I had an even closer look at my tires today (my neighbor remarked: "I understand you've got a new car, but kissing its wheels??"). Johnny Mullet, you were right about the 40psi limit for bead seating. Here's the whole essay that the manufacturer wrote on the tires:
Quote:
MAX PRESSURE 51 PSI (350 KPA)
SAFETY WARNING Serious injury may result from: tire failure due to underinflation/overloading -- follow vehicle owner's manual or the tire placard in the vehicle. Serious injury may result from: explosion of tire/rim assembly due to improper mounting -- never exceed 40 psi (275 KPA) to seat beads. After beads are properly seated inflate to recommended pressure as specified in vehicle owner's manual and the placard in vehicle.
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The door sticker says 2.5bar (about 36psi) for all wheels with a normal load and 3.2bar (46-47psi) rear wheels with max load. So I pumped them all to about 44psi. Tomorrow I'll see how Svietlana handles and coasts.
I'm wondering how much the air temperature and pressure effects tire pressure. My elevation is 95 meters, so just over sea level, the outside temperature is around freezing (2-4 above during the day and 1-2 below at night). Say my tires are pumped to 44psi now and I drive to the mountains and park inside a heated garage. What will the tire pressure be at an elevation of 2000 meters and temperature of +25 degrees C? Will it be noticably closer to the limit?
Also, how much does driving effect tire pressure? I've read that pressure should be checked and adjusted before driving, when the tires are still cool. Is there enough friction heat in a working tire to noticably (or even dangerously) raise the pressure?