I bought some 25-11-10 mud bugs for my rear tires on my 06 2wd rancher. The guy at the tire shop asked me what psi i wanted them at. He said max pressure on the sidewall was 36 so he said he would put it in at 25. when i got home i checked the psi with the gauge honda gives you and it was way over 5psi. I saw on the mud bugs sidewall it says "max 5 psi operating pressure."

I let a fair amount of air out until my gauge said 4 psi. Did I do the right thing? what was he talking about 36 psi & 25 psi?

i guess there are 2 different ways of measuring tire pressure?

 

some tires have a rating on the side that is a "absolute maximum pressure", that's the 36 psi or whatever, anything over this pressure and the sidewall could blow out from too much pressure. the max "operating pressure" is the maximum the tire could be used at without risk of puncturing the tire, lower pressure will help you drive over rocks and sticks without popping the tire.

Yes, you did the right thing, if the tire has a max operating pressure of 5 psi, dont go any higher than that. The tech at the shop may not have beed aware of that, plus he probably had to air them to about 30 psi or more to actually get the beads to seat to the wheel, and he probably didnt see the operating pressure, or he simply didnt want to take the time to take the air out and set them at 5psi, time is money. You'll be just fine if you have them at 5psi. anything more will make a rough ride and you could pop your new tires easily.

 

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I was told that the 36 lbs rating is used when mounting the tires on the rims ...to seat the tires on the rims

 

lol, that guy is an idiot, your tires do say 36 max psi, LOL for SEATING the bead of the tire. maybe you should find a new tire guy

 

Anytime you take your atv to the dealer or anyother tire place check the pressure before you ride, the reason i say this is everytime my cousin took his suzuki atv's to his dealer for service i would check the tire pressure with the atv factory tire gauge. Everytime i checked them it would almost blow the end of the gauge out, and this is even when there was no tire problem at the time of service ! The shop tech used a regular automotive tire pressure gauge when gauging tire pressure, doing this caused three blow out's on his quads ! Never use an automotive tire gauge when airing atv tires !.................williebee