Tire pressure
 

I bought one of those ghetto $2 tire pressure gauges (works well, though!). My car is one week and a day out of the dealership and I checked tire pressure for the first time today. The rear wheels were 32psi each, whereas the front wheels were 34psi each. The label on the door says 32 front, 32 rear. So it seems that the front tires are slightly overinflated.

I wonder whether's that's something that the dealer did on purpose. So is 34 instead of 32 psi bad? How does it affect the car's performance?

Sorry for all the newbie questions.

Check some of the other tread on this subject. When I first arrived on this site I too had a simular question. I was overinflating my tires (a lot) and thanks to some of the other members I've gone to a lower (and safer) number.

I think it's safe to keep your pressure from 32 to 35 psi. Remember that the recommended pressure is 32 psi. This takes into account, milage, wearing or the tread and traction. A higher inflated tire will likely wear prematurely but might give you some better mileage.

I keep mine at 34 psi in the summer and 32 psi in the winter. I hope this helps and that I just didn't insult your intelligence. I'm sure some of the other members will be able to help you out more than I could.

Redfyre...this is probably a stupid question but why do you drop the tire pressures in the winter? Does 2psi make any real diference in winter driving? I'm assuming that's your goal? I haven't lived in any winter climates for 15 years so don't think much about this stuff. It's always warm in Houston.

I'm also not sure just how much of a noticable performance differience 2 psi will make. In "theory" it should give me better traction in the snow. But I do it mostly so that in my head I feel safer. I do however have noticed a difference in the ride when I inflate my tires 2 or 3 psi.

Hi Astral, welcome to the world of the Protege. Just remember to not measure your pressure after you have been driving all day, it will read higher. I normally check it on the weekend before I leave to go out. I have a compressor at home so I fill it up myself.

Redfyre, I changed out my alloys rims for the winter and used steel rims with winter tires. That way it saves wear on the original rubber as well as proivides me with better traction. There is also the problem that others have had with the crap on the road during winter pitting the rims. I have also found that the traction of the factory stock tires are crap in winter. I put on Michilen Pilot Alpins for the winter and they were great. Did not get stuck once.

Chris,

Yeah, I was a little worried about the stock tires for the winter myself. I have a buddy at work who has a Protege ES and he was not impressed with the stock tires in the winter. But honestly, I found them to be pretty good.

I'd driven a civic, sentra, sunfire and few other vehicle over this winter and I found that the stocks on the P5 to be pretty good. I think you just need to get used to them and the abs that everyone seems to think kicks in way too early. I found the abs in the civic pretty good, the sentra kicks in too late for my liking and the sunfire was just a crappy car over all.

I was going to get a set of winter steels and tires from the dealership but I was 1)too lazy and 2)too cheap ;) Besides I wanted to try out the stocks for a bit in the snow. And I found them to be quit good. Also, I'm hopping for the excuse to get new rims and tires (don't tell my fiance) ;)

Shane