I would suggest trying something less drastic. 10 psi is alot of pressure drop. 36 is the recommended pressure for the vehicle load. You are running way under pressure, as a result, yes you are getting a softer ride because there is less air in the tire and you are getting more side wall flex.
You're goign to cause an increase in tire wear, especially side wall strenght reduction. Not to mention the decreased footprint you now have. THere is plenty of documentation available about running with too low a tire pressure. Go to the
Tire Rack - Your performance experts for tires and wheels and read up. THere are tire manufacturer provided photos of how much grip you are loosing due to a severe under inflation. You are currently running @33% under inflated. Far too much. Try to keep your numbers with in 10% of the rated load.
THe stock eagle tires are just crap. They are hard and noise. IT's just a crap tire and a fact of life. If the tire bothers you that much replace it with a touring tire for increased ride comfort. Decreaseing the tire pressure to make a bad tire feel good is not the right direction to go.
For the rest of you peeps wondering what the best tire pressure is. Read the door jam on your drivers side. It has the correct pressure for you particular model.
Unless you change your tire/rim package there is no reason to alter from this number. This number is a calculated number based on the vehicles weight and distribution to provide optimum effeciency in both grip and economy.
Anythign more than 10% above or below this number and you have over or under inflated your tire and therefore caused a reduction in grip.
I dare say that TIRE GRIP is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT part of you car's operation. Everything your car does (cept maybe a/c perferformance and your wiper blades) depends on this factor. How well you car brakes, accelerates, handles an emergency manuver, all this relies on your tires.
Run your tires in the recommended tire pressure window and stay safe. IMO, gaining a 2mpg from over inflating your tire by 10 psi is not worth the risk to yourself or another due to reduced tire traction.
Also, there are very few tires/rim options that will actually change your air pressure needs. Most tires follow a standerized pressure rating. There are a few that don't. The front tires I have on my del sol (Fusion ZRi's) don't. So long as your tires follow the standarized pressure ratings you dont' change your tire pressure. That means if you go from a 215/45/18 to a 245/25/20 tire, the pressure stays the same. Lower profile tires don't need more air, the side walls are stiffer to account for their reduced height. If the load rating on the tire is the same, then the pressure is to follow the manufactures (car, not the tire) pressure numbers.
Don't look at that number on teh side wall either. It's meaningless to the average consumer. For example, our goodyear RS-A tires are rated 44psi@1433lbs. This means that inorder to run the tire at it's maxium load of 1433 lbs you need a tire inflation pressure of 44psi cold. If you inflate your tires to 44psi, then you are expecting a maxiumum load of 5732 lbs. Our Jukes are heavy, but ****.. they're not that heavy. You're a ton over in your expected weight, buy doing this. That much of a weight offset and you WILL see a reduction in tire traction. You're just too far off the mark. This is why our are set at @36 psi. At that pressure the expected vehicle weight is the Juke's wieght plus it's maxiumum payload capacity.
There are more factors involved, such as front/rear weight bias etc. but I hope you get the idea of what's going on.
Simply put. Inflate to the car's spec tag for maximum life expectancy. (of both the tire and yourself)