34 psi all round.
Rears last 20K, fronts last 30K. No track days, stock suspension, daily driver January to December, plenty of long distance touring. Light load, 80% passenger free.

 

34 psi all round.
Rears last 20K, fronts last 30K. No track days, stock suspension, daily driver January to December, plenty of long distance touring. Light load, 80% passenger free.

My stock Bridgestones showed wearbar at 11K miles on my '19 Lusso. I just replaced them with Conti Extreme Contact Sports. On the tire, it says max pressure 50psi. I am going to set them at 40. I had my Bridgestones at 32...maybe that is why the outer wear bar showed up so early? What are you guys doing regarding tire pressure? I want these to make it to 30K. I am not racing around, just normal driving.

Just replaced tires for the second time. I don't go by mileage, go by get new ones under warranty before the year(s) limit hits. Only do 5-8k miles a year so never get close to the wear indicators.

 

40 psi is for either getting better mileage or compensating for the weight load in the car totaling well over the 350 pound limit. I am convinced that the factory setting of 29 psi for a stock Classica is correct. For comparison, I ran the car around the local traffic rotary(in the middle of the night); it was about ten percent faster at 29 than at 32.

 

Thats right. I'm 275 pounds but my wife is only 75 pounds so I keep the tires at 38 psi.

 

For sure 29 is better for track use. But I am not doing that. I set the new tires at 38 psi and will see how that goes. When I originally had them set at 29 when I first picked up the car, the low tire pressure icon lit up on the dash. So I upped them to 32. I weigh 168 lbs. Any other opinions?

 

I Check to see if you have even contact and wear. I try to see that a straight edge will lie flat across the treads. Had run front 33psi rear 32psi. Got 50K out of oem Abarth tires. Ride was harsh on those when above 30, New 215 40 17 are Sumitomo, running 34 psi right now, ride is allot smoother with these, slightly taller and softer rubber on these tires.
2027 Abarth is a daily driver 40-50 miles per day, so don’t think they get too hot.
Also Madness lowering springs added to stif ride.

 

Why 40?

 

First off welcome back my friend. I would also want to know why 40psi! Factory says 29, I too have experienced the light coming on in cold weather so 30-32 may be acceptable. Any more I feel would just cause loss of control due to a very small contact patch. Trust me I would rather replace tires than cars!

 

I am just wondering why the original tires wore out so fast. Perhaps under inflation at 32 psi. I am just experimenting with the new tires set at 38. Looking at them now, they are sitting flat. No lump in the middle lol. I only drive in once a week. I will report back after some quality windshield time.

 

l have run my 2017 Abarth at 32 psi front and rear since new. 5 years and 36,000 klm and very little wear on the stock tyres.

 

I think this is something not to obsess over. I used 30psi on the OEM RE050 tires. I replaced them with some 215/40’s. I inflated these to 30psi too. The reason? It’s easy to read on the pressure indicator!
Car drives just fine.
Best regards
Pete

 

I think this is something not to obsess over. I used 30psi on the OEM RE050 tires. I replaced them with some 215/40’s. I inflated these to 30psi too. The reason? It’s easy to read on the pressure indicator!
Car drives just fine.
Best regards
Pete

I agree Pete, there is a range here somewhere between factory and mid-30’s would be the ‘honey spot’. I run mine at 33psi cold and I am happy with that.

 

I have a question -- NOT a recommendation or endorsement! My husband has a 1969 Alfa Romeo Duetto. An "Alfa Club tech session speaker" recommended higher pressure in the front than the rear: more weight in the front and when breaking & cornering EVEN MORE weight shifts forward; softer tires in the rear produces a more comfortable ride (plus obviously LESS weight when breaking & cornering) . We have be using 32 in the front and 27 in the rear for 2 1/2 years in a "respectfully driven" Lusso with OE Bridgestones. Gorgeous terrific car and we drive in a manner to keep it that way! Comments welcome...... Thanx, Starshine.

 

It's gonna feel like Fred Flintstone's car if you put them at 40.

