Car Tire pressure

[pancho]

I took this car tire wheel off my bike about a year ago to go back to a MC tire, plus, it had never been balanced right. In an effort to lower the bike a bit, I decided to try it again and added two more ounces (ran out of balance beads and used BB's) of weight and rotate the tire to the correct position as I had somehow missed it when mounting the tire. The tire is a LEAO Lion Sport 205/55 R16







Now this is the third or fourth CT I had run on the bike, so I was used to them to the point that it took a bit of time for the MC tire to feel right again when I switched. Now I go out and it seems such a chore to go around corners that I'm a danger in traffic. I started with 38 lbs in the tire (don't remember what I used before) came back and lowered it to 33, but still hard to take sharp turns then feels like it wants to fall over. Balance problem is fixed and the wheel/tire is exceptionally smooth at speeds, but stop and go travel seems uncomfortable. I am wondering if I am way off on the tire pressure, or just need to get used to car tires again. I don't remember it seeming so alien when I first went to CT....  but I seem to remember pleasant things more easily than uncomfortable things. Wondering what pressure you run in in your CT.

[Willow]

40, but it does depend upon the specific tire.

[Jess from VA]

I run 40 psi.  Lower pressures (than say 35) wallow to me and I don't like it.  

My Michelin CrossClimate 2s (on both Interstates) feel/handle to me almost the same as bike tires, and are WAY better than the Goodyear Assurance Tripletred tires I used to run.  I cannot feel much of any tendency to want to stand the bike up in turns and corners at all (the Goodyears sure did).

The Michelin CrossClimate 2s look kind of square in the tread but they ride very neutral in corners and turns.  They are also kind of expensive, but worth it.

206 60s for me.  Pancho, I don't know about this, but it's possible the lower profile 55s give more "want to stand up" than 60s (less sidewall)???    

[Valker]

I currently run the CrossClimate2 also, but I run a 205/65-16 running at 24-26 psi. I currently have about 40,000 miles on the current one. Wear and handling seem perfect to me. I have run about 7 different car tires over the years. This one is my favorite with second place going to the discontinued Michelin HydroEdge.

[pancho]

OK,,, it was a tire pressure issue, I had two errors.  I put 40 pounds in using a trusted guage and saw that the tmps reads 44 which I had trusted with the previous 38 and 33 lbs test. It's acting as expected. I may play with it a bit, now that is is operating safely and no longer a danger in traffic. The previous tries had me questioning everything....just this side of delirium....

I may try that Michelin CrossClimate 2 at some point, but I like the lower position this low profile tire gives me enough that now I'm convinced I want that lower pair of rear shocks, so that will be next.

[John Schmidt]

Re. balance beads, most tire manufacturers will tell you beads don't work real good in low profile tires. Something to keep in mind.

[pancho]

I'll keep that in mind for future reference John. In this particular case, they seem to be working well. Suns shining, think I'll go out and make sure.    Thanks