Need help. Air Pressure for 18" Continnetal Low profile Tires

[Guest XXXCobraXXX]

Hi to all the gurus,

I jus got a 2nd hand E200 and I'm keen to know whats the tire pressure for 18" Continnetal Low profile Tires. Please advice.

[Guest millionmilebenz]

Hi Cobra! While I'm no expert in low-profile tires, the general "rule of thumb" that I've been using with reasonably good results is the "Max Pressure - 10% Rule".

See the following quote taken from the "Tyre Bible" - http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible_pg2.html

The Max. Pressure -10% theory.

Every tyre has a maximum inflation pressure stamped on the side somewhere. This is the maximum pressure the tyre can safely achieve under load. It is not the pressure you should inflate them to. Having said this, I've given up using the door pillar sticker as my starting point and instead use the max.pressure-10% theory. According to the wags on many internet forums you can get the best performance by inflating them to 10% less than their recommended maximum pressure (the tyres, not the wags - they already haves inflated egos). It's a vague rule of thumb, and given that every car is different in weight and handling, it's a bit of a sledgehammer approach. But from my experience it does seem to provide a better starting point for adjusting tyre pressures. So to go back to my Subaru Impreza example, the maximum pressure on my Yokohama tyres is 44psi. 10% of that is 4.4, so 44-4.4=39.6psi which is about where I ended up. On my Element, the maximum pressure is 40psi so the 10% rule started me out at 36psi. I added one more to see what happened and it got better. Going up to 38psi and it definitely went off the boil, so for my vehicle and my driving style, 37psi on the Element was the sweet spot.

Of course, it depends on your driving style and what you want to achieve. If you're a speed-demon who loves curvy roads as much as I love curvy gir... nevermind... then you probably want to use a lower pressure. But if you're aiming for fuel efficiency but without sacrificing ride comfort too much, then the Max - 10% rule has worked pretty well for me. (I'm on 215/50/R17 front, 225/50/R17 back)

Hope this helps!

[keltanky]

ok, MMB

this you teach me something.

hmmm must go check it out liao!!

I always pump in 36psi=250. this always gives me my best FC, but i never check the max pressr for the tire.

but just wondering, all these should have some changes due to our climate difference lei..

[Guest millionmilebenz]

ok, MMB

this you teach me something.

hmmm must go check it out liao!!

I always pump in 36psi=250. this always gives me my best FC, but i never check the max pressr for the tire.

but just wondering, all these should have some changes due to our climate difference lei..

Glad I can contribute!

Actually I do not follow the Max -10% to the dot, I'm also below that setting, more like 15%. The ride is too hard for comfort otherwise.

[Guest Mike]

i m pumping 33 psi for 215/45/17 front and back =)

[Guest Raskie]

Actually I do not follow the Max -10% to the dot, I'm also below that setting, more like 15%. The ride is too hard for comfort otherwise.

kekek .. 18" and low profile ... not much comfort expected for this profile in the 1st place ...

[Guest XXXCobraXXX]

low profile really not comfort meh. i got this from previous owner leh. think i'll go fot the meetup then ask the gurus in person

[g8crasher]

18" low profile definitely not much comfort. Ask any girl with a decent chest and she'll tell you. It's a fairly accurate indicator.

[Guest Mike]

haha agree with u homeripper