Tyre pressure survey

[Lance B]

I have the V6 4 Motion wagon and have experimented with tyre pressures and the best compromise I have found is 40psi all round with just driver or driver and passenger. It seems to give a very smooth ride and great handling and economy. When I say smooth, I do not necessarily mean smooth over bumps, but smooth as in the tyres spinning smoothly over the road. It just seems to be a nice well balanced smooth ride, if you know what I mean.

The 4 Motion requires all tyres to be equal inflation for light load and to increase the rear pressures as you put more people and luggage in the rear.

As I say, I use 40psi, but what do others use in their 4 Motion and also the other Passat variants?

[gareth_oau]

I typically run 38psi, not because Ive experimented, but the car seems to sit well on the road.

the guages at the garages cant be trusted coz they get banged about quite a bit.

i use the electronic ones only as theyre more accurate, but i also double check them with my own guage I carry in the car

[Lance B]

I typically run 38psi, not because Ive experimented, but the car seems to sit well on the road.

the guages at the garages cant be trusted coz they get banged about quite a bit.

i use the electronic ones only as theyre more accurate, but i also double check them with my own guage I carry in the car

Thank you for your reply, Gareth.

I also use the electronic ones at the garages and also check with my very accurate pressure gauge.

What type of Passat do you drive?

[Cro]

I don't have a Passat as yet so I'll be going on a learning curve when I get the R36, however I can talk from previous experiences with a non-evenly weight distributed car like the Passat.

The front end of the Passat weighs more than the rear, therefore more pressure needs to be put into the front tyres to keep the same rolling diameter as the rears.
An easy but expensive way to guage this is monitoring your tyre wear. Once you get your ride/handling/comfort comprimise sorted out (whatever pressures make your car feel best) and have driven a few thousand km's check the tread of all four tyres.
If the outside edges are wearing quicker you don't have enough pressure, and if the middle of the tread face is wearing quicker you have too much pressure.

It took me 25,000kms and one set of tyres to get the combination right on my old XR6Turbo. I found that when I had no cargo in the boot, 41psi on the fronts and 37psi on the rears were the sweet spot. I always had nice even wear across the tread face on all four tyres this way.

I'll be starting the R36 on 40/36 as it is a lighter car than my XR6Turbo, and will post my results when I finish my first set of tyres.

[gareth_oau]

I dont drive a passat, (I know, i hijacked yr thread)j: I drive an FPV GT-P and also just got myslef an audi S3

[Lance B]

I don't have a Passat as yet so I'll be going on a learning curve when I get the R36, however I can talk from previous experiences with a non-evenly weight distributed car like the Passat.

The front end of the Passat weighs more than the rear, therefore more pressure needs to be put into the front tyres to keep the same rolling diameter as the rears.
An easy but expensive way to guage this is monitoring your tyre wear. Once you get your ride/handling/comfort comprimise sorted out (whatever pressures make your car feel best) and have driven a few thousand km's check the tread of all four tyres.
If the outside edges are wearing quicker you don't have enough pressure, and if the middle of the tread face is wearing quicker you have too much pressure.

It took me 25,000kms and one set of tyres to get the combination right on my old XR6Turbo. I found that when I had no cargo in the boot, 41psi on the fronts and 37psi on the rears were the sweet spot. I always had nice even wear across the tread face on all four tyres this way.

I'll be starting the R36 on 40/36 as it is a lighter car than my XR6Turbo, and will post my results when I finish my first set of tyres.

Due to the 4 Motion, VW recommends 38psi all round when unloaded and then progessively add more to the rear as you load extra passengers and luggage. The 4 Motion requires that the rolling diameter is the same all roud and thus the tyre pressure needs to be the same. I don't think the front/rear weight relationship is all that different, but it seems as though the 40psi all round works very well. I know that my Liberty 3.0R also required even tyre pressure all round depending on the front/rear load due to the AWD.

[fuzion]

as mentioned, 38psi for front and rear is prob best if its awd, 40 is fine for the rear if awd and sedan.

if hatch i would say go 2psi less for the rear due to the no weight being in there

[3Putt]

38psi sets off the tyre pressure low message!

Therefore i run 40psi all round.

The more weight in the front theory sounds credible to me, so i might try 39 / 41 or something.

In addition, i think we should be quoting what size wheels/tyres we've got. i may be wrong, but i think different profile tyres need different pressures.