Maintaining correct tire inflation pressure is very important since it helps optimize tire performance and fuel economy while over-inflated tires are just as problematic as under-inflated ones.
In fact, driving with under-inflated tires is one of the biggest causes of tire failure, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Besides, under-inflated tires can cause many other problems such as wearing out more rapidly, handling poorly and reducing fuel efficiency.
In addition, over-inflated tires are more susceptible to damage from road irregularities, and this also creates a bumpier ride.
Overfilling your tires is just as dangerous as under-filling them, so it’s important you know what is recommended for your vehicle.
This article will give you everything that you need know about your recommended tire pressure. These include:
Buy Pressure Gauge at Amazon
Recommended tire pressure, where to find it?Since tire pressure is so important to your safety and your car’s overall performance, it is important to know which level of tire pressure is right for your vehicle.
In fact, how much air pressure your tires need depends on several factors, including the type of vehicle, the type of tire and the intended use of the vehicle etc.
Air pressure in tires is measured in pounds per square inch or PSI. You can find your tire pressure both inside your car and on the sidewall of the tire.
How to find recommended tire pressure inside your carYou could find the manufacturer’s optimum or recommended tire pressure for your car on a sticker in the door jam, or in your owner’s manual. Some car models even place the stickers on the trunk lid, in the console or on the fuel door. For best results, look for a placard on the inside of the driver’s door, like the example in the photo below.
How to find maximum tire pressure on the sidewall of your tiresSomewhere on the sidewall of your tire, just below the big, bold letters of the manufacturer, for example, you might have noticed the words ‘Max.
Press. 35 PSI.’ (pounds per square inch).
That number tells you the maximum cold pressure needed for your tire to carry its maximum load.
Most typical tires require about 32 to 35 pounds per square inch (PSI) of air, says Rod Tate, owner of highly rated Colony One Auto Center in Stafford, Texas.
Large trucks require much larger tires with PSIs of 50 to 60. Heavy-duty vehicles can go even higher. For example, tire in the picture below requires 41 pounds per square inch of air.
However, the tire’s maximum pressure is NOT necessarily the most suitable pressure for every vehicle upon which the tire can be used (almost all vehicle manufacturers’ recommended tire inflation pressures are less than the tires’ maximum pressure).
You really should follow the recommended pressure printed somewhere inside your car or in the manual rather than the maximum pressure. In the next section, I will explain why.
Buy Pressure Gauge at Amazon
Why is maximum tire pressure not the best?If you insist on inflating your tires to the max PSI, there will be more likely that two things below will happen
Since tires inflated to the max cannot give as much on the sidewall, you might see superior cornering, but it could be at the risk of your braking threshold.
One quick corner and your back end could slide out.
When your tires are inflated too much, the rubber rounds out at the top of the tire when you are driving, and the center will quickly wear out. You will also reduce your traction and you could even cause a blowout.
Therefore, maximum pressure is not the best, rather, recommended pressure is. I need to repeat here that the pressure listed on the sidewall is a maximum pressure only, but not a recommended pressure. Instead, you should use the air pressure recommended in the vehicle’s owner’s manual or tire information placard label.
How to check your tires pressure?Therefore, maximum pressure is not the best, rather, recommended pressure is. I need to repeat here that the pressure listed on the sidewall is a maximum pressure only, but not a recommended pressure.
Instead, you should use the air pressure recommended in the vehicle’s owner’s manual or tire information placard label.
After knowing the most appropriate pressure for your car tires, you should check whether your tires have such pressure. In addition, checking the pressure of your tires regularly is one of the most important – and most often overlooked – regular maintenance that you should do to ensure your safety and quality of your driving. Monitoring the amount of air in your tires will let you know if you have a small leak and can help you avoid an unexpected flat tire.
Frequently checking your PSI becomes even more important in the fall and winter, when outside temperatures drop and weather conditions fluctuate causing your tires to lose air more quickly. Generally speaking, your tire will gain or lose one PSI for every 10-degree change in temperature, which means if you have a sudden drop of 30 degrees, you could lose three PSI overnight. If your tires were already low, this could cause tire damage, steering problems or even a flat tire.
Some experts recommend that you should check the air pressure every time you refuel; others say once a month is sufficient.
How to check tire pressure properly? Checking tire pressure is easy. You can do it right at home or at the gas station. Just be sure you check the pressure when your tires are cold, or have not been driven in several hours. This will give you the most accurate reading.