 

I can vouch for that, for some reason when I had the new tyres installed, the tech put them at 38. I didn’t check them for a while and had put the bad ride and skittish handling down to a bad tyre choice. Now at 33, everything is hunky dory.

 

Year warranty on tires is usually 3...so 5 to 8k miles a year is only 24k max...so I don't know where you got 40k...

 

On the tire, it says max pressure 50psi

Max pressure means exactly that - The absolute maximum the tyre can be set to!

The manufacturer specifies the correct pressures for normal driving in the owners' manual. Set yours at or near that level.
40psi is going to feel and drive terrible.

 

At 32 PSI your uneven wear was more likely due to alignment specs and not tire pressure. In particular, excessive toe is typically the culprit.

 

I second to get your alignment checked as 11K miles is way too quick to be wearing out tires, and with a factory recommendation of 29 psi, 32 psi definitely wasn't underinflated.

 

I did get an alignment with the new tires. It was little off...I got a printout from the tire shop. Perhaps that was a factor. Still, the old tires wore off at the outer edge a lot more than the middle, which to me suggests underinflation.
If the factory is always right, why did my low tire pressure icon light up on the dash when I had it set at 29? I have been tooling around at 38, so far it feels fine. YMMV.

 

I did get an alignment with the new tires. It was little off...I got a printout from the tire shop. Perhaps that was a factor. Still, the old tires wore off at the outer edge a lot more than the middle, which to me suggests underinflation.
If the factory is always right, why did my low tire pressure icon light up on the dash when I had it set at 29? I have been tooling around at 38, so far it feels fine. YMMV.

When the weather is colder the 29psi drops further, especially since most times pressure is set after the vehicle has been driven. The edges of tires wear quicker for many reasons. One is when you turn you are putting a lot of force on the edges of the tires and also putting side loads on them causing wear. Also the edges have a shallower starting depth due to them being rounded and not square. Also you may actually be driving your car properly causing the wear.😉

 

Appreciate all the comments. I drove about 325 miles in the last 2 days. Tires were set at 38. It rode just fine. Felt the same to me as at 32. YMMV.

 

My Abarth still has the stock tires and I drive between 29-32, being 29 the one that seems to offer the better grip.

Now, I am just a little puzzled that the dealership reported in my inspection paper (my car was serviced a week ago) the condition of my tires as "yellow" instead of "green", with front tires at 7/32 and rear 6/32.

Considering I have only driven 8000 km (~5k miles), mostly highway, does that seem normal? It does not appear that on this rhythm my tires would last over 30000 km (~18k miles), which looks a little low. But since I am unfamiliar with this, perhaps it is expected on this type of "performance" tires?

My car is 11000 km, but for 3000 of those, it was using the winter tires set I bought (Blizzak).

 

My Abarth still has the stock tires and I drive between 29-32, being 29 the one that seems to offer the better grip.

Now, I am just a little puzzled that the dealership reported in my inspection paper (my car was serviced a week ago) the condition of my tires as "yellow" instead of "green", with front tires at 7/32 and rear 6/32.

Considering I have only driven 8000 km (~5k miles), mostly highway, does that seem normal? It does not appear that on this rhythm my tires would last over 30000 km (~18k miles), which looks a little low. But since I am unfamiliar with this, perhaps it is expected on this type of "performance" tires?

My car is 11000 km, but for 3000 of those, it was using the winter tires set I bought (Blizzak).

It's important to consider what the tread depth of the tires was stock. Often performance tires have a shallower tread depth than all seasons, and are often near that "yellow" range right out of the box. Not sure what yours would have been factory, but that's something you can research online.

The best indicator is if your tires have worn down to the wear bars, because that indicates the level which the manufacturer has designed the tires to wear to.

 

The Bridgestone Potenza RE050 tires that came stock on Abarth 124 Spiders have a DOT wear rating of 140. The higher the wear #, the longer tread life should be. The Michelin tires on my truck have a wear rating of 800. Take it from there . . . Best, s

 

I replaced my OEM Bridgestone tires at 24,000 miles. Wear bars showing on the rear tires. If I had rotated them 5,000 miles before, I probably would have got 2,000-3,000 more miles out of them.

 

. I think you did extremely well! Best, s