New tires, new pressures too?
New tires, new pressures too?
So I am a motorcycle mechanic by trade and no mater what tires we put on someones bike we always set them at the tire pressures the manufacture suggests. Now a couple weeks ago I bought a set of goodyear wrangler Duratrac tires in a 285/75-20 size which is a slightly larger than stock on my 06 f-150 supercab. The ford dealer that installed them is now suggesting that I run them at 60psi which is almost double the 35psi that ford says they should be at with the stock tires. I tried finding the info on goodyears website and the only info I could find was to run what the manufacture has on the sticker in the door jam but I'm guessing that may not apply if you have a larger tire. Maybe its more if the tire has a higher load rating? Or maybe because it is a more aggressive tire? Just looking for a little reason to their rhyme here. I don't want them to wear too quickly because the pressure is too high.
Everything depend upon load range and rating, not size. If the recommended pressure for the OE tires was 35, that was a p series (passenger car) tire. If the tire you purchased was an LT (light truck), it would come in different "flavors" also. They would be a LR C tire with a max of 50 psi, a LR D tire with a max of 50 psi, a LR D tire with a max of 65, a LR E with a max of 65, or a LR E with a max of 80. Each would probably require a different pressure for your particular vehicle.
A good place to start for each is:
LR C max 50 - use 40-45 - don't go below 38
LR D max 50 - use 40-45 - don't go below 38
LR D max 65 - use 45 - don't go below 40
LR E max 65 - use 45 - don't go below 40
LR E max 80 - use 50 - don't go below 45
Each tire will be different. I have seen LR E max 80 tires with such a high load rating that 40 would have been safe.
You can use a number of about 2000lb per tire as the rear axle is rated to about 4000lbs.
In your case, the specs of the tire is 3640lbs at 80 psi, so 45-50 will be fine for that tire.
A good place to start for each is:
LR C max 50 - use 40-45 - don't go below 38
LR D max 50 - use 40-45 - don't go below 38
LR D max 65 - use 45 - don't go below 40
LR E max 65 - use 45 - don't go below 40
LR E max 80 - use 50 - don't go below 45
Each tire will be different. I have seen LR E max 80 tires with such a high load rating that 40 would have been safe.
You can use a number of about 2000lb per tire as the rear axle is rated to about 4000lbs.
In your case, the specs of the tire is 3640lbs at 80 psi, so 45-50 will be fine for that tire.
Last edited by kingfish51; Nov 8, 2010 at 11:43 AM.


