I've been doing some research on some new tires for my wife's Toyota Prius. We have had some wear and tear issues and searching around I've found out something I probably should have known. The Prius is very front heavy causing the tires to wear down a lot faster. We also haven't rotated them enough so that will help once we get the new tires. Back to my question: What's the over inflation limit. Searching around Prius owner forum sites, many of them suggest inflating the front tires to 42psi and back to 40psi. I haven't read of any horror stories, but is that safe?
The more inflation you have the less of a "foot print" you tire will be making on the road, I bet those are small tire to begin with.( higher inflation will get you better gas mileage BTW). If you are on a freeway and have to make a sudden jerk to dodge something in the road you could very well loose control.. I never over inflate my tires, the safety isnt worth the cash to me.. Oh yeah I speak from experience with the whole loose control on the freeway thing because of tire pressure, I gained control back, but it still wasn’t fun...
The recommended tire size for our car is: 175/65-14 for what that is worth. We were set up to get some tires at Discount Tire but at the last second the guy told me over the phone that those tires weren't load bearing enough for the Prius because of it's heavy front end. Luckily he told us because most shops would have put any tire on.
Having tire preasure that high could end in a nightmare... especially on days like today where it is just drizzling and the water mixes with the oil on the roads. You aren't going to see huge gas mileage increases by over-inflating your tires, you'll probably spend more then you are saving because your tires will wear out faster because they aren't wearing evenly. Inflate your tires to what the manufacturer recommends for everyday use. Don't press your luck to try and save a few bucks, hell if you are driving a Prius anyway you shouldn't be worried about saving more money on gas... might as well pull your two-ply toilet paper apart to save money.
