MDDavid

I'm going to be swapping out my summer tires soon and have been looking for the correct pressures for my winter set. The owner's manual indicates to always use the b-pillar specs. The pressures on my b-pillar sticker appears to the max load in the owner's manual for the 21". I'm curious what the b-pillar sticker indicates for a 2017+ Q7 with 285/45R-20 (my winter tires) from the factory. Thanks!

Flyer549

I have a 2018 Q5 and just looked a the same question. The B pillar says 33 front, 36 rear which is the same as the maximum load listing in the manual. The NTSB requires a single pressure for each axle on the B pillar and they default to the maximum load listing since that is always safe. The maximum load would be five occupants and a total load of 1058 lbs. including occupants. That would be four 150 lb. occupants plus 458 lbs. of luggage. I doubt the vehicle with ever see that situation.
The "Normal" load (up to 3 passengers) pressure listed in the manual is 29 both front and rear.
For a driver and one passenger the ride is noticeably better with 29 all around and there was no change in handling or mileage.
I looked at various loads compared to the maximum allowable and the distribution from front to back and came up with the following table that gives pressures for various combination of passenger and luggage.
Obviously, I don't plan to change tire pressure every time someone gets in or out of the vehicle or throws something in the back.
For me the "sweet spot" was 31 front and 33 rear. That covers me for up to 4 occupants or 2 occupants and 200 lbs of luggage. It gives a better ride than the 33/36 max load pressures. If I was going to be driving on a trip with 4 occupants plus luggage I'd up the pressure for that trip. Tire pressures by loadPassengers Luggage weight FrontRear200400600800PressurePressurePressurePress urePressure129/2929/3131/3332/3433/36229/2931/3332/3433/352130/3132/3432/3533/362231/3332/3533/362332/3433/36

Flyer549

Well, that table didn't work very well in the previous post. Here's what the table was supposed to be: