2014 Defender 110 - Tyre Pressures

[specwarop]

Hey guys,

Just trying to find out what tyre pressures I should be running on my 2014 Defender 110, with the standard Continental Cross Contact AT tyres.

The placard inside the drivers door says 36psi front and 48psi rears, unloaded, for road driving.
However, in the process of pumping the front tyres, I find they are already 42psi in the fronts (with 1000km on the clock - so thats what the dealer put in) and 44psi at the rears...

Just after some clarification, as I noticed the rears appeared a bit flat.

Regards,

[AndyG]

Well the placard is the legal arbitrator, does it agree with the Owners manual.

The Dealer was probably a 18 year old apprentice thinking about his coffee break.

But a question i have been pondering, which tyre gauge to get that will give me a accurate measurement, leaning toward the VDO tyre gauge.

[specwarop]

Well the pressures I read were from the BP air hose. Accuracy definitely in question...
I should buy my own, but a good one is what - $100? Major deterrent...

[AndyG]

I was looking at them today, $30 will get you the vdo on ebay
And /or look for a servo that has an electronic gauge. They are more accurate.

[specwarop]

How does their quality compare to the likes of ARB?

[BadCo.]

To answer the original question, I'm lazy and just chuck 35 front and back for highway (stock 7.5R16). The placard in the Perentie had crazy high figures, 40 front 55 back from memory. Probably fully laden though.

I will be interested to see what others use. In my Subaru Legacy I have 32 all around, and my motorbike had 28 front, 32 rear, for reference.

[PAT303]

I run 34 front 30 rear with 7.50x16 empty in the Tdi,36front 32 rear with 235/85x16 in the TDCi empty.If you aren't loaded defenders drive better with more front less rear IMHO. Pat

[voltron]

The tyre pressure question has been driving me nuts lately. If I lower my pressure below 40 at the rear I find it effects the shocks dampening ability and the car gets the side to side body shake. If I keep them high, the dampening problem is solved but then the harshness of the standard shocks starts to show its head, less so since I installed the Billsteins. I like high pressure because the car is more stable but unfortunately more jarring to the body.

But all the suggested pressures provide a nice ride for comfort.

[Longtimer]

I have tended to ignor the manufactures spec' when it comes to tyre pressures, and treat them as recommendations for the uninformed.

What I do is set the pressures at a pressure that provides even wear across the tyre. This is easy to do when the tyres are new, as the little moulding spikes show your wear very quickly. My Disco has 235/70 R16's. For even wear, I run 38 in the front and 40 in the rear. This can be verified with a good verier caliper, by measuring the tread depth across the tyre. When I picked up my 90 the other week, it had already done 50Km. So it was too late to check it visually. I will get out a vernier on the weekend and start to take some measurements. It take 5 minutes. Then each weekend I will compare the readings, and adjust accordingly until I am happy with the wear pattern. As my spare has never touched foot on the road, I have a datum to work from if required.
If I am going on a long trip and loading up, then I increase the tyre pressures by 2 PSI all round. This takes care of the extra loading.
travelling at different speeds does make a slight difference to the wear pattern. going slow wears the outsides. Going fast wears the centre. All we can do, is aim to get a pressure that provides an even wear for our normal driving habits.If you live in the city and normally drive around at 60 kmh, then work out what pressures give even wear for those driving conditions. Then for your trips away at 110 kmh, work them out separately. I would suggest starting at 2psi high than normal.


Even wear, relates to even pressures being applied to the road across the entire width of the tyre. This provides for maximum grip and stability.


Chers,

Phill.

[noyakfat]

In my limited Puma travel so far (only 5,000km on the clock, from new), I've not been on any holiday trips. I have not been loaded up yet, so just run 36 psi all round when on the bitumen and daily driving.

Off road into the Brindabellas etc I've stuck to 18 psi all round and low speeds. Goes well