What tire pressure is best?

[Dadstoy]

I'm running 285/70/17 BF Goodrich all terrain TA KO with a 3 ply sidewall.
I did a search on here and the web. The only thing i could fine was, fill tires to what the sticker recommends in the door jam. I think thats well and good for the tires that came with the Runner. Does that apply to my new ones? I would not think so.

When I got them installed the tire shop put in 40psi.

The family and I are going on a 2000 mile road trip. I just want to make sure I get the most out of them. GOOD MPG

Thanks,
Nick

 

[scottybinwv]

In all the BFG AT TA KO tires I have had I ran them around 36psi for road and air them down to 28psi(or lower) for soft stuff.

Great tires btw, when I wear out the stock Dumloops I am getting BFGAT's.

 

[wvanstone]

On my 4Runner i am running 34 psi in the stock tires. 32 psi just seemed to soft of a ride.

On my Tundra i was running 35.5 psi (appox) using Bridgestone Dueler A/T Revo

Bridgestone Dueler A/T Revo

I've had 2 sets of these tires on the Tundra and liked them. I do "did" mostly 80% on road 20% off road in the PA NJ area.

The way I usually decide on how to fill the tires depends on the tire and how the tire sits on the ground. if it's over inflated the tread (contact patch) will pull up on the sides. I think you want your tread to make full contact with the road. If the sides of the tread are pulling up you will wear out the center of your tire first.

To check tire pressure correctly I usually start off with 34 Psi and then drive about 5 or 10 miles (say from home to work) and then get out and look at how the tire's contact patch is to the road. If I still have a good contact patch after the tire heats up (i.e. not running on the center tread only) I have them inflated to the right amount.

Off road I usually air down to around 28.

 

[wvanstone]

Forgot to add this

Tire Tech Information - Air Pressure - Correct, Underinflated and Overinflated

 

[JB.]

The only thing i could fine was, fill tires to what the sticker recommends in the door jam.

That only applies to passenger tires (P). Same size LTs require about 12lbs more pressure, but you went larger.

So, 37psi maintains the same load capacity on the new tires that the stock tires have at 32psi. Start there.

 

[foyaboya]

I have the BF Goodrich 265/75/R16's and they told me 45 psi at Discount Tire. I decided to call BF Goodrich and get their recommendation. They asked for my make model what the sticker on the door said (29 psi for my 1999 SR5) and what size stock tires it came with (265/70/R16). Their recommendation was on the highway no lower than 38 PSI and no higher than 42 psi. I run them at 38 and i like the ride. Now I just have to find someone who balances Toyota rims and BFG's correctly. I've learned on here we need to find a place with a Hunter Road Force Balancing Machine and a Haweke adapter for our Lug Centric Rims. When calling around no one knew what a Hawke adapter was but after explaining they said that was an "Icon" adapter...whatever it's called can you please us it the 1st time so i don't have to come back 2wice to get them balanced correctly! here is BFG's number. Have a good trip:
Call Us

1-877-788-8899
8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (M-F)
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (Sat.)
(Eastern Time)

 

[MrGrimm]

32-35 PSI on road, 15-18 Offroad

 

[Dadstoy]

Thank you to all for the input!!
I'm going to stick with the 40 psi that's in there. Just wanted to see what info you guys came up with before the road trip. I will post some MPG Saturday afternoon. Like I said before, I just want to get the most out of the tires.
Thanks again guys for your time and input!!

 

[silversx]

Do ply count matter? I have my 10 ply e rated pumped to 50 right now. Its a bit stiff but handles so much better than the old P rated.

Whats a good compromise for daily road driving on e rated 10 ply?

 

[JB.]

Do ply count matter?

From the standpoint of matching the LTs to the load capacity of the stock tires at recommended pressure, no.

If the LTs are same size as stock, just add 12lbs to door sticker pressure, so 44lbs.

 

[odyrunner]

I am not sure about these +40-50 psi pressures on here. Certainly most of the tires we are talking about here will do this, but these are generally on the high end to too high on these SUVs. I might do that on a track sports car to achieve certain things, but on a street 4runner I would see bad high center tire wear and not the optimal footprint. That's not even going into offroad pressures which need to be well south of that.

