Air pressure for Gypsy King tyres...

[Mack The Knife]

The Gypsy is currently shod with Goodyear Wrangler RT/S 215/75 R15 steel belted radial tyres.

What should be the correct tyre pressures for city and highway driving when the vehicle has no passengers and when partially or fully loaded?

Would love to reduce the bumps a bit but not at the cost of fuel efficency.

Mark, what pressures are you filling your Samurai to? Django, Abhijeet et al would appreciate your views on this.

Thanks.

Mack The Knife

[eljefe]

Aha, Master Bana: Lets have some pics of the panzerwagen!

[Mack The Knife]

They are there on the 'price check' thread.

http://www.indiansforguns.com/viewtopic ... &&start=15

Mack The Knife

[Mark]

Don't laugh, but I inflate the sammy tires to 45 PSI!

Reason to the madness- To get best gas mileage, inflate your tires to the maximum pressure specified on the sidewall (which for my tires is 45 pounds)

For driving on roads with a lot of potholes, I could see reducing the pressure to maybe 5 PSI max below what is stated for the vehicle. Here in the states, there is a sticker either in the door frame or else in the glove box with recommended pressures.

Lacking any other information, if I had a vehicle I wanted to soften the ride, I'd try 25-28 PSI, probably 27 psi if I have to state one number.

[Mack The Knife]

Mark, give me a minute whilst I pop my eyeballs back into their sockets.

45 PSI!!!

Jokes aside, I guess what you say makes sense from the fuel efficency point of view but is it adviseable to inflate the tyres to their maximum for 'high speed' highway driving?

IIRC, the tyre pressure on the Gypsy's door frame sticker says 30 PSI but it did not come with the Goodyear Wranglers from the factory. Also, I am not sure if the factory fitted tyres were steel belted radials. Hence the topic. Does anyone know what type of tyres Maruti were using in 1998?

I have filled them up to 28 psi and will be experimenting with various pressures and mileage figures.

Thanks.

Mack The Knife

[Django]

Depends on terrain used, for regular daily driving on roads, don't exceed more than 2psi from the manufacturer's recommended pressure as specified in the placard on your drivers door side. Over pressure with 4WDs leads to poor twitchy steering, not to mention the center of the tire faces uneven wear as well. For off road in sand, you can reduce the pressure to 5psi from your recommended safely without the tire coming out from the rims. Make sure to put the pressure back to normal as soon as you come to paved road, otherwise serious sidewall damage as well as tread wear and overheating of tire will result.

[Mack The Knife]

Mark,

I goofed up. It does not say 30 PSI on the car. What it says is:

For tyre size F78-15-4PR

For No Load: Front - 20 PSI and Rear - 20 PSI

For On Load: Front - 20 PSI and Rear - 26 PSI

I am pretty sure these pressures are for non-steel belted radials but could be wrong as I am not absolutely certain what they came with from the factory.

Mack The Knife

[Mack The Knife]

Depends on terrain used, for regular daily driving on roads, don't exceed more than 2psi from the manufacturer's recommended pressure as specified in the placard on your drivers door side.

Hi Django,

As mentioned in the post above the recommended tyre pressures are 20 and 20 or 20 and 26 psi depending on whether the vehicle is unloaded or loaded. Considering the relatively lower pressures, I am assuming that Maruti were using non-steel belted radials. (is that right?) However, the vehicle currently has Goodyear Wrangler steel belted radials and when I last tried it at 22 PSI (experimenting), the mileage fell by 3.55 kms/litre.

The Goodyear Wranglers that I have, have a maximum fill pressure of 44 PSI. So far I have tried it at 30 PSI and it was bouncy enough for me to experiment with 28 PSI. I really don't think I will be filling these anywhere near their maximum pressures, leave alone exceeding them.

The reason for the post was that I was hoping one of you'll may have had some prior experience with a Gypsy having the same tyres as mine.

Most of the driving is within the city but we are usually out two days in a month (no serious mud plugging involved, if any) and that is constantly on and off tarmac. I suppose I will just have to keep the tyres inflated to what I finally find to be the best compromise for tarmac use.

Thanks.

Mack The Knife

[Django]

Mack The Knife Bana,

Belt can be steel or amid or poly amid, tire pressure is determined by the company with factors which primarily consider load of the vehicle, load balance and suspension etc., so the tire pressure stands for bias, radial tires, any type of belt, however my experience has been that certain tires need a bit more air to run good, I say a bit more, not 10-15psi. I would start with 22psi for your Gypsy, if the car handles well, doesn't skid and the steering doesn't feel skittish, you have got your sweet spot, by the way, make your next tires Yokohama Geolandar H/T or AT if you do lots of off roading, the performance difference is nothing short of amazing as compared to the Wranglers.

[Mack The Knife]

Hi Django,

I did experiment with 22 psi, briefly, and whilst the vehicle was far less bouncy, the fuel efficency decreased and the steering did become a bit difficult. I suppose there is no other option but to experiment with different pressures before settling on one.

by the way, make your next tires Yokohama Geolandar H/T or AT if you do lots of off roading, the performance difference is nothing short of amazing as compared to the Wranglers.

Thanks for the tip but my 'off roading' (it's more of driving on bad to very bad tracks) is usually two days in a month, stretching to four at the most. Considering which, how do you rate these Yokohama tyres for general city use?

Mack The Knife

[Django]

The beauty of Yokohama Geolandars is that they are very quiet, one of the quietest for an off road tire, not only that, they have very good grip on paved roads, wear nicely and when you do take them off road, they simply excel, as an ex Wrangler and Dueler user, I can testify to this fact.

[Mack The Knife]

Which of the two Geolandars would you recommend in my case?

Been looking at a few sites and the H/T is considered better for vehicles with a high centre of gravity, whilst A/T are supposedly a tougher where sidewall damage could occur.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyres ... ?type=ORAT

Mack The Knife

[sat]

On a '86 model gypsy with regular Ceat 6 ply tyres, use 18/20psi (front/rear) for offroading, driving to the farm on a dirt track etc. With a full load on tarmac use 20/24psi.

Going off topic here - Amongst the tyres manufactured in India which tyres would you suggest for the gypsy for off roading?

Where can one purchase the Yokohama Geolandars, cost?

I spent several days in ranthambore national park last month, during one of the drives a gypsy with bridgestone radials tyres had a very nice soft ride. There was a marked difference in the ride quality with the other gypsy's which had regular tyres.

sat

[GasramGandu]

Rusty, I've seen numerous Gypsy owners use the Michelin LTX/AT tyres and are very happy with them. I suggest you consider them in your research for new tyres.

GG

[Mack The Knife]

GG,

Will do. However, when the time comes to change the existing tyres (after another 10,000 kms), I will also be considering the Pirelli Scorpion ATR. http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp ... orpion+ATR

Not only does it get very good reviews but Ravi (from India Garage) has driven a Gypsy shod with these and he was completely bowled over by the difference in ride quality. Surprisingly, they are not as expensive as I had imagined them to be. Indian prices may be another story though.

Mack The Knife