Anyone have problems with the service people underinflating tires?

that sounds unsafe, i would definately check them after your next service and bring the manager out to look and ask him why they are doing that. overfilling the oil and underfilling the tires. what next?

 

When handing over the car I ask that they don't touch the tires. Sometimes I remember to leave a note on the dashboard listing everything I don't want: Don't adjust tire pressure/Don't wash/...

This approach works, for the most part. I check one tire before leaving the lot & haven't found my tires deflated.

 

One thing that intrigues me about this forum is that Toyota's tire-inflation specifications are widely questioned while the engine-0il recommendation is held in very high regard and its every nuance is discussed.

So, do we trust Toyota's specifications or do we not.

 

tire specs are a safety item overseen by the $!@#%& lawyers.

 

The lawyers obviously want the least exposure to liability, so they would insist on the safest inflation pressure?

 

you would think so. many of us run higher for better f/e, but i'm not sure proper studies have been done on safety. without that, it's tough to say. there was quite a bit of fuss about tire pressure when all the suv's were flipping and the tire and car mfg.'s were pointing fingers.

 

It's not a matter of trust. Specs are one size fits all. If your criteria is the same as the people and vehicle usage the specs were intended for, then they are right for you.

I trust Toyota to issue specs that fit the majority of typical consumers operating their cars under typical conditions. Many of us here have moved beyond that.

As a retired engineer I know how specs are dumbed down to fit the masses. The specs you see aren't necessarily the ones the people who designed the cars use on their personal vehicles.

 

If the shop is leaving your tires this much below the door placard, I can only surmise that someone's pressure gauge is seriously malfunctioning. Whose gauge is bad, yours or theirs, remains to be determined.

If possible, verify your measurement with several different gauges. My household has three normal gauges that read nearly the same, and one built into a bicycle pump that read much lower than the others. The later one is never believed.

 

A long time ago I gave up on getting a shop to reliably inflate my tires to the pressure I want. If they look safe to drive, I take the car home and check the pressures the next morning.

I did have a nice surprise my last Toyota dealer service. They filled all 4 tires to 40 psi without me saying anything. Not exactly what I wanted but not far enough off for me to turn on my compressor. I'll be going in there in another month it will be interesting to see if that was an accident or a policy.

 

When ever I have a service performed on the car, I include several paper copies of the work I expect performed. The last line item is, Front tire PSI 42, Rear tire PSI 40. When I pick the car up, I pull out the pressure gauge, and check them. Only once did I have to have the dealer refill to my requested specs!

 

I've found that 99% of the tire shops, independent shops and dealers that I've visited are completely incapable of setting tire pressure properly. They have absolutely no understanding (or do not care) about the concepts of hot vs cold tire pressure, or what the tire inflation placard says. They all seem to have gone to the same school that teaches them that every car should get 32 psi, hot or cold.

 

Don't count on that working.

 

I told my dealer service rep on first visit that I wanted 40F/38R and watched him put it in computer. First service both were at 40, close enough. Second service believe it or not I checked when I got home and all four were at 50 psi, well above max sidewall rating of 44 !!

I called the service rep and he assured me that this was not possible. He even put me on hold and checked with the shop guy who insisted he would have never done this. I went back outside and checked with three different gauges before lowering the pressure back to 40/38.

The next and last visit I checked the tires before I left and they were again close to 40.

I am convinced this is the same air hose they use to install the lug nuts and oil filters

 

That's why I quit asking for a specific pressure years ago. It made no sense to keep setting myself up for a disappointment.

 

Maybe they recognised your distinctive face and smoking habit from your profile picture and knowing you're a Priuschat member, knew you'd want your pressures that high? Just a thought

 

That's a logical sounding conclusion, except I was just in there again and they only filled my tires to 35-36 psi and it was the same service adviser.