32 is what mine (19") are set to. The ride's way more compliant than I initially thought; same reason - dealer had pumped them way up. Someone posted a note on the initial calibration of the pressure sensors that should be done by the dealers. Makes me wonder if they ever DID calibrate the sensors when the pressures were so far off.

 

Initial calibration?



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Well, if the dealer did calibrate my tires then they must have calibrated with at least 44 psi. My concern now is that after I lower it down to 32 psi the tire looks kind riding on the side wall.

Paul

 

These are low profile tires. They are suppose to look the way they do at 32psi. The only reason the dealers pump them up is to keep from having to deal with TPMS system complaints! In colder weather the pressure can drop thereby activating the TPMS system alert system. Just make sure you check the pressure once the weather changes and everything is fine. The ride is well worth the 32psi.

 

Not to hiijack the thread, but on the whole TPMS thing - I presume that the actual tire pressures are being monitored, and that over-inflation is ignored.

Anyone ever had a warning light go off? How low was the tire pressure? Is the TPMS sensitive enough that we can all be lazy and not check tire pressures regularly?

 

This is when I realized mine were over inflated. Light went off. Checked pressure and 3 of my tires were at 36psi and the one that triggered it was at 26psi. Lowered the over inflated ones to 32psi and increased the low one and now the vehicle rides much smoother. Car had less than 1K on it when this happened and since the pressure has remained steady it tells me the dealer did a poor job on the PDI. Just a note on low tire pressure. Because these are low profile tires I absolutely couldn't seen the difference by just looking at the tires. They all looked the same to me.

 

I'd have a general comment on tire pressure: The manufacturer calibrate the recommended pressure with the tire size and expected load (as documented in the manual GVW or something like that). It is «generally» pretty easy to exceed that weight with 4 adults in a car (it's more 2 medium adults, 2 or 3 children). So if you are going on vacation with a lot of people and cargo and/or towing something, it may be advisable to overinflate some tires (back ones...) to compensate. This is something you normally do with a trailer.

I once loaded a cord of wood (1500 lbs) in a trailer and drove 4 km to the gas station to refill the tires. Big error. By the time I got there, the sidewall was destroyed and the tire was now in 2 parts. On the other hand, when I want to go get some gravel, I inflate the tires of the trailer to 40 pounds, and I got 1.5 metric ton (3300 lbs, plus trailer weight) without any problem on 20ish km...

jf

 

I guess all our tires have been filled with nitrogen from the factory. This is the first time I have had nitrogen filled tires and at first I thought it was a bit of a gimmick, but I think the stuff works really well. I have checked pressures throughout the year and have had no changes in pressure. Steady at 32. With plain old air I get large fluctuations (up to 10psi) from heat of summer to cold of winter. Mind you I didn't have the Michelin Latitiudes on in the winter.

Now if I ever have to add a bit of air what to do? If I put in normal air will it start to fluctuate again? I wouldn't mind trying around 35 psi. The Michelin latititudes max out at something much higher (50psi) as I recall.

Short answer 'Yes", I think the combo of nitrogen and sensors can make you lazy cause unless you have a leak there won't be much need to intervene. I'd guess that most drivers don't check pressures regularly anyway even if they are filling their tires with normal air.

 

Yes, mixing it with air will negate the benefits of the nitrogen. I think it's a goofy gimmick despite the advantages...especially when they charge you for it. Just air them up please.

 

This looks to be pretty standard procedure from Toyota. We just took delivery of a 2011 Camry and the pressure was the same as my 2009 Venza...45 lbs. Venza's now at 30psi and rides much better. 13k and wear looks excellent. As far as worse mileage, I recently got 27.4 with a v6 on a 70 degree summer trip, thats better then hiway ratings so I don't think there is enough mileage difference to matter.

 

Mine was set at 32psi at time of pickup from the dealer, rides great! (but I am comparing it to a jeep on All Terrains ... not very smooth ... lol)

 

Setting to 32psi - better ride.


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Yes, I must say too that after lowering it from 44 to 32 psi the ride is less jarring. I should have check last month when I first gotten it from the dealership. I thought they would have checked tire at the least ... I wonder what else they did not check.

Paul

 

I checked everything that was on the "Venza Pre-Delivery Check List " in the pinned topics... very detailed!

 

Thank you for letting us know. I checked mine today three of my tires were at 38 PSI and brought all four down to about 33.5 PSI. But my front driver tire was at 44 PSI. WTF. I checked 5 times to make sure I read it right.

It said my spare was to be 60 PSI, but I measured it to be about 45 PSI. How is your spare doing in the PSI range?

 

I just checked the tire pressure in my new Venza last Friday (got the car a week before that) and they were all set to 40psi. I quickly lowered all of them to 33psi. The ride now is much smoother and handles all the small bumps much better.

Check the tire pressure on your new cars!