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New to the Acurazine forums. Long time lurker but first time contributor (wanted to wait until I actually purchased the TLX before joining the forum).
Just purchased a black A-Spec yesterday with red interior (few pics below)
One concern that I had was that each of the tires were filled at 40PSI. The salesperson mentioned that this is the standard for the 19in wheels, however, when I read the side panel Acura specifies that it should be 32 PSI.
Question to the members of the forum: what PSI do you recommend having the tires at? (keep in mind - most of my driving is a highway commute to work).
it's purely personal preference.
the door placard will give you the best all around PSI, catering to; NVH, fuel economy and ride comfort.
pumping the tires to 40PSI will help with comfort and I'm guessing fuel economy.
ALL these readings should be done cold, as when the tire heats up, pressure increases
SO, if you are uncertain about your dealer, just let a few PSI out of your tires to match the OEM's recommendations...
Last edited by justnspace; 07-12-2017 at 09:30 AM.
it's purely personal preference.
the door placard will give you the best all around PSI, catering to; NVH, fuel economy and ride comfort.
pumping the tires to 40PSI will help with comfort and I'm guessing fuel economy.
ALL these readings should be done cold, as when the tire heats up, pressure increases
Thanks for your prompt reply! As I am driving - I'm noticing that the PSI increases to about 42-43 per each tire. (Note: I'm in New Jersey where the weather is about 85 degrees right now in the summer months).
I just want to confirm that it's not dangerous for the tires to be filled with so much air (want to make sure that they don't pop because there's significantly more PSI)
Thanks for your prompt reply! As I am driving - I'm noticing that the PSI increases to about 42-43 per each tire. (Note: I'm in New Jersey where the weather is about 85 degrees right now in the summer months).
I just want to confirm that it's not dangerous for the tires to be filled with so much air (want to make sure that they don't pop because there's significantly more PSI)
Ideal gas law: PV = nRT.
As temperature increases (by driving on a tire, it heats up the tire so the the pressure 'increases' as well.
That's why the rule of thumb when checking PSI on tires is in the morning before you drive and when it is 'cold'
8 psi over is way too much. Also, I'm confused how stiffer tires with more air pressure give you better ride comfort? Me thinks it would be the other way around- a softer tire will absorb more bumps.
Yes, increasing air pressure will help with fuel economy, but, it also results in worse traction. At the track, guys will lower their air pressure to account for the amount of heat and subsequent increase in tire pressure, resulting in less traction.
If the recommended tire pressure is 32 psi, I personally wouldn't push it past 35 psi. It's not only a balance of the things Justin mentioned. It's also a balance of safety. That's why those stickers are federally mandated.
As usual your salesman is an idiot. Your tires were supposed to be checked at delivery as part of the delivery inspection and the PSI was supposed to be lowered back to 32. The tires were pumped to 40 psi during shipping A) to make the car move less during shipping when it is tied down and B) to prevent the tires from becoming flat on one side in the chance the car is not being driven for extended periods of time and sits on the dealers lot.
So to recap,salesman is an idiot and dealership did a bad job during PDI. Now in terms of proper psi, like Justin mentioned, the number on the door placard is just a suggestion for the best balance of ride comfort, handling, and tire wear. You can jack it up a little bit (preferably not down) from that number if you like a stiffer ride. I usually fill my tires to 36-38 on my Sorento (door card asks for 33 iirc). 40 is pushing it and I don't suggest that because as thoiboi mentioned, because of the ideal gas law when you drive and the tires heat up, pressure will increase as well and this could result in a blow out if you go too high and the tires get too hot.
FYI: My recent Infiniti Q50 RWD rental in Miami, had 50PSI, in EVERY tire
When I returned it to Hertz, the CS rep, just smirked, & wrote it on the window!
FYI: My recent Infiniti Q50 RWD rental in Miami, had 50PSI, in EVERY tire
When I returned it to Hertz, the CS rep, just smirked, & wrote it on the window!
Depending on the tire, you might find that over-inflation will cause the center tread to wear faster. My previous DWS's wore in the center faster when I had the tires inflated to about 38-39 PSI. Most tires can safely be inflated to at least 44 PSI so safety isn't a huge issue. However, the recommended PSI on the door jam is what I usually go by. That's what the manufacturer has determined the best pressure is for the combination of comfort, treadwear and performance.