 

[SeattleMike]

I am not sure about these +40-50 psi pressures on here. Certainly most of the tires we are talking about here will do this, but these are generally on the high end to too high on these SUVs. I might do that on a track sports car to achieve certain things, but on a street 4runner I would see bad high center tire wear and not the optimal footprint. That's not even going into offroad pressures which need to be well south of that.

The difference is between a Light Truck tire and the stock Passenger tires. An LT tire HAS to have higher PSI to carry the same weight.

 

[DEKA3]

From the standpoint of matching the LTs to the load capacity of the stock tires at recommended pressure, no.

If the LTs are same size as stock, just add 12lbs to door sticker pressure, so 44lbs.

But isnt 44psi at the limits of the A/T's? I believe my stock size (AT) Silent Armors are max'd out at 44psi. Correct me if I am wrong please.

 

[harper7]

But isnt 44psi at the limits of the A/T's? I believe my stock size (AT) Silent Armors are max'd out at 44psi. Correct me if I am wrong please.

Then you probably don't have a LT tire even though it's a AT tread. As stated above LT(Light Truck)tires have more plies and require more air pressure. JB. is our forum tire expert and can explain it better. Pass tires like the stock ones should be aired up to what's on the door ,just like the stock ones.

Edit: I checked your tires on Tirerack and they have 2 listings for the SA's in the 265/70/17 size and they say both are Light truck tires. However one is a C load range with 44psi max and the other is E -rated with a 80psi max. Confusing,yes.....but with the C's you have you should just use the factory psi ,like the oem tires.

 

[JB.]

But isnt 44psi at the limits of the A/T's? I believe my stock size (AT) Silent Armors are max'd out at 44psi. Correct me if I am wrong please.

As Harper said, 44 max would indicate a passenger tire (P) not a Light Truck tire (LT). If yours are load C, as indicated in your sig, max is 50psi and it's an LT tire. The A/T designation can be applied to either type (P or LT) because it refers to the tread. For this discussion, load range (which applies to LT) doesn't matter. Only whether the tire is P or LT. So, for your LT tire, if you want to match the load carrying capacity of the stock tires, you need 12 more psi.

Confusing - I know. Turning to, say, Tire Rack for clarification doesn't help any. Not only do they omit the P and LT prefix from tire sizes (instead they require the buyer to decipher a code) the following simple fact is conspicuously absent from the website as far as I can tell: "LT tires require 10-15 more psi to carry the same load as a passenger tire".


How important it is to follow that rule is another discussion, but it's the most logical starting point when switching from P to LT.

 

[Renegad44]

^ Great explanation JB. Thanks for taking time to explain P, and LT. :cheers:

 

[DEKA3]

Then you probably don't have a LT tire even though it's a AT tread. As stated above LT(Light Truck)tires have more plies and require more air pressure. JB. is our forum tire expert and can explain it better. Pass tires like the stock ones should be aired up to what's on the door ,just like the stock ones.

Edit: I checked your tires on Tirerack and they have 2 listings for the SA's in the 265/70/17 size and they say both are Light truck tires. However one is a C load range with 44psi max and the other is E -rated with a 80psi max. Confusing,yes.....but with the C's you have you should just use the factory psi ,like the oem tires.

Doubled checked today. I do have LT tires as indicated on the actual tire (LT265/70/17). But to correct myself, max PSI is 50 as indicated on tire also.

EDIT: After reading Harpers EDIT on his post, I agree with those PSI numbers he posted

 

[foyaboya]

BFG Load Range E

harper7 beat me to it. I meant to add that the load range e BFG's were 80 psi max. It is confusing but as recommended from a rep at BFG 40 psi should be good for normal driving on load range e BFG's.

 

[foyaboya]

so dadstoy,
did you get back from your trip? How did you make out on the gas mileage? What was your MPG before?

 

[Dadstoy]

Before out trip I would get 15.5 all the time. After 1400 miles, so far the best I got is 18.5 and that was only for one tank. I have been around 16 MPG, to the one tank of 18.5. The other tanks were in the 17 MPG. I have the cruise set on 70. I thought I would of did better. Reading what other people get on here I don't see it. Don't know how there doing it. 20 MPG, hell I would have to hook a rope to a tractor trailer and have him pull me home to get that.