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[nukezero]

I had a nail in the tire this weekend and took it to America's Tire to get it fixed for free since I bought my Michelin Super Sports there.

I told them to put 38/40 psi front rear.

After driving the car for another day, I realized damn, the car feels a bit rock hard for some reason, even on the freeway. Almost worse than run flats. I took it to Santa Monica today with my girlfriend and sure enough with poor roads there, something was off about my tires/car.

Pulled into a gas station for air and bust out my tire gauge. Guess what, my fucken tires are at 50psi rear, 48 psi front left, and 38 psi front right.

I dropped the pressure and now it rides smooth.

Those guys fucked up royally. It's strange because I was watching them through the window as they used an electronic tire pump to put air in it. You set the number digitally and then it pumps air into it until the desired PSI is reached. No mechanical gauge.

To make matters worse, they worked very fast because there was 2 guys working on my car, one on each side with different pumps.

I also compared my tire gauge pen that I got from America's Tire as well as the gas station pump's mechanical gauge. I found that the tire gauge pen was fairly accurate!!

YEAH, OKAY, COOL STORY BRO!

[bmwforme]

Should've bought an Altima..

No really though, that is bad. Those uneven overinflated tires probably was slaying your gas mileage, wearing the tires unevenly, and not gripping as well as they should. Good thing you figured it out soon rather than later when there was an issue.

+1 for the Pen Gauge

[nukezero]

Originally Posted by bmwforme

Should've bought an Altima..

No really though, that is bad. Those uneven overinflated tires probably was slaying your gas mileage, wearing the tires unevenly, and not gripping as well as they should. Good thing you figured it out soon rather than later when there was an issue.

+1 for the Pen Gauge

Yeah, my car was really driving strange.

Oh wow, that's a pretty nice technology from Nissan. Where the fu** was BMW on this stuff??

[Amini77]

Originally Posted by bmwforme

Should've bought an Altima..

No really though, that is bad. Those uneven overinflated tires probably was slaying your gas mileage, wearing the tires unevenly, and not gripping as well as they should. Good thing you figured it out soon rather than later when there was an issue.

+1 for the Pen Gauge

What a random feature..and not even a beep..it's a startling honk lol cool though.

[snowman81]

That's one of the complaints that I have about our tpms. Why the hell can't it display actual pressure in each tire like most others cars do?

[135Pats]

Tire pressure pen FTW. Takes 10 seconds per tire before any long drive to make sure everythings tip top.

[pits200]

Don't forget, psi increases within the tire as it gets warmer. So if they put the air in on a cold tire like you're suppose to, you can see an increase as the tire gets warmer due to driving. If you checked the pressure after a long trip, it's likely to be much higher than when you checked on a cold tire.

[alex2364]

If you had been driving your car for 20+ minutes, 48/50 psi sounds about right if you told them 38/40. I always check my pressure after the car has been sitting overnight.

[bender rodriguez]

I only put 35 psi is that too low?

[Transport3r]

I think stock pressure is 32/35 for staggered wheels.. your pressure sounds high.
Also what he said about checking it after sitting for a while. tires will go up 5-15 psi with driving depending on the volume inside.

[snowman81]

Go with nitrogen...doesn't fluctuate with temps!

[Wires]

Check your manual. It has a table for the different grades/styles/speeds of tires as well as for running normal/over weight.

[galahad05]

Originally Posted by snowman81

Go with nitrogen...doesn't fluctuate with temps!

wat

[John 070]

I do not second guess the mfg., I do the 35 rear 32 front, stone cold. I dunno where 48 would even come from, those folks should not be installing tires. Because tire gauges are so inaccurate, I think spending about $17 is necessary, because even when it displays tenths of a pound, it can be off by like +/- 1% plus .5 psi. For example, if you set it to 35.0, it will actually be 35.1 to 35.9--quite a large variance, but it is what it is....anything cheaper is going to be worse....I had one from Wal Mart and it was 3 lbs. too high.

http://www.amazon.com/Michelin-MN-12...tal+tire+gauge

[Transport3r]

Originally Posted by snowman81

Go with nitrogen...doesn't fluctuate with temps!