Also, I've got to say, your pictures of the grille are the most flattering i've seen!
in the press shots, they couldnt capture what your pictures show. I dont know what I'm trying to say, other than...BEAUTIFUL CAR!!!!!!!!!!
Depends on the specific tire. A lot of 19" run 40PSI so that by itself in not unusual. As mentioned the sticker on the door should have the correct number as long as it matched the tire size.
Look in the owners book it should list a number of pressures Normal driving & 100+ or high speed. Also normal load & fully loaded both normal & high speed.
Quick & dirty is white shoe polish stripe across the tread from side wall to sidewall. Set the air pressure & flog the car for a few miles & see how the polish wears.
Middle warn too much air, outer edges warn not enough air. Equal wear across the face & Goldie Locks is happy.
If you are a corner carver run the stripe up over the onto lower side wall. If the stripe wears the tire is rolling under & need more air. If that over inflates the tire then you need to back down the pressure & your enthusiasm till you get new tires that suit how you drive.
Checked two cars on the drive way one was 35/39 the other 38/41 for normal driving. Tires below are 22/23.
Last edited by BEAR-AvHistory; 07-12-2017 at 01:40 PM.
Depends on the specific tire. A lot of 19" run 40PSI so that by itself in not unusual. As mentioned the sticker on the door should have the correct number as long as it matched the tire size.
Look in the owners book it should list a number of pressures Normal driving & 100+ or high speed. Also normal load & fully loaded both normal & high speed.
Quick & dirty is white shoe polish stripe across the tread from side wall to sidewall. Set the air pressure & flog the car for a few miles & see how the polish wears.
Middle warn too much air, outer edges warn not enough air. Equal wear across the face & Goldie Locks is happy.
If you are a corner carver run the stripe up over the onto lower side wall. If the stripe wears the tire is rolling under & need more air. If that over inflates the tire then you need to back down the pressure & your enthusiasm till you get new tires that suit how you drive.
Checked two cars on the drive way one was 35/39 the other 38/41 for normal driving. Tires below are 22/23.
not sure where you're getting that from. It's largely dependent on wheel width and vehicle weight. My brother's dodge 2500 has something like 45psi in the tires (don't remember the exact number). But it's big, heavy, and can potentially have a shit ton of extra weight on it. The tires won't bulge with that pressure and that much weight on them.
My 370z has 35psi for its 19" rims. The TLX has apparently 32psi for its 19" rims.
If too much air, as you mentioned, the center of the tire begins to bulge and wear faster. Too little air and the sides wear faster. A heavier car generally has more air in the tires because there is enough force (weight) to keep the center from bulging. The same tire can be used on ten different cars, and have ten different psi ratings. But it also depends on the surface area (contact area) (wheel/tire width) that touches the pavement.
your shoe polish idea definitely works... not a bad idea if your changing wheel size drastically. Otherwise, you'll likely find the manufacturer specs to work pretty good, if not best. Moving up or down a few psi, depending on what you're trying to achieve, is ok. Too much is a bad idea.
First: black with red looks unexpectedly good! Congrats!
Second: 40 psi cold is too high. I run mine at 33-34 psi cold and it gives me the right comfort and handling for me. Just experiment with pressure settings, starting with what Acura recommends (32 all around), and go from there.
Sounds like the dealer just didn't do anything on the pre-delivery inspection. Standard practice for the cars on the lot to be over-inflated. It's done to prevent flat spots developing on the tires while the car sits on the lot.
not sure where you're getting that from. It's largely dependent on wheel width and vehicle weight. My brother's dodge 2500 has something like 45psi in the tires (don't remember the exact number). But it's big, heavy, and can potentially have a shit ton of extra weight on it. The tires won't bulge with that pressure and that much weight.
How about most all BMW 3/4 series with 19" wheels are in the 40psi range as standard on the rear wheels. Going back in history my 335is with 19" ran 44psi on the rear & 40psi up front. Most of these cars are under 3800 lbs some as light at 3300lbs. Typically the rears are 255X35X19"
The two sets of numbers I listed were for the 440 & 135is.
