I have not done a lot of heavy reading on this, but of what little I
have read, and my own observation of tire wear over the years,
indications are to me that tire inflation depends on load, up to the
published max. pressure limit of the tire. If the tire is
under-inflated, it will wear badly along the outside edges of the tire.
If really under inflated it increases risk of sidewall damage by rocks
and debris, as well an potential for breaking the sidewall construction.
Over inflated, it wears in the middle of the tire and leaves the tires
unworn along the edges. Neither case is good. The load on the tire at
any given inflation will cause the wear in the middle of the tire and
along the edges to vary, but if you have it just right, the tire will
wear fairly evenly across the tire tread.

Right now I have Michelin XCA's 205/75R14's Load Range D, 8 Ply, 65 psi
max Pressure....tires on my van. I run 55 psi up front, and 60 psi in
the rear. This seems to hold the wear just about even across the tire,
as I don't carry really big loads that often, just once in a while.

Regards,

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver

Bill H. wrote:

>For 15 years I've been debating the same question on my 88 GL with 195/75
>tires. The posted pressure always seemed too high. So I wouldn't mind a
>similar opinion on the GL. Thanks.
>
>Bill H.
>
>--- tabe johnson <xtabe@YAHOO.COM> wrote:
>
>
>>Hi All,
>>
>>The little label inside the door has a pressure listed for 185s and
>>205 tires.  The 185 pressure is quite high, anad the 205 is lower.
>>
>>The tires actually on my Westy right now are 195s.... Should I choose
>>a pressure somewhere between the two, or go high or what?  Has any
>>consensus been achieved on this issue in the past, or am I just being
>>crazily optimistic here?
>>
>>--tabe johnson
>>xtabe@yahoo.com
>>
>>
>
>
>__________________________________
>Do you Yahoo!?
>Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free web site building tool. Try it!
>http://webhosting.yahoo.com/ps/sb/
>
>
>