[Grog]

I came out of the dentist this morning to find a flat tire on the mustang. (I think all fords need to be recalled and the company investigated because of the missing air in my tire. My tire air has been cleverly camouflaged and hidden within the surrounding air by Ford. Anyway, I installed the mini spare and went to a Les Schwab's tire center, because they fix flats for free. They refused to fix it because the tire was worn past legal limits. I knew they were getting thin and have been tire wheel shopping for a few weeks now. I just ordered Bullitt wheels with 255 45 18"'s. Back to the reason for the post. I get home and plug the flat, pressurize it up to 30 psi, car sticker says 36. The rear tires are wearing in the middle, the fronts look even. Car says 36 front and rear. Install repaired tire, go to other rear tire to reduce pressure to match and find it at 44psi. Last week I aired them all to 36, check the fronts and they are also at 43, 44psi. I have 2 digital gages, both read same. About a year ago I had a flat on the X5, same story took it to Schwab's and it came back with 45 psi n each tire. I call them and ask what is up with pumping my tires up to max rating. I get a story about how I will get better gas mileage and longer tire life. I tell him the car manufacturer recommends 36. He says its probably ok to lower them back to 36, but doesn't recommend it. The guy I talked to was not a kid, he is the asst manager and has been there for years. I told him the max press on the sidewall is just the max the tire is rated for and the car manufactures tell you the press you should run based on the weight on each tire and vehicle handling. He still told me I would be better off running at max psi. Am I messed up? is there some new info about running max air?