Actually its the composition of the tire, the height of the side wall, the structure of the tire RFT or NRFT, the weight of the car & the style of the tire - Summer performance vs all season vs mileage makers etc, the suspension calibration etc.
But an easy quick & dirty as the ratio number goes down the PSI requirements go up for a specific car. Just to beat a soon to be dead horse a little these numbers are in the book for my car depending on the tire size & type. There are a number of others I did nor list like the 18"s but they follow the trend.
17" M&S 225/45 32/35PSI
19 M&S 225/40 35/38PSI
19" SUM 225/40-255/35 35/38PSI
20" SUM 225/35-255/30 38/44PSI
OVER 100 MPH - for non-performance cars you can swap in full vacation loads of people & stuff at interstate speeds
7" M&S 225/45 36/44PSI
19 M&S 225/40 42/46PSI
19" SUM 225/40-255/35 39/41PSI
20" SUM 225/35-255/30 42/49PSI
By a lot of cars run 40 psi on 19" most German cars qualify that have 19" wheels. So as I said 40+PSI in not unusual. If the TLX dealer exceeded the door jam sticker he screwed up but the main result will be a sh***y ride.
What is interesting is my 135is which is a smaller lighter car has higher PSI standatds across the board. I guess they think the 135is will be pushed harder than the 440. Likewise the 335is had higher standards than the 440 again despite being slightly lighter.
.
Last edited by BEAR-AvHistory; 07-12-2017 at 05:18 PM.
I dunno what analogy you're trying to make. All it points to is follow what the manufacturer says and dont deviate too much from it. A Dodge 2500 has massive sidewalls compared to a BMW sedan or coupe. Both seem to have ridiculous tire pressures of well over 40psi. The only reason I can see bmw doing it is for the run flats. Otherwise I have no fucking clue.
It's becoming clear that We have no idea why manufacturers suggest what pressure they use for their cars. Just follow what they say. Stating all 19" wheels run over 40psi is inaccurate though.
But short sidewall NRFT also run higher pressures many in the 40PSI range. Check Tire Rack for more info on pressure.
Here is the exact quote you are trying to unravel
I wrote:
"Depends on the specific tire. A lot of 19" run 40PSI so that by itself in not unusual."
I don't read what I wrote as saying
You wrote:
"Stating all 19" wheels run over 40psi is inaccurate though".
I always work with the manufactures numbers when they are available & have not recommended otherwise, even listed the recommendations for my car. The shoe polish is a good method to check yourself if you are inclined to play outside the recommendations & can keep you from going very far wrong.
The Cobra requires shoepolish because I am the manufacturer & did not make a nice door sticker for the car.
BTW a general rule of thumb to get in the ballpark to start when no info is available is 10PSI per 1000lbs of weight.
Last edited by BEAR-AvHistory; 07-12-2017 at 07:41 PM.
Yes, with your cobra, you have no other choice. But how many people here build there own cars here, or in general?
run flats seem to be a special breed of tire... thank god more manufacturers don't use them. In either case, let's take RFTs out of the picture... then the number of cars running that high of pressure is pretty low. It also isn't apples to apples comparing the TLX tires to a 335's tires... as you stated- NRFT vs RFT.
I did underestimate/understate what goes into calculating tire pressure... I agree with what you listed- it takes a lot of consideration. But, for the same car, you can go from all seasons, to winters, to high performance, to R comps, and they still suggest to use the same pressure for that particular car... so you can't really rely on tire composition. Unless by composition you mean NRFT vs RFT.
I do know that, for example, stretched tires require waaaaaay more pressure to stay in place. Of course, it depends on how much stretching happens. I remember a guy I know bought a JDM car with stretched tires... he noticed the tire pressure was way high and put the tire pressure to what is stated in the door jam... well his tire ended up coming off
either way, I know I'm rambling. Long story short- my rule of thumb is manufacturer specs, and under certain conditions, plus or minus 3 psi at most. If I'm feeling frugal, I'll bump up the pressure for better fuel economy. If I'm feeling naughty, I'll drop them a few psi to go hooning. Only At the track, I lower my pressures from 35psi all around, to 29psi. But that's a whole different story. The brake rotors are cooking hot and the tires/wheels are waaaaay warmer too (duh). After a 20 minute session, I'm at ~37psi. Crazy how quick they can change.
