Yes, Our wagons are about 45-50 front, 60-65 rear. Experiment with yours and max them back up if you ever need to haul significant weight.

 

The fronts for me was best at 52 psi. Jury is still out on the rear.

 

I was told by a Michelin tire dealer ten years ago that the ten ply tires need the stated air pressure to maintain the stiff sidewalls. He said any more than 10 psi under inflation could cause internal tire damage (not visible to the naked eye) due to flex and sidewall roll and then lead to catastrophic tire failure later, even if properly re-inflated.

I might be wrong. Just ask my X.

 

In my nearly always empty T150 SWB/LR Wagon I run 52 front and rear. Greatly reduces the jittery feel at freeway speeds. Sidewalls never get warm. Actually, seeing as how my fronts are carrying significantly more weight than the rears I probably should reduce the rears even more. According to the tables for my E rated tires I'm still way, way within limits.

I always go back to the doorjam recommended pressure when towing my travel trailer.

YMMV

BTW Ultane - Which stated pressure was the Michelin dealer referring to - Front or Rear? If 52 psi in the front doesn't cause damage, why would it in the rears? Just askin'.

 

In my nearly always empty T150 SWB/LR Wagon I run 52 front and rear. Greatly reduces the jittery feel at freeway speeds. Sidewalls never get warm. Actually, seeing as how my fronts are carrying significantly more weight than the rears I probably should reduce the rears even more. According to the tables for my E rated tires I'm still way, way within limits.



I always go back to the doorjam recommended pressure when towing my travel trailer.



YMMV



BTW Ultane - Which stated pressure was the Michelin dealer referring to - Front or Rear? If 52 psi in the front doesn't cause damage, why would it in the rears? Just askin'.

Apparently the rear sways more I guess. I’m no expert. Just passing along what I was told from a Michelin tire dealer. YRMV.

I did drive my empty ‘15 T350 Long Tall Extended tiny house sailboat from Boise to Hood River and back on I-84 shortly after I purchased it new in ~April 2015. The rear end was ALL OVER THE EFFIN ROAD up and back on the interstate. I was white knuckled the entire trip with the back end of my van swaying all over the road. When I checked the tire pressures I found 50 psi in all the tires. Once inflated to 80 psi, the rear of the van settled right down.

 

Look at the tire pressure chart for your tire size (generally this is not brand specific). 55 psi should be fine as it is rated for 2060 per tire for a 225/75R16 and 2335 for a 245/75R16. So if your axle weigh is under 4000 you are within limits.

 

One thing you will notice is that even a moderate load really smooths out the ride. If you do any kind of build out the weight should smooth things out.

Sent from my moto g(7) using Tapatalk

 

I'm running an XL rated tire; 27xx load. Generals. Sold the E-rated immediately; never gonna be near 4k load. Running 40lbs all around and very happy. In fact, had it in for service and they pumped it up to 80 without looking at the tires. One block and a U-turn; night and day difference. He was all apologetic and gave me a gallon of anti-freeze 'in case.'

 

The correct pressure for your total weight per vheel is whatever pressure will give you even wear across the tread. If it wears more on the edges it is under inflated and if more in the center it is over inflated. The other way is to do a fairly straight drive long enough to warm the tires. If hotter in the center compared to the sides it is over inflated.

I'm at 3600lbs front and 4600lbs in back and found that at 70 the back was slightly under inflated for my LTX245/75 tires. This link:

https://www.michelintruck.com/assets/pdf/Truck_Tire_Data_Book_Sept2011.pdf

Has info on inflation and load from 35 to 80 PSI. It is a good place to start.

Ron

 

RonR's comment is the best answer in this thread. It's all about the tire supporting the load it's carrying. Less load = less pressure. More load = more pressure. Wrong pressure = uneven tire wear. Too high is less of an evil than too low, which can overheat and destroy the tire, but even then you're throwing away tire life. If you vary the load greatly, you need to change the pressure. Running the pressure listed on the sidewall is at max load. No need to do that, unless you are at max load. The pressure listed on the door jamb placard is a good place to start, but might not be optimum. After putting 318K and 360K miles on my previous two vans, gas E150 and diesel E350 respectively, I eventually found optimum tire pressures for each and they were vastly different.

One more anecdote to share: For years, we'd summer vacation caravan with a few friends and I got to know all too well what the ass-end of their vehicles looked like. Behind one friend, after a few days on the road, I noticed that the rear tires of his dually rig seemed to be bulging and touching each other at the ground. This suggested they were underinflated. He repeatedly checked the tire pressure [pencil gauge I believe?] and all seemed good. After about a week, he had a tire go flat. Turns out all four dually tires were trashed because they had been underinflated and rubbed each other to death, on the inside sidewalls. His tire gauge was incorrectly [but consistently precise] reading way too high. Guess the lesson is confirm you tire gauge accuracy.

The correct pressure for your total weight per vheel is whatever pressure will give you even wear across the tread. If it wears more on the edges it is under inflated and if more in the center it is over inflated. The other way is to do a fairly straight drive long enough to warm the tires. If hotter in the center compared to the sides it is over inflated.
I'm at 3600lbs front and 4600lbs in back and found that at 70 the back was slightly under inflated for my LTX245/75 tires. This link:
https://www.michelintruck.com/assets/pdf/Truck_Tire_Data_Book_Sept2011.pdf
...snip...
Ron

 

The correct answer is to go with the tire manufacturers recommended settings. So if you want a softer ride and aren’t going to haul a 3500# payload, then get a different tire that suits your needs. If you were around in the 90s, Firestone got blamed publicly for Explorer roll overs but in the end it was found the manufacturer’s (Ford’s) recommended settings were to low for the stock tire and were blowing due to over heat/excessive wear. Ford had suggested a lower psi to improve the ride but the tire was never meant to run that low.

 

The Transit tires can go to the 40s because the fronts are rated for that. I haven't noticed much difference between 70psi and 55 psi. The springs are really what give you the rough ride and a load will make it easier to deal with.