home | blog | contact | about us | español

| Léelo en: Español

Correct Tire Pressure Essential to Tire Life

Tire Information World : your friendly independent source of tire help

Do you check your tire pressure as often as you should?

Check your tire pressure frequently.

I don't think that there is one piece of advice which is more important than this.

Improper pressure is by far the most frequent cause of unsatisfactory tire performance.

Pressure which is too low will cause tires to overheat, especially at high speeds and greatly increase the chance of suffering a blowout.

Too much pressure will, at the very least, cause the ride to be hard and the wear in the center of the tread to be excessive.

When to check tire pressure

The best time to check tire's pressure is when the tires have not been running for at least 3 hours.

The morning is usually suggested, but if you have to drive to some place to check the pressure, you may get a distorted pressure check caused by the warming of the tire as you drive.

Don't believe your tires generate heat? Just drive 5 or 10 minutes on the freeway and "TRY" to touch your tire with your hand. BE CAREFUL! You'll find it is probably extremely hot.

Heat, causes air to expand, thus, the pressure in your tire when it is hot is higher than when it is cold.

This is why you may arrive home with your tires seemingly normal and see them looking deflated in the morning.

This, gauge from AutoAnything.com, is one of the nicest of the new breed of easy-to-use Tire Gauges which I've seen around.

How much Pressure?

For most cars the best guide is your car's manual.

Where to find the pressure for your vehicle

• Look on the driver's door post or the edge of the driver's door for a sticker which will give the recommended pressure for your car's tires.
• Another place to look is the inside of the Glove Compartment door for a sticker with recommended pressures.
• If both these places fail, try to locate your owner's manual and look up "tire pressure" in the index.

Pay particular attention to whether the recommended pressure for tires is the same for the front and rear wheels. Depending on the design of the vehicle, there may be different tire pressures for front and back. Not following this may result in having difficulty in steering or swaying.

Always try to follow the manufacturer's recommendations unless you're prepared to have unexpected consequences, some of which can be dangerous.

Additional Information

Wear patterns that show tire problems

Site Contents | Site Search |  Return to top |  Privacy Policy