Would you guys recommend filling the tires with nitrogen?
No. Personally I would not unless it free of charge. Your tires already have 78% nitrogen in them. You should be adjusting tire pressure for winter & summer. Nitrogen will not remove that requirement so it main advantage of not dropping pressure due to the gas migrating out of the tire is minimal.
Would you guys recommend filling the tires with nitrogen?
As mentioned, not unless it were free.
My TLX came from the dealer with nitrogen, and I've had to do just as many adjustments due to weather change as I have on every other tire I've ever owned. Just another way for the dealer to increase profit margin.
Tire composition I was having a brain fart looking for load index & XL tire. Might have found a new rule of thumb as to why the Acura came with 40 PSI. What is the max pressure on the sidewall?
even if nitrogen is free, it's still a pain to get it. I can fire up my compressor and fill 30 tires with regular air, before I get to the local Costco for free nitrogen.
That, and they don't actually remove the normal air from the tire. So they fill it with more nitrogen, but a part of the air in the tire is still regular air.
Would you guys recommend filling the tires with nitrogen?
This is the biggest rippoff on the automotive market right now. It's right up there next to blinker fluid. The air is already 78% nitrogen, so think about that for a moment. It means that 22% is something else. Now let's just assume that whatever that 22% air is, it's more sensitive to temperature changes and that Nitrogen is better. It means if you have 2 identical tires filled to 40 psi, the maximum effect the non-pure nitrogen would have would be a change of 8.8 psi and you won't see an 8.8 psi drop anyways.
Now that is just an assumption, atmospheric air is not 78% nitrogen and 22% oxygen, more like 78% nitrogen and 22% a mixture of CO2, helium, oxygen...etc. So in reality, at maximum there would be an 8.8psi flexibility between pure Nitrogen and the atmospheric normal air. So that's a long way of saying keep the money, go spend it on a nice dinner out, go watch a movie. Whatever. Just don't waste your money!
New to the Acurazine forums. Long time lurker but first time contributor (wanted to wait until I actually purchased the TLX before joining the forum).
Just purchased a black A-Spec yesterday with red interior (few pics below)
One concern that I had was that each of the tires were filled at 40PSI. The salesperson mentioned that this is the standard for the 19in wheels, however, when I read the side panel Acura specifies that it should be 32 PSI.
Question to the members of the forum: what PSI do you recommend having the tires at? (keep in mind - most of my driving is a highway commute to work).
The dealer should always deliver a car to factory specs. 32 PSI for 19" is the OEM standard; he's full of sh*t when he tells you 40 PSI. The inflation pressure is determined by the OEM and not to exceed the tire manufacturer.
If you want to "customize" your ride, I do 34 F / 36 R which works out well for me. Most often I am driving by myself or 1 passenger. 40 PSI, regardless of the load, is on the high side. That could potentially contribute to uneven tire wear particularly in the middle.
As an aside, I wouldn't fill my tires with Nitrogen either. Unless you fill the tires in a vacuum, there will always be other gases mixed in. It's best to check your tire pressure once a week or two. Your TLX came with a handy air pump, so it should be easy to top them off. Plus, the TLX has a trick tire pressure sensor system, and blinks the lights & beeps at you when you're at proper pressure.
My last 5 or 6 Acura's were DELIVERED with 40PSI!
3 different dealers17,18 ,& 19" wheels, different tires, etc.
Anyway, I've listened to Motorweek's Pat Goss, for year's
He's always said that 2-3 extra PSI in winter , or when the car is loaded down, works well
In the COLD months, you lose 2-3 PSI
Indeed, I've found that 35PSI, is ideal in winter; in the summer, 32PSI is sufficient, because of the heat expansion
07-12-2017, 09:25 AM
Like riding on balloons..........
not sure where you're getting that from. It's largely dependent on wheel width and vehicle weight. My brother's dodge 2500 has something like 45psi in the tires (don't remember the exact number). But it's big, heavy, and can potentially have a shit ton of extra weight on it. The tires won't bulge with that pressure and that much weight on them.
