Is it best to follow your vehicle‘s recommended psi for tire pressure (in my case, 35psi), or if you have a high performance tire that can take more (my new tires have a max of 51psi) is it best to get close to the tire‘s max, or stick with the car‘s recommended pressure? *My new tires have a max of 51, so I inflated them to 45 but it seems my mileage has gotten a little worse? Wouldn‘t more pressure give you better mileage, especially if the tire can handle it?Thanks for intelligent answers!
Higher performance tires will only create more friction between the tire and road and possibly reduce mileage. Its always best to follow the recommended psi for the tire you have. Under inflation can cause excessive wear but better grip with the road at a reduced gas mileage, and over inflation (even a few PSI higher than the recommended) can also cause premature wear of the inside track of the tires.
I hear and see this a lot about the tire pressures and what to run, the door sticker is great for the original tire for the vehicle and if you go back with the original tires the vehicle came with then the door pressures should work. In your case you went with a after market tire so your new pressure more than likely will be different, so you may have to try different pressures depending on driving habits to get the performance, tire wear, and/or fuel economy. The other person is right about the hp tires having a sticky compound and it having a higher rolling resitance which means more friction with the road less mileage. Your inflation pressure of 45 does seem like a good place to start.
It is always best to follow the vehicle manufacturers recommendation for tire pressure as a room full of guys with automotive engineering degrees, massive computer power, vast test facilities and multi-million dollar budgets spent years to come up with that number. The tires MAXIMUM inflation pressure is just that, its MAXIMUM safe inflation pressure. My Thesaurus does not listed RECOMMENDED and MAXIMUM on the same line. While it is true that less pressure can reduce your fuel economy it is not necessarily true that more pressure will increase it. More pressue though will make your tires wear prematurely, reduce traction and ride quality and make the tire more susceptible to expensive damage from road hazards such as potholes - and a tire costs more (in dollars and carbon emissions) than a few gallons of gas. The vehicle manufacturers inflation recommendation by the way works with any tire of the same size as fitted to the vehicle originally. It does not matter what brand or model of tire it is. Tire pressure recommendations are based on tire size, not who made them so whether you have the original or aftermarket tires on the vehicle is irrelevant.
