Combat Zone

Hey Forum? I have a question: I live in Denver,Co and want to know what is the best PSI I should have in my tires. I have heard from 35 to 38 but not so sure. It is a 2011 but I don't think the year matters -- can anyone advise ------ Thanks
Combat Zone

sleeper

Open Driver door & look on the door jamb, the correct psi for your ride will be listed there on a decal.

Generally 17" tires use 35 psi, & 16"ers would less.

And fwiw: for every 10 degrees of temperature lower, your tires will read approx 1 -2 lbs less.

& the opposite for hotter weather..

True, year is not as important for this as rim size is..

Combat Zone

Thank you Sleeper, I think I am running 2 pounds over but with the cold weather it might really be 35 PSI. I will drop it to 35 PSI and see how she rides and if to soft a ride
will pump more air in the tires. Much thanks Sleeper

sleeper

Cool, The important thing is to check the tires often, since temps vary it... And most accurate readings will be after overnight sitting tires.

The tire sidewall has psi pressures listed, but those are not recommended to use. Your door jamb will give you what GM wanted in them, the rest is up to you..

843de

Yup, the pressure on the tire sidewall is for the tire tech or "tire buster" as we called ourselves when I worked at a Firestone store in College.

The PSI on the sidewall tells the tire tech what the maximum inflation pressure is to seat the beads on the rim, basically it keeps you from having a tire blow up in your face.

I never had a car/light truck tire fail when seating the beads, but I did have a 10.00 x 20 big rig tire let go in the safety cage when seating the beads. The safety cage was formed out of welded steel straps 1/4" thick, and they were bent every which way when that tire went.

Always use the tire pressures specified by the sticker on the door jamb, and check your pressures frequently in extreme cold. You'll lose a few pounds.

salvy

my door tag says 30 psi cold....I tryed 34 35 and car rode and took pumps like a truck felt like i was killing the struts....at 35 cold you could get close to 40 psi running temp..thats too much air over kill....Do some HHR have different psi from factory i dont know.....30 psi works for me changed the way the car rode handles and feels........ if your worried about gas mileage hell tire is rated for 44 psi....i like my dash not ratteling loose....give 30 a try

donbrew

Okay, I don't know what Salvy is saying.

Oldblue

His door sticker and my pillar sticker has a suggested psi of 30 lbs per square inch , which is what I run my tires at

donbrew

So it was not my computer that crashed, it was the site!

Anyway, see post #5 Salvy.

Snoopy

It has been said MANY, MANY times on this forum and Many other forums that you use the manufacturers sticker on the door frame for your particular vehicle. That number is configured by the vehicle manufacturer for the vehicle weight, size, suspension (to a point) and pre tested as such, this will give the best wear, mileage and performance as a collective quality, FOR A SPECIFIC SIZE TIRE THAT IS OEM. NOT THE PRESSURE INDICATED ON THE TIRE BY THE TIRE MANUFACTURER. That is the maximum allowable (safe) pressure the tire will sustain.

Now that being said, there is nothing wrong with adjusting the vehicle manufacturers RECOMMEDATION, SLIGHTLY (say 1-2 pounds) to accommodate the possibility of increased weight added to the vehicle, or the way it is driven. But realize changing the tire pressure will affect the wear somewhat to drastically depending on what the change is. Also, fuel mileage will be affected depending on the change amount.....up or down.

Now what is so hard to understand about that.

And to answer the question in the last post.....

Yes the HHR has AT LEAST 2 vehicle manufacture tire pressure recommendations based on the size of tire (which coincidentally is generally related to the model).