Tire inflation-91 Laser RS Turbo

[spiehler]

Pardon me if this sounds like a extremely newbie-style question, but I'm getting conflicting information, and wanted to straighten it out.

Car: 1991 Laser RS Turbo (automatic). Stock wheels & suspension. 22,000 original miles. I bought it from my stepdad at 17,900. He had just put on a set of Yokohama A540 55VR's. here's my problem:

The sidewall of the tires says rated to 44psi. The label inside the driver's door says 29PSI front/26PSI rear. I've got an NTB tech telling me to keep them to the car spec (29/26). The car's former owner is saying keep 'em to tire spec (44).

Who's right? Car is primarily a daily driver, around town and hiway. A few quick sprints off the line, but nothing I'd truly term "racing."

Help!

Scott

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Scott Piehler
1991 Laser RS Turbo

[jags95gs]

go by the label on the car. that's the best way to go, and you can even go maybe a couple psi over. i learned that by going by the tire number, i went thru tires quick b/c they were only wearing in the middle. :)

[joec]

Go with the label on the car. The number on the tire is the MAX safe tire pressure -- i.e., the tire may blow up if you go too far beyond that number.

The tire manufacturer has no idea what kind of car you're putting the tire on -- FWD, RWD, AWD, pickup truck, etc. They can't come up with the ideal tire pressure for *YOUR* car. The manufacturer has that information.

Usually, you can add a "few" (i.e., ~2psi) over the manufacturer's spec. This will often give you slightly better handling and gas mileage, but a firmer ride.

For what it's worth, on my 1G AWD (spec'ed at 32psi front, 29psi rear) I usually run 35psi, 31psi.