tire pressure really high after driving??? alignment issue?

[Banker]

has anyone every checked their tire pressure after a good drive on the highway? (i havent until today)

just last month i inflated all the tires to 32 psi.

today, on a whim i thought i'd check em warm while i was outside checking all the other vehicles with my new tire pressure gauge that im in love with (craftsman)...

the front's were at 43.5 and 40. the rears where at 36 and 33.

now i know tires heat up and pressure increase as u drive. but i this just seems way more than i thought it would increase. and as i said i've never checked em warm.

it's actually the girlfriend's car and i've only driven it a couple times (and also not a lincoln :/ but i figure it's applicable to any car. this happens to be an '05 Focus). and altho i didnt notice any super obvious alignment issue in the couple times i drove it, i do know that the steering wheel is off center and the car pulls right.

any insight into this? could the excess rubbing of the tires cause excess heat and pressure? makes sense to me...

oh and the weather today is completely mild. not extra hot or sunny out or anything.

 

[05 LS8]

You supposed to check the tire pressure, when they are cold - in the morning.

Check them again when cold, if it shows 32, than you are fine.

Tire pressure changes goes up/down 1 psi for every 10 degrees.

 

[Banker]

...well i know, and that's what i said.
and my point is that an increase of 11.5 psi seems unreasonable under normal conditions on a 10 mile highway drive with mild weather. if the air in the tires is say 50 deg and even if it heats up to say 100 (which i kinda doubt it does since i can comfortable touch the outside of a tire after driving, and that thick rubber is a great insulator for the air inside) that would only be a 5psi increase according to ur calculation (which seems pretty reasonable. i woulda estimated that a tire increases around 3-4 psi after a good drive.)

im just sayin the temperature of the weather here hasnt changed since i filled them to 32 psi compared to when i checked them today. and i just cant imagine they could heat up that much driving and then having 15 min to cool off before i checked them warm.

and im just wondering if anyone has ever happened to check their tire pressure warm or if it makes sense to attribute an excessive increase in tire pressure to a misalignment.

gotta get an alignment regardless, and since im curious about this now i'll probly check the tire pressure warm afterwards just outa curiosity.

 

[Banker]

k, for reference i just went out and checked the tire pressure on my lincoln.
earlier today i checked em cold and put em all at 36 psi. (i have lower profile tires on aftermarket 18 inch rims, tryna squeeze every ounce of fuel economy out of it and the tread is about done anyway)
i just got back from a 30 min drive on the freeway and i checked em within 15 minutes of parking the car. 37 psi. a 1 psi increase.

and 11.5 psi increase on my gf's car seems unreasonable and im attributing it to poor alignment. anyone have other thoughts on the subject?

 

[Banker]

FINAL UPDATE:
k frick, idk, nvm.
its dark now, and about 10 deg cooler and sure enuf all the tires are 1 psi lower. but the fronts are still high. so i suppose the only explanation is that SOMEBODY MUST have added air to the tires after i did last month. and whatever jerkoff did so, did it randomly without a gauge. idfk.

still need an alignment anyway :/

 

[Kumba]

At the track you can see upwards of 10-psi spike on a hot day with hot pavement and some aggressive driving. I would consider 5-psi to be normal for the upper end of regular street driving if you were doing a lot of highway cruising.

But, out of whack alignment will rub the tires against the ground harder and generate more heat so it could increase the pressure. Easiest way to find that out is to get an alignment check. Dragging brakes will also cause it since the rim is used as a heatsink for the rotor. Lots of steering also increases the temperature on the fronts. All of the above is why the fronts are usually hotter and a little higher pressure after running then the rears.

The one notable exception being burn-outs which you don't have to worry about much in the LS

 

[G-RELL]

The one notable exception being burn-outs which you don't have to worry about much in the LS

what, your not 4 wheel drifting the LS too?!??!?..

an alignment off that bad would/should show in tire wear...

 

[Telco]

There is another possibility. What kind of tire gauge do you use? There can be quite a bit of variance with a gauge depending on quality. I use the foot long tractor-trailer gauges myself, they tend to be pretty accurate and reliable. The 5 dollar parts store register special, on the other hand, aren't. So far as extra heat being added from a misalignment, that is a possibility although when the tires cool back down the pressure should return to what it was.

 

[Kumba]

what, your not 4 wheel drifting the LS too?!??!?..

an alignment off that bad would/should show in tire wear...

No, ever since the floor board exploded when I smashed the NAWS button I have given up on my fast and furious drifting. Although it was fun to drift around a straight street to avoid the bad guys.

And what you said, if your alignment was off enough to generate that much heat in the tires you'd see it on the tread wear pattern.

 

[Banker]

Dragging brakes will also cause it since the rim is used as a heatsink for the rotor.

ahh, yes. i didnt think of that.

There is another possibility. What kind of tire gauge do you use?

favorite gauge ive ever owned.
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_02823020000P?mv=rr
while no gauge in this price range is super super "accurate", it is plenty "precise". gives consistent readings. anyway, i love it for several reasons.
-a lot of cheapo digital gauges are angled and when u take a reading the screen is angled away from me making the number harder to read. it's stupid. this one, everything is just straight on.
-the number that shows on the screen is huge compared to others. very easy to read.
-THE SCREEN IS BACKLIT. very important to me. i find myself checking tire pressure in the dark more often than daylight.
-there is a built in flashlight. and its a decent one. this goes along with checking tires in the dark.
-also super important: the part of the gauge that actually connects to the valve stem - it connects really really good. it basically hugs the entire end of the stem so there's none of that "psh psh" leaking air out all over the place and having trouble getting a reading. a 3 year old could take a reading. (one minor annoyance, i have a 78 Chevy Cheyenne K30 and because the valve stem has to be able to go into the recessed tip of the gauge, i cant take a reading on this vehicle cuz for some reason the valve stem is too short or not sticking far enuf out of the wheel or something, cant remember exactly what but this is the only vehicle i have this problem with.)
-there's an audible beep when the gauge obtains the reading. i spose i'd rather have the beep than not have the beep.
-ANOTHER awesome feature: a trigger to release air. so if u over fill, u dont even have to remove the gauge from the valve stem. just pull the trigger to release some air and as soon as u let go the gauge retakes a reading. this is AWESOME! no more finding something to poke the valve stem with or fiddling around trying to get multiple reading. and it makes it virtually impossible to go from overfull to underfull.
-the gauge is "programmable" and i guess u can put in a preset pressure and it will beep at u or something if the tire is at the preset. idk this is dumb. probly be better without it if it would make the gauge even a little cheaper. (which btw is 24.29 at the time of this posting.)

i could seriously rave about my tire pressure gauge all day. im annoyed to see the price came down from $29.99 (or maybe i only paid 25. idk) when i last bought one. but now im gonna go buy a couple more. mine always seem to disappear. plus it's good to encourage ignorant family members to keep a gauge in their glove box and actually use it every now and then. just checked mom's tires and one was at 20 psi (in her defense, pretty low profile, so harder to see when they're low).

if your alignment was off enough to generate that much heat in the tires you'd see it on the tread wear pattern.

an alignment off that bad would/should show in tire wear...

tires are so new that it hasnt shown yet

although when the tires cool back down the pressure should return to what it was

yeah, this is the crux of the issue. i checked em and they didnt come back down. so my whole post is pointless. someone must have randomly added air to the tires since i checked them. idfk.

 

[G-RELL]

so my whole post is pointless.

Just the post :shifty: