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Hi
I let my dad drive my 1999 mazda familia 1.5 sedan back from Whangamata, and though all went well and the car was faultless, he did mention the front is quite heavy. I realise that I little car like mine holds alot of its weight in the front, and I recently had new evergreen 175/70 r13's put on. I notice on websites it says 30psi for front, and 29 for rear tyres. I thought this was quite low, so I put 35psi all round and thought this was safe to do so as the tyres say they will handle 44psi all round. However, the back tyres could possibly be a bit lower say 32psi but the font ones bulge out at the walls and since they are radials, would it be safe to put perhaps 37-38psi for better handling and lighter steering?
Thanks heaps

No, I wouldn't recommend over-inflating the tyres. 32psi all round would be about what I'd suggest for this car. Over-inflating the tyres can cause the tyre to "balloon" out in the middle of the tread, so while it may make the steering feel lighter, this is because there's not so much contact with the road and the centre of the tyre will wear prematurely. So it's not good from a safety perspective of the long-life of the tyre.
Depending on the type of car your dad is used to driving, it may just be that your car feels different to his.
In my experience, the Mazda 323 has excellent feedback through the steering and does feel a bit heavier than some cars with relatively numb steering, so unless there is a fault with your steering, it sounds quite normal to me, and I definitely wouldn't over-inflate the tyres to lighten up the steering.

Ok, I agree, the car is very direct in how it drives, he is used to the ford falcon he drives. I did pump my tyres up, and the car was shuddering about and feeling every little imperfection so i will let some out and put 32 in. For the age my car is, I am still very surprised at how smooth and relaxing and quiet it is to drive, so definitely no faults there
thanks again