Forum Discussion
Campfire_Time
May 09, 2013Explorer
I am with CapriRacer on this. For the most part I have always used the rating in the door for all my vehicles, including while towing. I always get the max mileage out of my tires and have never had a blowout or any handling issues. Chevy assumes a load when they put those ratings on the door. How do I know this? Because on my Trailblazer and my last 2 Suburbans the rear tires were supposed to have more air on them.
Timeking, you do want tires that have more "wiggle room" on the PSI though. At least 40PSI max. and using a so-called "SUV" tire. It's not an LT (which would be far better! If your TB has the 17" wheels, you can't even get an LT that will fit) but its better than a straight up "P Rated" tire. I have Firestone Destination LEs. They have a softer sidewall then I would like so I run them 3 PSI higher than the door rating. That has worked great. They are 4 years old now and need replacement only because they are developing cracks between the treads. I don't disagree that you should see very little bulge when loaded, but at the same time maxing out a tire's pressure can put less rubber on the road and cause excessive wear in the center of the trad pattern. Honestly, you have to experiment a bit and find the happy medium.
What CapriRacer means by his statment is that if the sidewall of the tire says "Max PSI 35", don't put it 40 PSI because someone said that's what they do. 35 PSI max means 35 PSI max.
Timeking, you do want tires that have more "wiggle room" on the PSI though. At least 40PSI max. and using a so-called "SUV" tire. It's not an LT (which would be far better! If your TB has the 17" wheels, you can't even get an LT that will fit) but its better than a straight up "P Rated" tire. I have Firestone Destination LEs. They have a softer sidewall then I would like so I run them 3 PSI higher than the door rating. That has worked great. They are 4 years old now and need replacement only because they are developing cracks between the treads. I don't disagree that you should see very little bulge when loaded, but at the same time maxing out a tire's pressure can put less rubber on the road and cause excessive wear in the center of the trad pattern. Honestly, you have to experiment a bit and find the happy medium.
What CapriRacer means by his statment is that if the sidewall of the tire says "Max PSI 35", don't put it 40 PSI because someone said that's what they do. 35 PSI max means 35 PSI max.
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