Why is Tire Pressure Important?

Article written 2013
Archived 2024

Checking your tire pressure can be crucial for your safety.

Incorrect tire pressure affects your vehicle’s responsiveness, traction, and stability. Driving a vehicle with the wrong tire pressure can be unsafe.

It may also affect your comfort, fuel economy, and, of course, how long your tires will last.

Over-inflated Tires

If the tire pressure is too high, less of the tire touches the ground. This means that traction suffers, and it will increase your stopping distance. High tire pressure can also cause blowouts and uneven wear.

Under-inflated Tires

If tire pressure is too low, then too much of the tire touches the ground. It increases friction and your tires will wear down quicker. There is also a great risk of overheating, which may cause a tire failure and an accident.

Under-inflated tires are bad for your fuel economy. They generally lower gas mileage by 0.3 percent for every 1 psi drop in pressure of all four tires.

It may not seem much, but it equals up to $0.15 per gallon.

Under-inflated tires also increase the risk of a tire blowout. How to handle blowouts .

What Should the Tire Pressure Be?

The recommended pressure is usually found on a sticker attached to the vehicle’s door edge, inside the glove box, or inside the tank cap. It should also be found in your Owner’s Manual.

Look for the PSI (Pounds per Square Inch) value. PSI is also the unit your gauge uses to provide a pressure reading.

Do not let the pressure printed on the tire’s sidewall guide you. This is the maximum pressure, not the recommended tire pressure for your car.

When to Check Tire Pressure

Always check the pressure when the tires are cold.

If you pull into a gas station to fill air, always recheck your tires when they cooled down (wait at least three hours).

Remove the valve cap from one tire at a time. Place the pressure gauge on the valve stem and press down hard enough so the hissing sound disappears. Your gauge should now provide a reading. With a simple standard gauge, the air pressure will push a small bar out from the bottom of the gauge.

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