Making sure that your car’s tires are properly inflated is crucial to your safety. When your car’s tires are underinflated, it means that you have less control over the vehicle. It also means that the tires are more likely to pop. This makes driving significantly more dangerous. Underinflated tires also increase the wear on your tires, which means you’ll need new tires sooner (an avoidable cost). They also waste gas because your vehicle isn’t running efficiently. For all these reasons and more, it’s important to check your tire pressure and inflate your tires to a proper level about once every month. You can’t always tell if a tire is underinflated just by looking at it, so you’ll want to take these measures to check…
Buy A Tire Gauge
Buying a tire gauge to keep in your car is going to be the most hassle-free means of keeping up on your tire pressure. Usually, they don’t cost more than about $10. If you’re feeling ambitious, pair it with a notebook to record each time you check the pressure.
Figure Out The Right Pressure
There are a few places you can look to find the correct level of tire pressure for you vehicle. You can look in the owner’s manual, find it online, or look on the sticker that is inside the driver’s side door. Look carefully, as some vehicles require different levels of pressure for the front and back tires.
Check Pressure In The Morning
Checking your tire pressure in the morning is important because you’ll want to check when the tires are cold. When you drive your car, tires heat up, causing the pressure to differ from when they are cold. All of the manufacturer’s recommendations for tire pressure are measured while tires are cold. This is why you want to check before you’ve started driving your car.
Checking The Pressure
First unscrew the valve cap and put it somewhere that you won’t lose it (you’d be surprised how easily those disappear). You’ll want to press the tire gauge you bought onto the valve stem. When you do this, a reading will appear on the tire gauge. Compare this with what the manufacturer recommends.
Courtesy of aeroautoparts
