Tow vehicle tire pressure

[mcaslaon4449]

We have a 2016 22' Sport which we tow with a 2004 Ford Expedition, 5.4 liter, with Michelin tires. The recommended tire pressure is 36 psi. Is it necessary to increase the tire pressure on the tow vehicle when pulling the trailer & how much?
Thank you.

[SpletKay06]

Youll need to weight your axles and then Compare your tire weight to the load inflation chart of your time manufacturer.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Originally Posted by mcaslaon4449

We have a 2016 22' Sport which we tow with a 2004 Ford Expedition, 5.4 liter, with Michelin tires. The recommended tire pressure is 36 psi. Is it necessary to increase the tire pressure on the tow vehicle when pulling the trailer & how much?
Thank you.

Hi, put maximum tire pressure that is marked on the sidewall of the tires [possibly 44 lbs] in your rear tires only and you will be fine. This is what I did with my Lincoln and now do with my F-150.

[dwightdi]

Adding pressure to the tow vehicle tires will increase their laterial stiffness and reduce the tendancy for the tow vechile to wander and will improve its ability to resist sway. Do not over inflate the tires above their max., as it would be unsafe. Increasing the tire pressure will also reduce their tendancy to overheat, but will lead to more wear in the center of the tread.

[LyleRussell]

You all realize that tires heat up as soon as they start rolling. My rears typically gain 5 psi after rolling for 10 minutes. More on hot days. Going above the sidewall specified max seems to be uncool.

[Bob662]

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

...put maximum tire pressure that is marked on the sidewall of the tires [possibly 44 lbs] in your rear tires only...

Bob, what pressure do you run in the fronts? Sticker says 35 psi normally. Use that in the fronts and 44 psi in the rears?

[dkottum]

We run our truck tires when towing at the max sidewall pressure of 44 psi for more lateral stiffness, to ensure plenty of land capacity, and I think the firm rear tires help weight distribution.

With the Hensley/ProPride hitch design we don't need the lateral stiffness in front and I wonder if we could run it a little lower for better braking if we need it. We add some weight to the front with weight distribution. There may be a balance here between load and braking needs.

[m.hony]

Recommended tire pressure per the door placard in my vehicle is 33 psi all the way around.
I have never considered any other pressure than that.
Seems like if I put more than that the TPMS would be giving me messages. Isn't it programmed to set off a light or message if the pressure is 20-30% above or below recommended?

[Grey Goose 2]

I had abnormal wear on the edges of TV rear tires from a long trip out west. Now I put 2-3 extra psi (over the recommended pressure inside the door) in the rear tires and the wear is much more uniform.

[Rich W]

Originally Posted by m.hony

Recommended tire pressure per the door placard in my vehicle is 33 psi all the way around.
I have never considered any other pressure than that.
Seems like if I put more than that the TPMS would be giving me messages. Isn't it programmed to set off a light or message if the pressure is 20-30% above or below recommended?

I agree, I do the same, whatever is in the door, that's where all my tires are set. I know if the pressure drops by very much, the TPMS sets off the light. I didn't know it would do that if it was too high. My tires all wear pretty evenly, but most of my driving is without the AS.

[A W Warn]

I air mine up a few psi above the manufacturer's recommended pressure, but slightly under the sidewall max, on all 5 tires.
On the last several 4x4 Silverado 1500's that I have owned the tires, especially those on the front axle, had a tendency to wear the outer edges if I followed the manufacturers tire pressure recommendations. Since I've done this the tires wear more evenly, the handling seems improved, and the load capacity is improved. I do not see any negative in doing this.

[Paul and Tam]

I second what Doug said. I do not tow a travel trailer, but we do tow horse trailers with our SUV. When selecting the first set of replacement tires I went from a P-series 60 profile to a 65 series profile LT tire for higher load handling, gaining around 600 lb. per tire. We ran them at the sidewall maximum pressure when towing (44psi), and the vehicle felt a lot more stable with a loaded trailer. Since it's a pain to let the air out they tended to stay at 44 psi all the time resulting in better highway MPG. My wife did comment that the heavier duty LT tires did make her SUV feel more like a truck than the old Michelin P-Series tires, but then she was using her SUV like a truck so that was appropriate. There was no unusual wear on the previous set of tires after 65,000 miles. The current set are too new to tell how they will respond to being at maximum sidewall pressure.

My recommendation is to try towing with increased tire pressure and see if it makes a difference. I hope that helps.

Originally Posted by dkottum

We run our truck tires when towing at the max sidewall pressure of 44 psi for more lateral stiffness, to ensure plenty of land capacity, and I think the firm rear tires help weight distribution.

With the Hensley/ProPride hitch design we don't need the lateral stiffness in front and I wonder if we could run it a little lower for better braking if we need it. We add some weight to the front with weight distribution. There may be a balance here between load and braking needs.

[m.hony]

Originally Posted by richw46

I agree, I do the same, whatever is in the door, that's where all my tires are set. I know if the pressure drops by very much, the TPMS sets off the light. I didn't know it would do that if it was too high. My tires all wear pretty evenly, but most of my driving is without the AS.

I don't know if the factory TPMS in the truck will give an alert if the tire pressure is too high, but I believe the Dill TPMS on the trailer will give an alert if the tire pressure is too high.
Too much pressure isn't necessarily caused by someone simply putting too much air in.
Too much pressure could be a sign of heat which could be a sign of failure.
The Dill TPMS installed on the trailer shows tire pressure and temperature.


