Just put a new set of four Michelins on the Fusion.

When first driving, it felt a bit "skittish" so checked the tyre pressures which were 35psi front, and 32psi rear, whereas decal on B post suggests 29/26 psi.which is how we have run the car for 65k

Handbook pressures are 35/32, so tyre dealers set them correctly, but having lowered the pressures to 29/26 it certainly feels better.

Anybody else any views or experience ?

 

Always ran mine at 35/32 psi purely for better mpg

Bill, I can understand the economy argument, so might be worth upping the pressures.

We have replaced tyres twice, original Hankook 406s were first replaced like for like in a set of four, now gone for the Michelin.  tyres seemed to wear out evenly across the tread, did your tyres wear in the middle much ?

A long time ago with a 2.8i Capri, Ford recommemded 28 all round, but Autocar recommended 24.  Replacing tyres at 12k with the middles worn out, I then went to 24 !  Tyres were more expensive then !

Can't remember if it is the Fusion or another car we had but there were two recommended tyre pressures, one for comfort and one for economy, and there was 6 or 7 psi between them, seems to be quite a common thing these days so even if the Fusion doesn't state it in the handbook it might have been updated in the info for garages.

On 11/16/2019 at 10:13 AM, Paulkp said:

Bill, I can understand the economy argument, so might be worth upping the pressures.

We have replaced tyres twice, original Hankook 406s were first replaced like for like in a set of four, now gone for the Michelin.  tyres seemed to wear out evenly across the tread, did your tyres wear in the middle much ?

A long time ago with a 2.8i Capri, Ford recommemded 28 all round, but Autocar recommended 24.  Replacing tyres at 12k with the middles worn out, I then went to 24 !  Tyres were more expensive then !

They used to wear nice and even and I used to get 24000 miles out of them.The ride was a little bit harder but not much difference/

.

Thanks Gents, I will probably try them a bit harder.

On 11/14/2019 at 9:29 PM, Paulkp said:

Just put a new set of four Michelins on the Fusion.

When first driving, it felt a bit "skittish" so checked the tyre pressures which were 35psi front, and 32psi rear, whereas decal on B post suggests 29/26 psi.which is how we have run the car for 65k

Handbook pressures are 35/32, so tyre dealers set them correctly, but having lowered the pressures to 29/26 it certainly feels better.

Anybody else any views or experience ?

 

Paul, this was a few years ago now so I don't know if this helps, but I had the same questions as you about tyre pressures. This is on a Fusion 2 1.6 TDCI running 195/60 x 15.

I didn't think the car was skittish at the factory 35 front / 32 rear, but when I got the car (54k miles, good suspension, no tracking problems) it was wearing the centre of the tyre more than the outsides and that continued, and it felt very harsh over poor roads and speed bumps.

My handbook had the 'comfort' 29 / 26 pressures listed and I dropped them to that, but it then felt (and the tyres looked) too soft and the handling and fuel economy suffered, while the harshness over bumps wasn't really improved.

I ended up putting them to a compromise 32-33 / 30 which seemed to keep the economy and more precise handling and the tyres wear much more evenly. It's still rather harsh compared with other cars I've owned but I've put that down to high spring rates due to the weight of the TDCI engine.

There is a consideration that has not been mentioned, “alloy or steel wheels”.

From my experience the lighter unsprung weight of alloys enables the suspension to respond quicker and makes the ride harder which may be described as skittish. motoring journalist have always said that the larger rims with lower profile tyres worsen the ride, ie the M versions on a BMW. (That said on todays new tech there is fandango dynamics in play with shocks etc.)

good old steel wheels will ride over potholes better, don’t leak air from a bad seal and are not scrap at the slightest sight of a kerb. 

Tyre pressure, well trial and error is probably the answer, tyre technology has moved on, and there are a lot more potholes these days.