How to Check Your Tire Pressure
You may not give much thought to your tires, but they are all that stand between life and death whenever you’re out on the road. Safe driving depends so much on a properly inflated tire with the correct tire pressure. It’s not enough to have tires filled with air; you have to have tires inflated at just the right pressure to carry the weight of your car, plus the load of passengers and cargo. Checking and adjusting tire pressure is part of the regular preventive maintenance tasks you should accomplish before you take your car on the road.
What is Tire Pressure?
Tire pressure is the amount of force exerted by air molecules contained in the tires, expressed through pounds per square inch (psi). For some vehicles, tire pressure units are expressed in kilopascal (kPa). Tire pressure is also known as cold inflation pressure, or the inflation pressure of the tires before the tires have come up to temperature. Tire pressure is reduced during driving because the tires let out air through stem caps and special vents found in high-performance tires. Tire pressure also changes when the tire is allowed to warm up because the gases inside the tire expand.
The right tire pressure not only gives your car the traction and support necessary to carry the car’s weight and cargo, but also saves you a lot in gasoline and costly repairs. Properly inflated tires mean that your car has to work less to carry the weight of the vehicle, which means big savings in fuel. They also prevent your car from experiencing major blowouts at high speeds, which keep you and your passengers safe from serious injuries or even death.
Tire Pressure Measuring Tools
There are two important tools you need to measure and maintain optimum tire pressure:
Tire pressure gauges are small devices used to measure tire pressure. Most tire pressure gauges are mechanical, where you read the tire pressure through a dial display. The psi figure on the dial is accurate to around 3 psi. Modern digital tire pressure gauges are accurate to 1 psi.
Tire pressure monitoring systems, or TPMS, are a system of pressure sensors attached to the wheels and transmit tire pressure information to the car’s central computer through radio signals. Tire pressure monitoring systems take away much of the guesswork from checking your tire pressure. Having TPMS doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t use a gauge to check tire pressure regularly.
The placard indicates the correct tire pressure you should use given the weight and specifications of your car. Placards are usually found on the driver side B-pillar, and contain the inflation and pressure specifications for the front and rear tires, and also include the loading limit of the vehicle. You should always refer to the placard when checking and adjusting air pressure.
Checking Tire Pressure
It’s best to check tire pressure when your tires have not yet warmed up, like early in the morning. Even the shortest drive can warm up your tire temperatures and give you an inaccurate reading for tire pressure.
Remember to refer to the placard, not the tire sidewall, when taking down notes of the recommended tire pressure. The psi/ kPa units on the sidewalls indicate the maximum air pressure that the tire can handle, not the recommended tire pressure for your vehicle.
Remove the valve cap from the wheel and put it in a place where you can’t lose it.
Insert the gauge into the valve stem. Don’t worry about the small hiss you’ll hear; the small amount of air escaping your tires during the reading will not affect the tire pressure.
After a second, remove the tire pressure gauge from valve stem, and take down the psi value.
Do the same thing for all the other tires.
Compare the manufacturer’s specifications with the readings you got from your tires. If the values of the tires are below the values indicated on the placard, you need to inflate your tires. If the values are the same as those indicated in the placard, replace the valve cap on the valve stem.
Adjusting Air Pressure
Remove the valve cap from the wheel.
Turn on the air compressor, and fit the nozzle of the air compressor hose into the valve stem. Press the lever to fill the tire with air.
It’s best to slightly overinflate the tire, although you can get the right amount of air flowing into your tire using the pressure gauge that comes with the air compressor.
After you have inflated the tires, check the tire pressure again with a gauge. If the tire is overinflated more than 6 psi above the maximum recommended pressure, press down on the gauge to let some air out.
Replace the valve cap, and repeat the same process for the rest of the tires.
With these easy tips to help you check and adjust tire pressure, a drive on the open roads is always safe and secure. Always remember to check your tire pressure regularly to ensure the safety of you and your passengers.