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Tires-old subject with new twist

Created August 17, 2009, at 12:55 pm by tvanderpas

I'm on my second civic hybrid (total miiles between the two of about 270K) and have gotten amazing results by increasing tire pressure to around 40 psi. I have run on Firestone Affinity LH-30's (not the Affinity touring). The tires were good in snow (I live in Wisconsin), relatively light to improve mileage (improved my mileage 15-20% at 40 psi despite using the 16" wheels from a Civic EX), were very comfortable, lasted forever (about 70K miles), and were low-cost.

Sadly, Firestone has discontinued the LH-30, so I had to pick a new tire this time. After considerable research, I decided to go with the Yokohama Avid Touring-S (not the Touring). The tire is relatively light (21 lbs. in my size; a non-civic owner even recently commented that he suspects they are low-rolling resistance tires because they increased his mileage dramatically), rated for long wear, and are projected to be good in ice and snow. It is also a very low-cost tire.

And now I just noticed that the maximum tire pressure for the Touring-S is 51 PSI, which is way above what I was used to with the LH-30's! So I am now faced with the decision (or opportunity) to stick at 40 PSI as I have in the past or push it a little further (given the Touring-S's higher max pressure) to get even better gas mileage and snow/ice traction while hopefully not affecting tire wear.

Anybody have any insight (no pun intended) or thoughts about this? Thanks in advance.

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hchIIluv
Member

2 years ago

The car does not care what the tire pressure is, I would try the max on the sidewall and see if it is to uncomfortable. If it is lower it until the car rides the way you like

Brian

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