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[ChuckFeldt]

A trick to determine a good running pressure is, with white liquid shoe polish paint a stripe across the tire, set your tire pressures at X, then go for a drive, 1/2-1 mile making a couple of turns. Inspect the stripe, center of tread wear indicates high pressure, edge of tread wear indicates low pressures. ( or excessive turning speeds LOL).
Attach the trailer and repeat. Tore sidewall maximum pressure is likely at 72deg F. Don't worry about running heat induced pressure rise. Make good notes, use a good tire gauge. I the ride seems soft you might want to look at LT rated tires next time. I run the LT tires on my half ton Chevy WT's to good results. Tires max pressure is 80psi, I run about 60psi.

[GammaDog]

I run a similar config to m.hony... Tundra/Equalizer/AS (although we have a lighter 25' trailer vs his 30')

I always ran the tires (Bridgestones came new on the Tundra) at the presure specified on the door tag in the belief that Toyota and Bridgestone calculated those settings for the truck operating writhin it's weight ratings. After a 6,500 trip last summer I noticed serious wear on the outer edges of all four tires, but especially the rear pair. After 35,000 total miles I junked all four tires due to zero tread remaining on about the outer inch of each tire despite plenty of tread remaining in the center.

Bridgestone/Firestone gave me a 50% discount a new set (I chose a different model with better wear and heat specs) as a warranty concession. Bridgestone does not offer inflation/load tables for any of their tires according to a request I made to their tech center online and the local Bridgestone/Firestone dealer.

Excessive center tread wear is a sign of over-inflation. Excessive wear on the outer edges (like I had) is a sign of under-inflation. Given my experience with the original tires while towing, I now run the rear pair at the max cold inflation pressure which is 44 lbs. I run the fronts half way between the door sticker and the max pressure.

I now have 5,000 AS towing miles and 6,000 total miles on the new tires. So far I see slight wear on the outer edges, but not like I had with the original set at door sticker inflation pressures. I like the way the truck feels. I think this is a better setting for me.

To the OP: lots of good perspective here. Your needs are a function of your specific tow vehicle, your tires, your hitch and its weight distribution setting, how much cargo you carry, the weight of your trailer, the climate you drive in, how fast you drive, etc.. Try it with the door sticker pressures. If you see unbalanced tire wear across the tread, or get a squishy feel in steering or on bumps, raise the pressure a bit and see if it gets better. Some people even use tire temperature readings (immediately after stopping from towing... taken at both edges and the center of the tread on at least one front and one rear tire, all four is better) to see if the tire heat is excessive in the middle (overinflation) or outer edges (under inflation).

To clarify LyleRussell's comment... The "max pressure" on tires is the maximum cold inflation pressure. Tire manufactures expect operating pressures to be higher and have taken that into account.

To m.hony: My Tundra's TPMS does not alarm at pressures above the door sticker recommended setting.

[franklyfrank]

Originally Posted by Bob662

Bob, what pressure do you run in the fronts? Sticker says 35 psi normally. Use that in the fronts and 44 psi in the rears?

I do the same except I only inflate the rears to 40 PSI.
At 44 PSI the tire loading is supposed to be 2,400 LBS, at the 4,050 rear axle loading on my F-150 I only need to take it 40 PSI. The front axle loading is fine with 35 PSI .
I found that this gives me a good ride and I never have to mess with adjusting tire pressures. The tire monitoring system in the truck has not gone of at the increased tire pressure in the rear tires.

[dkottum]

Truck GVWR 6950
Both axle total 7800
Four 20" P-rated tires max total load 10400 at 44 psi

With near even weight distribution (40 lbs more weight front to to rear loaded w/Airstream) we have plenty of tire capacity, we've been running the front a bit lower 40 psi most of the time for braking and handling traction. I'm thinking of making this our standard.

Good thread here, thanks.

[SpletKay06]

Originally Posted by dkottum

Truck GVWR 6950
Both axle total 7800
Four 20" P-rated tires max total load 10400 at 44 psi

With near even weight distribution (40 lbs more weight front to to rear loaded w/Airstream) we have plenty of tire capacity, we've been running the front a bit lower 40 psi most of the time for braking and handling traction. I'm thinking of making this our standard.

Good thread here, thanks.

Sounds like you've got it dialed in

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

Hi, put maximum tire pressure that is marked on the sidewall of the tires [possibly 44 lbs] in your rear tires only and you will be fine. This is what I did with my Lincoln and now do with my F-150.

Originally Posted by Bob662

Bob, what pressure do you run in the fronts? Sticker says 35 psi normally. Use that in the fronts and 44 psi in the rears?

Hi, My Lincoln came with "P" rated tires with a max pressure of 44 lbs. The factory sticker said to run 26 lbs in the front and 33 lbs in the rear. I set my front tires at 35 lbs and my rear tires at 40 lbs.

My Lincoln replacement tires have a higher load at a lower pressure. These Toyo's have a max pressure of 35 lbs. I run my Toyo's at 30 lbs all the way around except when towing. Then I run 35 lbs in the rear.

My F-150 has LT tires. Factory setting is 40 lbs all the way around. These tires have a max of 50 lbs. My one and only trip with the F-150 was last year and it was our cross country trip. Over 13,000 miles towing our trailer. I originally added 5 lbs to the rear tires, [45 lbs], but felt a little push on turns. So I set my rear tires to 50 lbs [max] and it was perfect.

[ShinyPete]

Lots of great observations and advice in above posts. My data may or may not be valid due to so many variables as already stated. But I'll share it for what it's worth.

Several years and trucks ago an old school alignment tech (no computer only chalk lines, levels, and multiple test drives) told me to run all my tires at sidewall pressure or 5 psi less and ignore the door sticker # designed for soft ride and mileage. Man I wish their shop was still open because nobody does it as well as they did.

That said our '15 F 150 is sporting P tires with XL rating , so 51 psi max pressure. I run them @46 psi all the time and am very pleased. Smooth ride empty or towing our Pete (FC 27fb) or the other two toy trailers. 8k miles so far and no discernible tire wear.

Hope this helps.


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