Best tire pressure for cold temperature.
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 336
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From: Jersey City NJ
C300
Best tire pressure for cold temperature.
It is below freezing point here and my tire sensors are going crazy. My tires are ok but the TMPS sensors sending the message to check tire pressure. What's the best pressure to avoid this?
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Joined: Jan 2009
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From: Southwest USA
Another round of ICE
Tire pressure will vary approximately 1 psi for each change of 10 degrees F. The routine remains the same, however, of checking tire pressure on undriven tires, essentially "cold", such as first thing in the morning. Whatever the ambient temperature may be, always maintain the same pressure in the tires, per the label on the fuel filler door, or a close variation to your personal preference. The TPMS doesn't react to temperature....the sensors will always be looking for the proper pressure.
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Joined: Oct 2009
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Seat Alhambra
It depends on wich reserve is used to determine the advice -pressure.
for normal use less pressure is needed then for fully loaded , for wich the Gross alxe weight ratings are filled in in the formula.
So When in winter always only driver and passenger in car, you could , or beter I can do that if you give the right data, calculate a save lowest pressure .
Then if you fill that cold in winter so low outside temperature , it rises in summer because of the higher outside temperature, wich is not that bad.
I can also calculate it back to warmer outside temperature for you so you can fill that in a garage, where its warmer then outside.
Cold tire pressure means that the inside tire temperature is the same as outside.
Cold filled a t 18 dgr Celcius/65dgr Fahrenheit gives with normal pressure a inside warm temperature of about 45 dgr C/112dgr F.
By severe braking , the inside tire temperature can rise to even boiling point of water so 100dgr C/ 200dgr F ? .
If then this lowest save pressure for your situation is lower then the alarm of TPMS you can reset that to the lower pressure.
Sometimes also a high pressure allarm can be given , then you have to set that as high as possible.
for normal use less pressure is needed then for fully loaded , for wich the Gross alxe weight ratings are filled in in the formula.
So When in winter always only driver and passenger in car, you could , or beter I can do that if you give the right data, calculate a save lowest pressure .
Then if you fill that cold in winter so low outside temperature , it rises in summer because of the higher outside temperature, wich is not that bad.
I can also calculate it back to warmer outside temperature for you so you can fill that in a garage, where its warmer then outside.
Cold tire pressure means that the inside tire temperature is the same as outside.
Cold filled a t 18 dgr Celcius/65dgr Fahrenheit gives with normal pressure a inside warm temperature of about 45 dgr C/112dgr F.
By severe braking , the inside tire temperature can rise to even boiling point of water so 100dgr C/ 200dgr F ? .
If then this lowest save pressure for your situation is lower then the alarm of TPMS you can reset that to the lower pressure.
Sometimes also a high pressure allarm can be given , then you have to set that as high as possible.
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 336
Likes: 1
From: Jersey City NJ
C300
Issue resolved. All the tires were set to 25PSI when the max load is 50PSI. I was border line driving on 4 flats. Filled all 4 to 40PSI and the issue is gone. The "Dingos" at the dealer didn't do their job checking the air pressure when I took the car to do the oil change 2 weeks ago.
Super Member
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 702
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From: Illinois
'08 C300 4Matic Sport, '02 530i
Issue resolved. All the tires were set to 25PSI when the max load is 50PSI. I was border line driving on 4 flats. Filled all 4 to 40PSI and the issue is gone. The "Dingos" at the dealer didn't do their job checking the air pressure when I took the car to do the oil change 2 weeks ago.
Best tire pressure for cold temperature.
The pressure should be the same as listed on your door placard. However, the key is to measure it under the conditions in which you'll be driving. This means tires need to be cold and car parked outside. Otherwise, if you just got home and parked the car in a warm garage, your reading will not be representative of the pressure when driving.Granted, nobody wants to leave their car outside overnight to get this right. So, alternative is to park inside, wait a few hours for the tires to cool off and then just figure out the temperature difference between inside and outside, and add about 1 PSI for every 10F degree difference, as the other posted already noted.
Last edited by Pete7874; Dec 12, 2013 at 10:54 AM.
