My placard also recommends 50 front and 80 rear, but this assumes the van is at gross weight. soaringhawk cautioned me about running tire pressures above that required by the load. I agree with him in that this will degrade handling and braking distances.
I'm running Michelin Defender 225/75R16 tires load rating E. Michelin recommended the
Toyo Tires Load/Inflation chart for my tires. Based on this information, I put together a table for my van/tires combination:
TIRE INFLATION AND LOAD RATING
Michelin Defender LT225/75R16 (Load Rating E)
PSI
(minimum) 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80
Load KLBS
(per axle) 3.0 3.3 3.6. 3.9 4.1 4.4 4.7 4.9 5.1 5.4
I did a lot of rounding so it would fit, but you get the idea.
I then went to a
CAT scale and weighed the truck in a very basic configuration (basic kitchen and full tank of gas) and got the following report:
STEERING AXLE: 3,280 LBS
DRIVE AXLE: 4,320 LBS
Based on this, I should have ~40psi in the front tires and ~60psi in the rear tires. This van is new to me and I haven't camped in it, yet, but when I do (in a couple weeks), I'll load it up and check it, again, on my way out of town and adjust the pressures accordingly.
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Michelin recommends checking the tires cold - after they have sat for three hours. If I wanted to sit at a gas station for 3 hours, I would have bought a Tesla. One article I read said that tires can be checked hot, but to add 4 psi onto the recommended inflation pressure. Sounds reasonable to me.