What psi do you guys run?

[Benzadmiral]

The door placard on my 2016 LaCrosse specifies 33 psi. Now I don't want to go too high in an attempt to eke out a little better gas mileage and handling; the streets here are terrible (though the LaCrosse rides far better than the sporty-ish '11 Regal). Mine were down to 32 this AM -- we're having a "cool" spell, i.e., lows of 68 instead of 78. So I pumped them up to 35. To my astonishment, the car's ride seems smoother, and nimbler and even more stable.

What psi do you run, if you set it different from the placard?

 

[Fcar1953]

Im running 245 45 19 on my 14 Premium AWD Lacrosse. PSI is 35 cold. I never looked at what they call for on the door.

 

[Rich B.]

Yes, 33psi cold for ‘16 and will be lower on cold mornings but warm up through the day and higher pressures. When cold spell begins recheck for the 33psi cold. Or fill with nitrogen (green valve stem) and tires will remain about the same press through all seasons.

Run too much higher a pressure constant and can actually prematurely wear tire centers more than edges. https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/best-cars-blog/2016/12/nitrogen-in-tires-do-you-need-it

 

[LARRY70GS]

In the absence of a door placard, I run 85-90% of the maximum pressure listed on the tire sidewall. Have a look at your tires. Max tire pressure varies. Usually 44 or 51 psi.

 

[alphabets]

2014, 245/50/18. Calls for 33, I always run 35. No difference in ride quality.

 

[2007LucerneCXL]

The subject of tire pressure was covered in another post, but it's still the same concept if you want to have additional information.

Encore Tire Pressure

 

[Bhodi's Buick]

Don't forget to factor in the equation for us with Nitrogen filled tires...

We can run with .007325% less than the recommended PSI on the Door Sticker and or Max PSI listed on the Tire itself.

Therefore I run 32.992675 PSI

Not only that, those green valve stem caps show the motoring public that we are Tire Pressure Snobs.


P.S. Pardon me, do have any Grey Poupon ? Nitrogen, there is no substitute 👍

 

[Benzadmiral]

Yes, 33psi cold for ‘16 and will be lower on cold mornings but warm up through the day and higher pressures. When cold spell begins recheck for the 33psi cold. Or fill with nitrogen (green valve stem) and tires will remain about the same press through all seasons.

Run too much higher a pressure constant and can actually prematurely wear tire centers more than edges. https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/best-cars-blog/2016/12/nitrogen-in-tires-do-you-need-it

I used to run about 35 in my '11 Regal, which required 34, I think -- anyway, about 1-2 psi above the door placard number. And the OEM Michelins lasted me a good 20K miles on top of the 38K or so the previous owner put on them. Tire rotation was the key factor there. Of course the LaCrosse is a heavier car, but I don't think I need to worry too much about center wear with 2 extra pounds?

In any case, the LaCrosse amazes me with its stable platform.

 

[G-75708]

I was running 35 PSI - developed some underinflation wear - have been running 40 PSI lately - that seems to be evening things out, so I guess 37-38 might be just about right for my car

 

[GoalieBob]

Placard calls for 30 on my 08 Allure. I aim for that, but never lower.

 

[LARRY70GS]

Placard calls for 30 on my 08 Allure. I aim for that, but never lower.

Here is where there MAY be a problem. If your car originally came with tires that had a maximum inflation pressure of 35 psi, and Buick recommended 30 psi, that's all well and good. But, if you replaced the tires with ones that had a maximum inflation pressure of 44 or even 51 psi (Tires like that are common today), 30 psi will be underinflated. Today's tires carry the same loads, but at higher pressures, so an adjustment is necessary. This may or not be the case, but everyone should be aware of it. I had this very thing happen to me. Same scenario, my tire placard for my 98 Riviera says 30 all around. I have since had tires that had max pressures of 44 and 51. When I ran 30 psi in them, handling (the car wallowed in turns) and gas mileage suffered. I had Yokohama Avid TRZ tires that were 51, I ran 43 psi in them. My current tires are Cooper CS5, and they are 44 max tires. I run 40 in them. The ride is not noticeably affected. Take a look at your tire sidewall, you might be surprised. I have found that 85-90% of max works very well. Try it, you can always let air out if you don't like it. Note, you won't see this anywhere, not from tire manufacturers or merchants.

 

[GoalieBob]

Here is where there MAY be a problem. If your car originally came with tires that had a maximum inflation pressure of 35 psi, and Buick recommended 30 psi, that's all well and good. But, if you replaced the tires with ones that had a maximum inflation pressure of 44 or even 51 psi (Tires like that are common today), 30 psi will be underinflated. Today's tires carry the same loads, but at higher pressures, so an adjustment is necessary. This may or not be the case, but everyone should be aware of it. I had this very thing happen to me. Same scenario, my tire placard for my 98 Riviera says 30 all around. I have since had tires that had max pressures of 44 and 51. When I ran 30 psi in them, handling (the car wallowed in turns) and gas mileage suffered. I had Yokohama Avid TRZ tires that were 51, I ran 43 psi in them. My current tires are Cooper CS5, and they are 44 max tires. I run 40 in them. The ride is not noticeably affected. Take a look at your tire sidewall, you might be surprised. I have found that 85-90% of max works very well. Try it, you can always let air out if you don't like it. Note, you won't see this anywhere, not from tire manufacturers or merchants.

Wow, that's good to know.
After seeing your message, I checked my current tire label: Max 51 psi.
So I checked what the dealer last set my tires at (well, the last time they actually wrote it down on my service order): 32psi.
While 32 is not way above 30, I suspect there may be a reason for them not aiming for what the placard says.
I'm going to put them up around 35 until I read more about it.

Thanks for the heads up!

(Won't the TPMS system be a problem if I try to keep my tires at 40psi?)

 

[LARRY70GS]

Not sure if the tire pressure monitoring system looks for a pre programmed pressure or whether it compares pressures of all tires and notifies you if one is much lower than the others. That is a good question. Pump them up to 40 and see.
🙂

 

[Mad*Max]

35 x 4 - based on door jamb

 

[Rich B.]

Must be 3 forums here now about same thing- why not lmao? Hope some have remembered to check spare tire, takes more than 30-40 PSI to top off those......

 

[WWS]

The sticker on my 2019 says 32 psi. That's 62% of the max of 51 on the tires.
The last tire rotation at the dealers, they came out of there with 35 psi in each, 69% of the 51.
What with the poor road surfaces, that's about max for a comfortable ride around here.

 

[Fcar1953]

For quit a few years now i have been running 35 pounds in my tires 18 19 and 20s. With nitrogen and air. When they heat up they expand close to 40 pounds. If you start with much more than 35 the ride will become ruff. Tire wear at this pressure has been very good.

 

[Benzadmiral]

QUOTE="Rich B., post: 320085, member: 47261"]
Must be 3 forums here now about same thing- why not lmao? Hope some have remembered to check spare tire, takes more than 30-40 PSI to top off those......
[/QUOTE]
Yes, I looked at that. The spare takes 60 psi. A good thing to check it before a trip or once a year at most.