I'm new to the Fit, and I'm seeing some outside wear on the front tires (factory 175/65R-15 Dunlops) after only about 15k miles. The car doesn't pull and runs straight on level ground, stops straight. Been keeping the recommended 32 psi in them. Would it hurt to air them up a bit more to around 36-38 especially the fronts?. My '95 Civic with 185/60-14 General Altimax HP's I kept them at 44 psi and had very even, flat wear. The max cold pressure on their sidewall was 52 psi, the Fit's Dunlops say 42 psi max cold. Possibly Dunlops are a softer tread compound. Bought the Altimax tires from TireRack.com after comparing their overall ratings and reading many reviews.

 

Tire pressures is a sensitive topic and has already been debated to death, just like fuel octane and oil change(intervals and oil choice). There's no point in asking for the same opinions again.

There really are only 2 categories of opinions

A) what Honda recommends
B) everyone else's opinion whether it is go with higher PSI, disagree, or somewhere in the middle.

Head over to ECO fit subforum and read the various threads and calculations if you wish to go with (B). Try things out, you can always undo things or split the difference.

End of the day it's your car, do as you wish

 

IMNSHO, the original Dunlops are a really crappy tire. They are good at low rolling resistance but precious little else. Raising your pressure to 38 won't hurt, the car feels a little peppier as well. Potentially at too high a pressure your contact patch suffers as well as tread wear but the extra fuel economy and additional tire mileage tips the scales for me.

As the prior poster said, things like this get people going....

b

 

This isn't an indicator of my opinion... just stating a factoid.

Went to get oil change...
I have a Sport, so the recommended by Honda is 33 psi. Dealer pumped it to 38 psi.

 

Yeah, I can understand the controversy ........
I'll try it out with 38 psi and see how that feels, it shouldn't cause any skittishness I don't think. My experience is getting the tire "leveled flat" where not so much of the tire edges are getting worn off by cornering and handling, as well as rolling resistance reduction, which may help mpg a little. You can usually see the difference viewing the tire head-on, less "squat" in the sidewalls.

 

My experience is that neither dealers nor tire shops pay attention to pressure, they just stick the nozzle on until they're bored. Rarely do I get a car back from them where the tires are inflated as per the recommendation.

Honda recommends 33 psi on the Sport, and I'm sure there's some reason they picked that #. I've been told that going more than 2 psi higher in general isn't a good idea but of course that's a generalization.

 

Many repair facilities don't do a good job at this, however, 38psi with a warmed/driven tire may fall to 33-34 when cold. I think the rule of thumb is to increase tire pressure by 3-4psi if the tires have been brought to operating temp.

 

This has been discussed literally a ton here. I have the same exact tires and keep them at 33 psi in summer, 36 psi in winter. At 32, you're a bit low. The dunys like to lose some air when you're not looking too, so at 32 you're probably running under that most times other than a fresh fill. In the heat of the summer, it is not uncommon to see the psi drop to 28-29 within a week or so of filling to 33- quite evenly for all four. And in the winter, it is not uncommon to see that much of a drop and more if the temps drop down to the lower teens or more in a sharp cold snap. Gotta keep an eye on them- they give up the air a bit. Keep them at 33 except for winter and they'll work best for you, delivering the best gas mileage too. Make sure to rotate them when called for too. I like the duns. Treat them right and they'll be just fine, and keep you just fine. Check the psi at the very least, twice a month [every two weeks] in extreme temps.

Dan

 

I keep mine at 40 cold.
I have a little over 8K on this pair of tires and the wear pattern is even, not showing signs of over inflation.

Zach

 

Just rotated the tires on my 2010 for the second time. 19,600 miles and 3/32 wear - w/in 1/32 front to back - 35psi all around. Bought the car 1yr ago.

 

33psi for me, so far so good(only 1800 miles though lol)

 

i keep mine around 50~ (am i reading something wrong? or am I using the wrong tires? on the side of my stock dunlops they say 51 PSI max on them), its been 21k miles so far, i don't get home often or have time to check tire pressure often, so i usually put on the max PSI, and only check it about 4 times a year.

but seeing how well these tires actually hold on the air... i might lower it to 38 PSI the next time i get home, because we have an air compressor thing at my parents house

as for gas mileages i can see 40's MPG on the indicator sometimes, and i drive a manual as well (which manual's are supposed to be worst gas mileages compared to automatic)

as for the comfort.. it feels like iam driving a lowered vehicle with the PSI that high.

 

There's no specific rule of thumb, it depends how hot the tire got. Even the "cold" temp changes day-to-day based on current temperature or even if the tire is in the shade or in the sun (10degrees approximately equals 1psi). You need to set your PSI based on the current "cold temp" conditions for that day's driving (way to much hassle for day-to-day).

If you do not own your own air compressor, it's better to just go over by a handful of PSI, more in that it's much easier to just let out air later when you can check at a representative "cold" temp for the season, as compared to the hassle of adding air.

But don't think that the precision of nailing down to the exact fraction of a PSI is necessary or will make a difference.

 

I know of a bunch of NASCAR boys thinkin different. On the Fit you're right. I use a brass dial gauge from AutotZ. I've seen that 1PSI/10F - good to keep in mind.

 

I just had the recall stuff taken care of today and noticed in the receipt that "Per California Statutes" they inflated all 4 tires to 32psi on my Honda Fit Sport for what it's worth.

Cheers

 

What it's worth is more than we can pay right now. A State Tire Pressure Statute - give me a break, I simply don't see the need. Some one tell me, please. That's cost of government and I live in New York.

 

My point is tire pressure is important, but varies so wildly that you have to set it up day-to-day or minute to minute to be even more precise.
For any race series, you are right, they need to setup to the fraction of a PSI. But they have tires temperature controlled in the pit and are preparing for the conditions for the next *minutes* of driving.

The race information actually meshes perfectly with my point in that your car is out in the street and needs to be setup for the driving that occurs over the next several weeks or more practically the next several months.
The point is that since pressures are only good for current conditions, but change wildly-precision to a couple of PSI is completely a fool's chase. Check again in a couple hours and it'll change, or even the sun on one side of your car will throw your measurements off by a couple PSI.
One just need to get it to the cold PSI to what an "average" day is like for your current season's weather temperature then feel free to move on to something equally pedantic in practice such as nailing down the precise level of oil on the dipstick.

 

NY State requires inspections annually for stuff like brakes and tail lights. I like that idea, since a lot of people wouldn't otherwise maintain their cars. Tire pressure ought to be checked much more frequently so maybe it's a good idea to require service stations to check pressure when a car comes in. Because that blowout some idiot gets? Might crash into you. And either way we're all stuck with the environmental costs of disposing of excess worn tires if they blow out or wear prematurely due to underinflation.

 

It's crazy how inspection requirements vary between the coasts. I like the yrly system. Fixed fee as well.

 

I'm also thinking the tires we run are quite pressure tolerant for rated specs. 8-10psi window. IndyCars are a bit fussier. A drop of water takes 'em out.