Sure it does. It is just a gas and obeys the laws of physics.

[bender rodriguez]

What is the point of nitrogen?

[edirtaynine]

Originally Posted by Mr.Ritz

What is the point of nitrogen?

to get high

[pits200]

Originally Posted by Transport3r

Sure it does. It is just a gas and obeys the laws of physics.

Sorry man he is right about nitrogen, they use it in race cars and places like Wal-Mart for an extra cost. It will expand like o2 but will need to be a higher temperature which most street cars could never reach to reach entropy and cause expansion in the tire hence fluctuation of psi when driving.

[Karbon]

This is why you should use Nitrogen: (From popularmechanics.com)

There are several compelling reasons to use pure nitrogen in tires.

First is that nitrogen is less likely to migrate through tire rubber than is oxygen, which means that your tire pressures will remain more stable over the long term. Racers figured out pretty quickly that tires filled with nitrogen rather than air also exhibit less pressure change with temperature swings. That means more consistent inflation pressures during a race as the tires heat up. And when you're tweaking a race car's handling with half-psi changes, that's important.

How is water relevant to a nitrogen discussion? Any system that delivers pure nitrogen is also going to deliver dry nitrogen. Filling tires with nitrogen involves filling and purging several times in succession, serially diluting the concentration of oxygen in the tire. This will also remove any water.

Nitrogen FTW.

[bender rodriguez]

Originally Posted by John 070

I do not second guess the mfg., I do the 35 rear 32 front, stone cold. I dunno where 48 would even come from, those folks should not be installing tires. Because tire gauges are so inaccurate, I think spending about $17 is necessary, because even when it displays tenths of a pound, it can be off by like +/- 1% plus .5 psi. For example, if you set it to 35.0, it will actually be 35.1 to 35.9--quite a large variance, but it is what it is....anything cheaper is going to be worse....I had one from Wal Mart and it was 3 lbs. too high.

http://www.amazon.com/Michelin-MN-12...tal+tire+gauge

lol my 3 dollar one broke first use.

[mike3000fl]

If you can notice a low or flat tire early, you can save that tire by topping it up. If you drive on that thing, it will overheat and fail.

With that.... I have seen aftermarket TPMS systems that show an actual PSI on the display. I have weighed the benefits of buying this (just under $200, vs buying a new tire) and it seems worth it.

[Red_Bean_Bun]

I had an Indy worked on my alignment issue because it was veering to the left. He gave me an excuse that he needs to test the car and took it out for a drive. Came back and told me it was fine.

Guess what - my TPMS started beeping and warned me that my front left is at 51psi. He overinflated my front left tire to resolve an alignment issue.....

Originally Posted by nukezero

I had a nail in the tire this weekend and took it to America's Tire to get it fixed for free since I bought my Michelin Super Sports there.

I told them to put 38/40 psi front rear.

After driving the car for another day, I realized damn, the car feels a bit rock hard for some reason, even on the freeway. Almost worse than run flats. I took it to Santa Monica today with my girlfriend and sure enough with poor roads there, something was off about my tires/car.

Pulled into a gas station for air and bust out my tire gauge. Guess what, my fucken tires are at 50psi rear, 48 psi front left, and 38 psi front right.

I dropped the pressure and now it rides smooth.

Those guys fucked up royally. It's strange because I was watching them through the window as they used an electronic tire pump to put air in it. You set the number digitally and then it pumps air into it until the desired PSI is reached. No mechanical gauge.

To make matters worse, they worked very fast because there was 2 guys working on my car, one on each side with different pumps.

I also compared my tire gauge pen that I got from America's Tire as well as the gas station pump's mechanical gauge. I found that the tire gauge pen was fairly accurate!!

YEAH, OKAY, COOL STORY BRO!