Recommended pressure for 225/55/17 tires?

[tarambuka3500]

Hi,
I've recently put 17" wheels on my 05 outback (used to be w/16" -> 225/60 R16)
now the tires are 225/55 R17 - can anyone with such tires as OEM tell me the recommended pressure?
e.g. is more than 2.1 bar

[rockhopjohn]

Usually this is listed on a sticker on the driver's door jam. But typically the manufacturers spec is designed for a soft ride, and not for better fuel mileage or tire wear. 2.1-2.2 bar seems pretty typical for a OEM spec, but I run about 2.4 bar, with no ill effects, and if I am taking a long trip I bump the pressure up to ~2.75 bar.

[smeric]

I have OEM 17 inch tires and these are the pressures listed on the door sticker:
Front: 32 psi
Rear: 30 psi

[TeamFCAR]

smeric,

As Rockhopjohn mentions, the sticker on the door is a starting point for the stock setup. Setting the right tire pressure starts with your alignment and finishes with your driving style.

Assuming (I know, I know but you have to start somewhere) the alignment is within the factory specs, you will want to adjust your tire pressures to get even wear across the tread for the maximum life of the tire. If your driving habits tend like mine to the more aggressive, you will want to be up towards the maximum the sidewall. The harder you tend to corner, the more the tire carcass rolls. Increasing pressure helps keep the tread flat on the road. However the more aggressive driving will also wear the tires faster so don't expect great tire life.

Short term you can use a Tire probe or Infra Red Temp gun to read the temps across the tire. This is one way we do it at the track for the race cars but it must be done very quickly or the temps will even out to meaningless values. Therefore for my street cars I start by keeping a close eye on the pressures and the tire wear as the tires loses the molding marks. Then as the tire wears watch to make sure the tread depth wears evenly.

The other big factor not included by the factory is the load you are carrying. The only way the tire will handle the maximum load rated on the side wall is at or near maximum pressure. Too little pressure will give too much sidewall flex and generate excessive heat that will prematurely kill the tire. See a related thread elsewhere on this site.

Good luck,

Mike

[OhBe1]

Simpler - start with 3psi more than the door sticker. Adjust from there.

[Button]

tarambuka3500,

I'll be buying Kumho Ecsta LX Platinum as my next tire. They have excellent reviews from Tirerack & consumers & offer long tread wear.

Regards,
~Button

[gryffinwings]

I've got the Falken 912s in that size on my Konig Runaway (Volk RE30 Replicas) wheels and they are pretty nice, much improved handling.

[Bimmer]

These are the same size as the OEM XT tires, right? I'm running those at 35-36psi.

Bimmer

[skibum]

I replaced the stock tires with Michelin Primacy MXV4. The tires ride nice, but over 65 the tires have a wobble to them. I have all the tires set at 35psi, I was wondering if I should run them higher. My brother in laws passat tires are at 40 psi. When I picked the car up from the tire installer they had them set really high and drove like crap. I hope I don't need the tires balanced again.

[OhBe1]

Take it back and have them balanced correctly.