Routine maintenance is important for everything from our bicycles to our cars. But sometimes, we fall short. One of the most neglected routine car maintenance tasks is to check tyre pressures and inflate them as necessary. That’s why newer cars have tyre pressure warning lights, or tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS), that let you know when you have under- or over-inflated tyres (when any tire is 25% under-inflated).
Older vehicles don’t have this useful warning light. So, don’t wait for a rupture to check or change a tyre. Use this guide to learn how to check the pressure (PSI) of your vehicle tyres and how to inflate them to the proper air level.
Why should you check your tyre pressure?
The primary reason why you should periodically check your tyre pressure is SAFETY, but there are monetary and handling reasons as well:
- Longer lasting tyres
- Improved handling and control
- Reduced risk of accidents and blow outs
- Better fuel economy
- Reduced carbon footprint
Proper tyre pressure (as recommended by the manufacturer) is needed to drive safely and efficiently. research has shown that:
“…about 28% of light vehicles on our Nation’s roadways run with at least one under-inflated tyre. Only a few psi difference from vehicle manufacturer’s recommended tyre inflation pressure can affect a vehicle’s handling and stopping distance. Poor tyre maintenance can increase incidences of blowouts and tread separations. Similarly, under-inflation negatively affects fuel economy.”
How to find the right tyre pressure for your car?
The easiest way to find the right tyre pressure you should have is to check in your service owners manual. Inside the service manual book, there is often information of where to find the tyre pressure label. The most common place is on the chassis, behind the driver door and sometimes at the location of the spare tire. It will look something like this:
You may be looking at that label and don’t understand anything at all, but don’t worry we will explain it all to you. The first thing you have to check is what size you have on your tyres. Because on the most labels, there are many different tyre sizes. You will find anything like 195/65 – 16, that’s the size of your tyre.
When you know what tyre size you have you can just check the label.
What does cold tyre inflation pressure mean?
They write the cold tyre inflation pressure because that is the pressure you should have when the tyres are cold. But why does it matter? You may ask. Checking the air pressure when the tyre is cold vs warm could be a big difference
Cold tire – Lower Pressure
Hot tire – Higher pressure
How much difference depends on the tyre size etc, but the difference could be around 0.4 bar ( 6 psi ~ ).
(DIY) How to check your tyre pressure:
- Check the tire pressure when the tyres are cold—first thing in the morning is best. If you’ve been driving for a while, you’ll want to wait several hours before checking your tyre pressure.
- Remove the caps to your tyres’ air valve (keep them in a safe place, like your pocket).
- Place the tyre pressure gauge on the air valve firmly to receive a reading.
- Take the tyre pressure reading 1-3 times to get a good average and reduce the risk of anomalies.
- Check the tyre pressure gauge reading against the recommended PSI levels recommended by the manufacturer.
- Add some air until your reach the recommended PSI level.
If the reading is above the recommended PSI level, push down on the air valve to release air. Check the tire pressure again. Release more air if necessary. If you release too much air, you can always add some air back.
It should only take you a couple minutes to check the air pressure of your vehicle’s tyres. As soon as you restore tyre pressure to the recommended levels, you’ll start experiencing the safety and savings that come with this regular maintenance task.
Conclusion
Over-inflation of your tyres will give you a bouncy ride and an ill-handling car, while driving on under-inflated tyres can cause premature wear from increased friction. Either way, not having your tyres inflated to their recommended pressure will negatively affect tire wear and vehicle performance and will definitely affect your maintenance schedule when it comes to replacing them.
It's just too bad that most of the drivers in Port-Harcourt Nigeria are ignorant of the adverse effects of inadequate tyre pressure. Now you know, ensure to always check your tyre pressure when inflating.
