM
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My Ride: (USA) 645Ci, Silver Gray, Chateau, Cold Weather PKG, Premium Sound PKG, Sport PKG, Step, NAV [Std Equip in 645], HUD, Satellite (SIRIUS) Radio, Aux Input, Bluetooth enabled using iPhone 3GS w/ adapter cradle - Build date - 01/05, Baby delivered 2/24/05
When I came off my second set of OEM RFTs and tried the PS2s I was astonished at how much pressure I had to have to replicate the sharp turn-in of RFTs on twisty roads (at very, very aggressive speeds). I was up to 42 PSI cold in the fronts to keep from feeling I was going to roll off the rims. For normal driving it was still at the high end of recommended BMW range (36 psi). Because I did not feel or hear any real benefit from this change to non-RFTs and lost some safety factor I returned to RFTs and have been happy since.
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