I got caught out on holiday - when I came to pump up the back tyres I found that Skoda have kindly given tyre pressures in kPa not PSI or BAR... Great. So I guessed...

When I got back I got hold of conversion tables. It seems like my car would normally run 32 PSI front, 30 PSI back (Fabia Estate 1.4 Classic on skinny steels) but when loaded the back tyres should be pumped up to over 40PSI.

Is this right? That seems like a dangerously high pressure to me?

Where did you check them, petrol station forcourt tyre gauges are well known for being un calibrated and very inacurate.

40 PSI is a high for an unloaded car.

Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear. Skoda specify 210 kPa loaded, and 280kPa fully loaded in the back tyres. With the conversion tables I have that translates to 30.5PSI unloaded and 41.5PSI loaded. Even loaded that last figure seems high - maybe I've got my sums wrong...

OK here's what I think ,

1 Bar = 100000 Pa = 100kPa

1 psi = 6895 Pa

280kPa = 280000Pa = 40.6psi

Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear. Skoda specify 210 kPa loaded, and 280kPa fully loaded in the back tyres. With the conversion tables I have that translates to 30.5PSI unloaded and 41.5PSI loaded. Even loaded that last figure seems high - maybe I've got my sums wrong...

Your sums are OK; 210kpa = 30.46psi and 280kpa = 40.61psi

40psi does seem a bit high, though, even for a fully loaded car.....

Could it be a badly-printed 230kpa (33.3psi)?

Thought of that - but it's definitely 280 on mine. Maybe someone else could check their sticker...

The figures for my 4X4 Estate are 2.2 F/2.3 R for half load and 2.3 F/2.8 R for full load. My 505 Estate ran on even higher rear tyres pressures fully loaded.

Everything you're ever likely to need conversion values for is on the attached programme.

Usual disclaimers apply

Convert.zip

I've just checked my cars tyre-pressure sticker and it too says 280 kPa. It does seem excessive but I suppose there is a reason for it. IIRC didn't Skoda say they were going to remover the kPa stickers for ones in BAR or PSi?

40 PSI does sound a bit high, more like a Mountain Bike or something (I run mine at 56 or 60 PSI btw... )

My Octy (Hatchback, 195/65 R15 tyres) says 2 Bar Fr and 2.2 Bar Rr for a half load, with 2.4 Bar (which IIRD is about 32 PSI?) all round for a full. Imagine my horror when i noticed a slightly deflated rear and it turned out to be 0.7 Bar....... :eek: All i could see was the Blow-out tests on Fifth Gear this week.......with me at the wheel :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

Everything you're ever likely to need conversion values for is on the attached programme.

Usual disclaimers apply

Disclaimer required

Very useful program' date=' but all of the measurements are U.S.

For example, 1 pint = 473 milliliters (US)

but 1 pint = 568 milliliters (UK, Europe, Metric, the whole world apart from the yanks!)

Although not a "program", I find this table useful as it lists whether imperial, US, metric, etc...