How to know when your tire pressure is too high

Geodesiq · 11-25-2010, 07:31 PM

When the balancing weights start to fly off. When I heard a couple of bang from the wheel wells I thought it was just road debris but when I saw one of the balance weights hanging by a thread I realized what happened. The tires were too hard at 50lbs and when I hit a bump it threw off the weights. Down to 40lbs and the ride is smoother but still pretty rough.

aisbell · 11-25-2010, 08:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geodesiq

The tires were too hard at 50lbs and when I hit a bump it threw off the weights.

Many people drive with inflation pressures at 50 psi or higher, but I've never read that this causes wheel balancing weights to detach. I suspect that your balancing weights weren't attached very well to begin with. While I drive with inflation pressures of only 44 front and 41 rear, I've never lost a wheel balancing weight in over 10 years.

red1dr · 11-25-2010, 08:29 PM

Mine have been at 60psi for at least the last 3 years without any problems whatsoever. Some people here have reported going even higher.

3-Wheeler · 11-26-2010, 12:31 PM

I've got mine at 55psi with no issues as well.

Actually have never had a wheel weight come off any of my cars over the years, so they were not the correct style for the rim or improperly fitted.

Jim.

bretthans · 11-27-2010, 06:21 PM

Maybe you need to find a different tire installer. I've gone 167,000 miles at 50 psi and 15,000 miles at 60 psi and never had that happen.

**satchel** · 11-27-2010, 08:28 PM

60 psi and no worries.

chris22104 · 11-28-2010, 04:46 PM

60 psi on 4 different insights for over 35k miles combined. Never a problem or thrown wheel weight at all. Get a new installer that knows what they're doing, and uses the correct weights. For the last couple years, I've been using the stick on weights on the inside of the rims, that do not show on the outside (nor corrode the aluminum rims like the hammer-on lead weights do over time.)

**MN Driver** · 11-28-2010, 05:08 PM

Having installed wheel weights myself, I don't see how tire pressure would knock them off because the area around the bead doesn't really expand at all and even if it did, it wouldn't push a properly installed weight off. Sounds like the balance weight was loose.

RobertSmalls · 11-28-2010, 08:45 PM

MN (or anyone else), what's the highest pressure you've seen in an Insight tire?

red1dr · 11-28-2010, 08:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobertSmalls

MN (or anyone else), what's the highest pressure you've seen in an Insight tire?

I think I've had 65psi in there. I wouldn't hesitate to go higher to perhaps 80psi or even higher but there are diminishing returns in terms of mpg.