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tyre pressures....

Best to bring it back up to 50psi i would say....
 
Agree with John and Hotel California. The standard habitation equipment already pushes the Cali out of the 'light load' zone, before you start to add clothes, dogs, duvets and frying pans.


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I use a tyre depth guage in 3 places across the tyre during its life to make sure it gets even wear and adjust the pressure to make sure the centre of the tyre is wearing the same as the outer edges, if its wearing less I increase the pressure by a few psi and a bit less if it is wearing too much, until the wear is even. That becomes my baseline for that type of tyre.
 
Well mine is set at 44R and 38F using All Season tyres. Daily Driver and normally fully loaded apart from water. Just 2 of us and we travel light. Anyway, the tyres still have 7 mm tread wear across the whole width and have completed 18,000 miles in 9 months.
 
We had the pressure warning light come on for the first time ever on the motorway in Germany last week.
I had fitted a set of Goodyear Cargo Vectors for our Norway trip and set them at 54psi prior to leaving.
Pulled off the motorway and the display was saying rear right problem. Checked all the pressures and all were up at 59 psi. No sign of a problem on the rear right.
I assume that the all terrain Goodyear's are heating up more than the usual Dunlops due to the motorway speed. Cruising around 85ish.
Checked them the next morning after the overnight stop and all down to 53.
Interestingly I had reset the pressure checker at 59 but it didn't go off again after the pressure had dropped again.
 
The TPMS on the Cali doesn't use pressure sensors like some, but instead uses the abs wheel speed sensors to calculate the rolling circumference of all the wheels, you reset it and it learns the current size of the tyre then warns you when one starts travelling slightly slower due to a loss of pressure it assumes a puncture and goes off. If the tyres had expanded they might be on the edge of the calculated window.

If you regularly change or reset pressures you should also reset the TPMS at the same time.

Our Touareg had the in wheel sensors so is more accurate but equally a pain as you need a set for all wheels and if you have multiple sets of wheels you can effectively double the cost of tyres initially.
 
I agree the wheel sensors are much more accurate Loz.
It does make me wonder how much use the Cali system with the ABS tyep monitoring is.
As I said, after resetting the warning didn't go off again when the pressure had dropped to 53 and I have now refitted the Dunlops with 46psi. I forgot to reset it again and it still hasn't gone off even with a drop of 13psi.
I have no doubt it would operate with a flat but it does illustrate that it's important to do manual checks on everything, oil, water, fluids, pressures etc rather than just relying on sensors.
 
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I agree the wheel sensors are much more accurate Loz.
It does make me wonder how much use the Cali system with the ABS tyep monitoring is.
As I said, after resetting the warning didn't go off again when the pressure had dropped to 53 and I have now refitted the Dunlops with 46psi. I forgot to reset it again and it still hasn't gone off even with a drop of 13psi.
I have no doubt it would operate with a flat but it does illustrate that it's important to do manual checks on everything, oil, water, fluids, pressures etc rather than just relying on sensors.
The TPMS doesn't rely on the actual pressure but the pressure change in 1 tyre compared to the others. So if ALL tyre pressures drop equally - no alarm. The ABS sensors monitor the wheel revolutions which are based on the Tyre circumference which depends on pressure.
 
Can't understand i would want my tyres checked electronic.
Just check them frequent by looking at them and using a tyre gauge.
Seems a small compressor and a tyre gauge is to much to have ...
But three led TV , laptops and smartphones for every member in the family are common....
Pretty soon nowbody will even know how to check tyre pressure.
 
The TPMS doesn't rely on the actual pressure but the pressure change in 1 tyre compared to the others. So if ALL tyre pressures drop equally - no alarm. The ABS sensors monitor the wheel revolutions which are based on the Tyre circumference which depends on pressure.
Isn't that what I said :)
 
Isn't that what I said :)
Yes, but "briny" in his second post, was wondering why there was no alarm when All the tyres dropped in pressure and more so when he changed wheel sets. Probably because the wheel circumferences were within tolerance because they must change with temperature but as long as all the tyres change by approximately the same % then there will be no alarm, only when one tyre changes by a different % because of leakage will the system detect the anomaly and alarm.
Can't understand i would want my tyres checked electronic.
Just check them frequent by looking at them and using a tyre gauge.
Seems a small compressor and a tyre gauge is to much to have ...
But three led TV , laptops and smartphones for every member in the family are common....
Pretty soon nowbody will even know how to check tyre pressure.
Agree, but difficult to check tyres at 110 kph, especially with a rear tyre as there maybe no signs or symptoms until the pressure has dropped so much that the integrity of the side wall is such that a simple puncture turns into a tyre replacement.
 
