Tyre Pressure

Tyre Safety

There are a number of reasons why you’ll want to keep maintain proper tyre pressure. Tyre safety is your primary concern, as is overall tyre performance. Here’s why:

Performance of tyres

Your vehicle’s performance can be greatly affected by low tyre pressure. Some major concerns are poor gas mileage, skidding when you have to brake hard, as well as screeching and spinning when applying gas at a stop.

Safety

Tyres contain belts as part of their interior structure. The belts help the tyre stay durable and strong. When tyres continue to run at low pressure, they sag and look flat. Sometimes, when this goes unattended for a long time, the interior belts will break, causing “bubbles” to pop out of the sidewalls. These “bubbles” can pop at any time, and are therefore extremely dangerous. Keep in mind that this can happen even when a tyre is only “half-flat”.

Other affects due to variance in tie pressure

Most vehicle alignment problems are caused by uneven tyre pressure stemming from under-inflated tyres. Low tyre pressure can also cause uneven wear in the tyres, which shortens their life span.

How to adjust tyre pressure

Because tyre pressure has such a tremendous affect on your car, you’ll want to keep it at the right level. If you’ve never done it before, that’s okay. I’ve made this simple outline to help you through it.

• Buy a tyre gauge

Don’t worry, these are very inexpensive and can be found just about any auto related business. Gas stations, auto part stores, and even some department stores are known to carry them. My son got me one in the shape of a racing tyre from an auto store for about a buck.

• Check the tyres

Checking the tyre pressure is simple. You’ll find a little cap on the side of the tyre that covers what’s called the pressure valve. Unscrew the cap and place the gauge on the valve. The measurement you’ll see is the psi (pound per square inch). You can find the proper psi measurement on the sidewall of your tyre, the identification sticker on the driver’s side door, or in your owner’s manual.

• Adjust as needed

Most gas stations keep air pressure machines. Some offer free service with fill up. Others will cost you a couple of quarters (a small amount compared to what you will save in the long run). The industry standard for those air machines is 1 pound per second. If your tyres need 35 psi, and your gauge tells you that you have 25, you’ll hold pump air in for about 10 seconds. Take another measurement and repeat if needed. Just in case you pump too much air, you can always release a little bit by moving the pin inside the valve.

Experts recommend that you check every other time you fill up. Also keep in mind that tyres react to temperature changes, especially in cold weather. When it gets cold outside you’ll want to check more frequently.

More About Saving Gas mileage

With the way that gas prices have been skyrocketing lately, you’ll want to make sure that your tyres are properly inflated. Under inflated tyres are known to make your engine work harder by adding more resistance. This added resistance forces your engine to use more energy to move the tyres, which results in depleted, inefficient gas mileage. Keeping your tyre pressure at appropriate level can be a tremendous addition to your strategy for conserving fuel and saving money. A tyre that runs at the proper PSI turns smoothly and is very fuel efficient.

The statistics

Studies on gas mileage have reported that keeping your tyres at the proper pressure can improve fuel efficiency by approximately 3%, or the rough equivalent of seven cents per gallon. Seven cents may not seem like a lot, but over time that number can really start to add up. Think of it this way, if you have a twenty gallon tank and don’t keep your tyres at their proper pressure, you could be costing yourself as much as $1.40 per fill up. With prices at roughly $2.50 per gallon, that could add up to a whole tank of gas simply in a couple of weeks because your tyres aren’t properly inflated. To put it another way, you could go with one less fill up over that amount of time by keeping your tyres properly inflated. How much money would that save you? Inspired yet?

Not only does proper inflation save you gas and money, but it also help extend the life of your tyres. Under inflated tyres come with a much greater risk of failing because they wear out faster than they normally would if properly maintained.

If you have further concerns regarding tyre pressure, or just can’t seem to get it right, take your vehicle down your local mechanic. In know they’ll be glad to help.