VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION New User Forum Radial Tire Pressure

I recently installed four new Coker Classic P205/75R15 Radial tires on my 1952 Chevrolet Styleline Deluxe 4-door sedan. Any suggestions as to what the optimum tire pressure would be best for these tires? I have been keeping the tire pressure at 36 to 38 pounds.

When radials first came out 30 pounds was the recommended pressure. Then later for the quest of improved gas mileage the auto makers raised it to 35 pounds.
For the low weight of your car and the load capacity of that size tire I would use 30 pounds cold..

I agree with Gene. I think you will be pleased with the ride and handling response of the radials if you keep the inflation pressures in the 30 to 32 psi range.

That tire has more than enough load carrying capability at those lower pressures. Based on the Tire and Rim Association load and inflation tables a P205/75 R15 will carry 1598 pounds at 35 psi. The capacity is 1532 at 32 psi and only drops to 1466 at 29 psi. That is more than adequate for the weight of your car.

You also might want to look at the sidewall of the tire to see the maximum inflation pressure and load capacity for the tire.

Tire Load Inflation Reference

The 1952 4 door has 1740 p0unds on both front wheels and 1535 (empty) on the rears so that would be only 1/2 of that amount on each tire or less than 900 pounds on the fronts.

many thanks for the response to my tire pressure post. The 30 to 32 pound recommendation make sense and that is what I will use.
52Cfred1752