I usually have my tyres at 32psi, or if loaded with two or three passengers and luggage i pump them up to 36. I recently had both front tyres replaced at Kwik fit. Checking them a couple of weeks later they have been inflated to 45 psi? this seems way too high - am I right?

Edited 25 May25 May by Belinda

Yes. That was the pressure to get the tyres on rims. They should then have been dropped in pressure and the fitter told you what they were at and asked if OK. Did they reset the TPMS and have you done it now?

I haven't, but I will now. Already drove a couple of hundred miles assuming they were right 😬

They fitted a set of four new tyres for me last week. Three were at 41psi and one was at 42psi 🙄 (Cold, the following morning).

Should be 36psi. It’s even got a label on the B Pillar that’s easy to read.

Gaz

Belinda,

on my wife's 2015 Faia Mk3 the pressures are as photo below (I think, but check, a 2017 is the same), for two or three passengers and luggage it's 30 psi (35 psi for 'ECO' setting) on 14", 15" and 16" wheels. Info on label inside fuel filler flap, as photo.

You need to reset the tyre pressures as to what is appropriate for you model (and wheel size) when the tyres are 'cold' (usually early morning or later at night). The weather temperature will make a difference to the pressure, about every 10c increase in weather temperatures inflates by 1-2psi.

Once you have the tyres correctly set then reset the tyre monitor - DO NOT rely on ANY computer system to warn you about what might be wrong with your car (computers get things wrong, can be set too wide and have brain-farts) do all the driver maintenance checks yourself.

You need to use good reliable consistent tyre pressure guages rather than those at petrol stations, garages and on pumps that will vary and perhaps be inaccurate anyway, good reliable consistent tyre pressure guages don't need to be expensive and last for decades.

Or the good reliable one (at the time(?)) one my wife bought me a number of years ago. -

Lastly, the tyre place should have told you that the wheel nut torque (how tight they were done up) should be checked after 30-50 miles to make sure, rarely do they loosen as most places overtighten despite using a torquwrench at the end (a waste of time often after using the air "rattlegun" to overtighten the wheelnuts). They should also have told you to take it easy on your new tyres for the first 100 miles (200 if wet) and not to over brake the car. These advices might be on any leaflet or paperwork you got from them.

If your tyres were at 45 psi and you lower them to even 36 psi you should notice a difference in handling.

Good luck let us know how you get on.

Thank you! I have one of those info plates in my fuel cap and although I can't readily convert bar to psi I looked it up once and I'm pretty sure it said 32 for single driver and 34-36 for a load, but I will check again. I was just baffled that Kwikfit had left them so high and thought maybe it was for a reason, but it seems not. I lowered them to 34 this morning at 7.30 in the shade and reset the monitoring system. I didn't want to go too low in case they were still higher because of the heat, but will check again tomorrow and if necessary lower again to 32 until I next have a load on. I haven't driven the car since. Not keen on the monitoring system anyway because it often warns "loss of pressure detected" in hot weather, but when I check they are fine. Annoying to have to stop, and sometimes come off a motorway to check. Good tip about the wheel nut torque. They didn't give me any of that information. I will get one of those pressure gauges too. At the moment I'm just relying on my own electric pump.

A smart phone or a computer is ideal for asking what say. what is 32psi in bar? 2.2.

As Evolution13 put I also use something that computers are good for, calculations, to go from bar to psi, and 32psi is 2.2 bar, 17" wheels/tyres on the label on my wife's car.

In this heat 36psi (on all four tyres, 5 if you carry a spare in the boot) is fine especially if you consider you could be at 35psi for 'ECO' setting (too hard/harsh feeling ride on the tyres on my wife's car for our liking).

The Halfords electronic guage my wife bought me can be switched between different stagards of measurement but I keep it on psi (mainly because the instruction sheet font is too small for my eyes).

KwikFit fitter needs to pay more attention and/or needs more training as I can't think of a reason to inflate to 45psi (3.1 Bar) other than perhaps mistaking 3.1 for 2.1 perhaps but not for someone in his job.

To go from even 30psi to 35psi will make a noticable diffrence to the car's handling and ride let alone 45psi.

In the olden days, when it was all fields around here, a tyre place might overinflate the tyres to get them "scrubbed in" for a short while before you dropped the pressure to usual and even for sports cars you might wheel spin and brake on the trading estate road to get the "grease" from the tyres a bit quicker but that was different times and different tyre componds.

The 2017 tyre monitoring computer program must be tighter than for the 2015 if it notices smaller differences in tyre pressure/wheel rotation, that seems to have very wide parameters.

Personally if I've taken the car into a tyres place (rather than just the wheel(s) loose) after getting back I always loosen off all the wheel nuts and torque them up to correct number using my cheap torque wrench that way I knew (after the 30-50 miles check) that I could get the wheel nuts off easily if needed same if a wheel(s) have been off at a garage. I leave the black plastic wheel nut covers off to remind me to do the 30-50 miles check, just decades of being a customer/victim of the UK motor trade..

My latest (manual, double-barrael) footpump has an electrionic guage seems quite accurate, well at the moment anyway but modern pumps only seem to last a few years, 5 at most, where as the PCL type I've had since the 1970s (and Halfords a good few years now) but I've no idea if the later/latest made ones are as good.