Proper Tire Pressure
 

What is the proper tire pressure for a 09-13 Honda Fit Sport if you switch to:

195/50/15 =
195/55/15 =
205/50/15 =

(Different car manufacturer have different tire pressure recommendations)
also how do you disable the TPMS?

I'm not sure if there's a "proper" tire pressure, since you'll have to test it out. Additionally, people with different needs in different climates might go with different tire pressures. The same thing applies to what kind of tires you use.

But if you're going with a taller tire (which looks like it will be the case in both scenarios), then you may want to put in a little bit more to compensate so it's not too squishy from behind the wheel.

I use 35psi. Sometimes slightly higher

Depends how you drive and the condition of the road.

Have you looked at the sticker on the driver's doorjamb? That's the factory recommended pressure. Regardless of tire size, that's what will work for the car.

If you want to play around with tire pressures, the factory figures are a good baseline. On the GD the factory pressures are 32 psi F/30 psi R; I usually go with 37 psi F/35 psi R after much experimentation.

The tire construction also plays a factor. I ran Kumho Ecsta SPTs, 195/55 R15, for two years. Those have soft sidewalls and I had sluggish steering and braking response at stock air pressure. Firming up the air pressures up front remedied that.

Are you quoting cold tire pressure? I'm asking because my GD Fit manual says 32 psi front/rear for cold tire pressure. I usually always drive around the air pump (thus warming my tires) thus I add 5 psi to compensate for the warm tires for a total of 37 psi. So if you check your tires after driving, that would be a psi under the factory recommendation.

I think pressures are normally quoted warm. Not, like, straight from the track; but also not at "I fired up the fit at 38 degrees and went to check my tires". But I mean, realistically, your tires will be at a different pressure if you drive for 10 minutes in 90 degree weather than if you drive in 40 degree weather. There will always be some variation...

i want to switch to 195/55/15, what would normally be the tire pressure
to put in that set-up for a GE fit?
this will be for everyday car

Anywhere between 32-35psi cold is my window. I have those size tires and I set mine bet. 33-34 psi cold. Anywhere under or over is a personal preference... OR risk/compromise of handling, ride comfort and tire wear. Just my take. Common/general setting is 32 psi.

And on every car I've ever owned, starting in 1983, that's total bollocks. If you use the door jamb pressure, you'll get a mushy soft ride, and you'll wear out tires at a prodigious rate.

Assuming you drive like a normal person on hard surfaced roads in the developed world, you should be able to run 40 psi at a minimum and achieve a satisfactorily firm ride, excellent handling, and **much** better gas mileage.

I know, I know, I can hear the shouts of "But you'll wear out the center of the tread faster that way!!". Am I right? Well, I've been doing that for the better part of 30 years and I've yet to have a set of tires start wearing in the middle of the tread. Not a single one. Not even a little bit. That might have been the case in the stone age before steel belted radials, but it most surely isn't nowadays.

If you read what the tire manufacturer puts on the sidewall of the tire, I can guarantee you that in 99.99% of cases, the max allowable pressure is a *lot* higher than what's printed on the door jamb of the car. And I figure the guy who designed the tires probably has a better idea about that than the engineer who designed the car, on which you could put any tire ever made.

Just my $.03 worth ($.02 adjusted for inflation).

I've done some grip tests over the course of a year on a series of entrance/exit ramps around me that are very tight and old. Almost racetrack radius turns. The factory setting within +1 or -1 netted the fastest cornering speeds. Dropping the rear pressures down to about 28 or so is fine with the amount of weight back there too.

Bollocks or not, it is the factory recommended pressure. Like subie said, anything else is personal preference. A Max tire pressure is just that... a maximum. It's not a recommendation. Those same engineers, know that all kinds of people drive for all kinds of reasons. And yes, some people WANT "mushiness." The factory recommendation is a compromise between soft ride, fuel economy, etc... not just your (or my) drive ability. Just like you are complaining about the mushy feel, others complain the pressure you set is too rough for them.

By the way, wouldn't you think the people that designed the WHOLE car would know more about the general feel of it?

I tried pumping my tires up to 42 psi and didn't like the ride at all. You feel every little crack in the road. The car rides real hard. I stick to very close to what the car manufacturer recommends.

Try and understand the physics a bit. Higher pressure means a smaller contact patch, but greater downward force. Also, we have an extremely front-heavy car, but the same tire size all around. The reason for making the rears the same or even greater than the fronts is so that the front always slides out first (understeer), which is considered safer for street driving. If you have ever driven a Porsche or other tail-heavy car, things can get real exciting if you try and drive fast yet dont know what you are doing. Recommended tire pressures for the old rear engined VW's was 17/30.

i run on 16 205 50 37 front 36 rear :) i

Corrections to people who "guessed"
 

For those claiming the tire pressure listed on the Honda Fit doorjamb label is NOT cold, they are WRONG:
The label itself identifies the number as "COLD TIRE PRESSURE" and p. 223 of the 2013 Fit manual identifies the tire pressure shown on the label as: "The proper cold tire pressure..." and on p.222 of the manual it says, "Measure the air pressure when tires are cold. This means the car has been parked for at least three hours, or driven less than 1 mile (1.6 km)."

For those claiming you should go by the tires listed max rather than the door jamb, that made sense to me as well but apparently you're supposed to go by the door jamb:
When I picked up my new 2013 Honda Fit, someone had filled the tires to the 40 psi listed on the tire (one was actually 41 when I measured it). It took me a few hours to realize the TPMS light on my dashboard wasn't supposed to stay on as it was doing, and that it stood for Tire Pressure Monitoring System (I'd never had a car with a TPMS before). So I took it in for service the next day, where apparently all they (quickly) did was lower the pressure to 32 psi. When I questioned the sales manager and, a few days later at the new-owners' orientation, the service manager: both said the 32 psi was the one to go by.

The tires look "full" at 32 psi and do not have a "too low" appearance, but I do wonder if I'd get a little better gas mileage if I was at, say, 35 psi cold. I'm doing a lot of severe downtown Baltimore driving (10-20 min. in 3-block traffic jams a few times) and am averaging 28.4 mpg for my first 778 miles (measured using the gallons shown on the gas pumps). I hope that's lower than expected because a frequent destination in Baltimore requires me to drive completely through the downtown area to just the other side of it.

Finally, someone said the max psi listed on the tire is the pressure you can get to before it explodes. That's not quite right. You can usually slightly exceed the max for short periods without an immediate problem but if you go too high it will stretch the steel belts to the point where the tire is no longer any good.

Ive played with different pressures and it really depends on the tire, some tires ride and work great in higher/lower pressures then others. The factory Dunlops 7000 rode like shit with pressures higher then 38 (32-35psi was good and rated for 51psi on sidewall) yet my Hankook V2 seems to work best at 38~42psi.

My dw work best at 38 cold aswell

When I've had to drive to the air pump, what I did was to overfill the tires a bit (34 or 36, instead of 32psi), then within a day or two, I would recheck the tires at 'true cold,' after sitting for a few hours. I usually had to release a little air to get to get to the correct pressure (of course, you have to be careful, or you will overshoot and have to do it again the next day). I found that tires were pretty consistent for me...eventually, I could get very accurate in filling the tire 'hot,' and ending up with the exact 'cold' pressure the next day.

Kev

It says 44 psi max pressure, so that's what I run mine at.

I don't give a crap about the ride. I get much better mileage that way.

My question is.....can the TPS be set to say 40 lbs by the dealer, or some other way?

z