Well mine is set at 44R and 38F using All Season tyres. Daily Driver and normally fully loaded apart from water. Just 2 of us and we travel light. Anyway, the tyres still have 7 mm tread wear across the whole width and have completed 18,000 miles in 9 months.

Why higher at rear? Surely there's more weight in front with the engine and 2 people?

I travel light too - I take more or less what I used to carry in the trailer behind my trike, with the exeption of the tent, campbed, and table.
 
Why higher at rear? Surely there's more weight in front with the engine and 2 people?

I travel light too - I take more or less what I used to carry in the trailer behind my trike, with the exeption of the tent, campbed, and table.
That's what it says on the Tyre Pressure sticker on the Drivers B Pillar. In fact it says 39F but 38 gives optimal wear with my 4Season tyres.

Might be different on a FWD as the 4Motion has a heavier drivetrain at the rear.
 
I read the chart the other way round. Looks to me like 44F 39R lightly loaded and 46F 48R fully loaded for 235/55 R17?


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I read the chart the other way round. Looks to me like 44F 39R lightly loaded and 46F 48R fully loaded for 235/55 R17?


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That's correct. We travel light and there are only 2 of us. Tyre wear is consistent and the same across all 4 tyres.
 
That's correct. We travel light and there are only 2 of us. Tyre wear is consistent and the same across all 4 tyres.
Can you please clarify for me as just doing first check. You agree with 44F 39R as posted above, yet previously you said 44R 38F, the other way round?
Thank you
 
Can you please clarify for me as just doing first check. You agree with 44F 39R as posted above, yet previously you said 44R 38F, the other way round?
Thank you
My mistake, didn't read the post properly. I use 44R 38F.

Check the labels on the Drivers Door Pillar for the tyre pressures for your vehicle and tyres.
 
IMG_2374.JPG I did check that's what started my query. I have 235/55 R17 the pillar says light load 44F 39R. Was surprised that there was more pressure in the front than rear, or am I being a dumbo!
 
I did check that's what started my query. I have 235/55 R17 the pillar says light load 44F 39R. Was surprised that there was more pressure in the front than rear, or am I being a dumbo!

Yes it would seem odd for a car but it is what I'd expect in a vehicle designed to carry loads. When empty, the front axle (ie where the engine is) will be more heavily loaded than the rear, hence needs more air in the tyres.

My Cali is a T5 SE, same size tyres as yours and gives the same pressures on the sticker ie 44F 39R for light load.
 
Yes it would seem odd for a car but it is what I'd expect in a vehicle designed to carry loads. When empty, the front axle (ie where the engine is) will be more heavily loaded than the rear, hence needs more air in the tyres.

My Cali is a T5 SE, same size tyres as yours and gives the same pressures on the sticker ie 44F 39R for light load.
I've used the reverse 44R 38F and have equal tyre wear all round on my All Season tyres after 20,700 miles and averages between 5.8 and 6.2 mm. The 5.8 being on the Front N/S tyre. which is to be expected.
 
I've used the reverse 44R 38F and have equal tyre wear all round on my All Season tyres after 20,700 miles and averages between 5.8 and 6.2 mm. The 5.8 being on the Front N/S tyre. which is to be expected.

Maybe this suggests that following the precise 'sticker' tyres pressures, provided you stay within a reasonable range, isn't actually crucial to tyre wear.

In any case, 'cold' tyre pressures will vary greatly depending on where you are, so even without actually driving anywhere on them, a 'cold' tyre at 34 psi on a chilly (-10C) morning in Aberdeen would be 42 psi on a hot afternoon (30C) in Madrid.

I don't obsess about tyre pressures, I just try to keep the things reasonably circular with the flatish bit at the bottom... it's not like I'm trying to beat my PB lap time on the Home-Waitrose run. ;)

Seriously though - on my Cali I try to keep them all in the low 40s.
 

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