I have a new to me 16' 2500 express passenger van, seating for 11 and am baffled by the tire pressure requirements for this thing. The van has Kelly LT tires, stock size, load range E and are rated for a max cold inflation of 80 psi as written on the sidewall of the tire. The tire placard is pretty fuzzy on details, but I can make out a 50 on it. The owners manual says to refer to the tire pressure placard on the driver side door. The shop I took it to says front needs 50 psi, rear needs 80 and that seems extreme to me for the rear. How and why is it a good idea to inflate these tires to their max cold pressure according to the tire manufacturer? What's factory psi supposed to be? What all is everyone else running on these vans?

 

I have a new to me 2018 2500 cargo Express that calls for 55 psi front and 80 for rear and spare. I am coming from a van that wanted 35 psi all 'round. I've got 55 psi all around with no issues thus far.

 

Well... You should have one issue. The warning light on the dash. I think I keep the rear around 70 because the back seat is removed, it's never loaded to capacity, and if I remember right it's under 65 when the light turns on.

 

The requirements for light truck (LT) tires are so much different than normal radials (R), and surprising to someone who has not dealt with it before. I had LT's installed on my Silverado WT (1500) last time I bought tires, mostly because that was all they had in stock that would fit my truck the day I was buying tires. I had to go lookup what the pressures were for a Silverado 2500, since the placard on the 1500 was for the stock R's. I ended up running 50 in the front, and 50 to 80 in the rear, depending on how much I was loading the truck up. I will say that they led to a rougher ride, and I likely won't do it again on that truck.

 

Yes that's true the tpms is triggered but no drivability issues experienced(in fact I currently have the rear psi down to 40 for hopefully increased traction in snow and the ride over bumps is much less jarring).

 

We finally got some rain and I've been impressed with the extra traction from the Powertrax Grip Pro I put in the 14SF. Still haven't got it out to any dirt or mud.