The most important piece of equipment you need is an accurate tire pressure gauge. You can find battery-operated digital gauges, or more traditional stick-type gauge found at most gas stations. A good gauge should not set you back more than $15 – a worthwhile investment for a longer life for your tires.
Buy Pressure Gauge at Amazon
Make sure you have your manufacturer’s PSI handy when you are checking your tire pressure, and then follow these steps:
By checking tire pressure once a month, you will get a good idea how they are performing. If your tires are fairly new and continue to leak air, you should consult your dealer or mechanic. You may have a faulty valve or other damage that is difficult to detect which could unfortunately result in the need to replace the tires completely.
But with proactive maintenance, you could catch an issue before it becomes a problem, and just end up needing a small repair.
Often, it is hard to spot an under-inflated tire until it is too late – in other words, it is completely flat. Of course, you could carry a gauge around at all times to measure the pressure, but that is not exactly convenient. Instead, watch for these signs and symptoms of tires that are under-inflated.
When your tires are under-inflated, your ride can be less smooth than usual. You may even find that it takes longer to brake.
When a tire is not inflated properly, it wears down more quickly. If you notice that one or all of your tires are wearing out faster than usual, it may be because they are under-inflated.
Tires that are under-inflated can make your vehicle quiver and shake, which is not a pleasant driving experience.
Under-inflation can even cause tires to become misaligned, with comes with it is own variety of problems.
These are all things that you need to know about recommended pressures of your car tires. After reading this article, you will never confuse about the right pressure of your tires and will know how to check it.
Please share your ideas with me if you have other tips for this.
From a safety and cost standpoint, tire maintenance is one of the most important things you can do for your car. The easiest way to care for your tires is both quick and inexpensive: maintain the correct tire pressure.
The recommended pressure for tires varies by the type of car and tire. Because maintaining your tires is so crucial to your safety and your car’s overall performance, it’s important to know what tire pressure is correct for your vehicle.
To learn what your tire pressure should be, look for your manufacturer’s recommendation, which is printed on a label inside your car.
Depending on the vehicle, this label may be on the edge of the vehicle’s door, on the doorpost or in the glove box. The label will usually give recommendations for the front and rear tires as well as the spare, and it’s important that you stick to those guidelines. Even after you’ve replaced your tires, the same pressure guidelines on your car’s label apply to new tires of the same size.
Pressure recommendations are based on readings taken from a tire pressure gauge. Check the pressure first thing in the morning or wait at least three hours after driving; this provides sufficient time for them to cool back down.1
Driving on underinflated tires is one of the biggest causes of tire failure, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. And not having enough air in your tires can lead to other problems. Under-inflated tires wear out more rapidly, handle poorly and reduce fuel efficiency.
On the other hand, overinflated tires are more susceptible to damage from road irregularities, and they also result in a bumpier ride. Overfilling your tires is just as dangerous as underfilling them, so it’s important you know what is recommended for your vehicle.
Knowing how to check tire pressure is critical to your safety and to keeping your tires in good working order.
When it comes to choosing a gauge, you typically have 3 options:
Put the pressure gauge into the valve stem, making sure the gauge is evenly and firmly pressed onto the stem.
If you’re using a pen-style gauge, read the number on the rod that pops out of the sleeve. Read dial pressure gauges as you would a watch with one hand. With a digital pressure gauge, simply read the number on the screen. 2
Find your tires’ recommended PSI in the owner’s manual or on a sticker just inside the driver’s side door. The proper PSI is crucial to your safety and the car’s longevity. Underinflated tires can overheat and wear unevenly; overinflated tires can blow out.1
Temperature has a direct effect on your air tires’ air pressure, so for an accurate PSI reading, make sure to check tire pressure when tires are cold. If it’s cold outside, then you can assume your tires are losing PSI and you should check even more frequently. This will help to ensure maximum safety. Take your car to a mechanic you trust for a professional assessment.3
If you happen to find yourself without a tire gauge and your car doesn’t have an indicator for low tire pressure, there are several things you can do to figure out whether your tires need to be inflated.
Of course, knowing your recommended PSI isn’t enough. You have to ensure you’re checking your tires regularly. Experts recommend you check air pressure once a month.5 Your car’s tire pressure monitoring system TPMS measures the amount of air in your tires to let you know whether your tires are properly inflated.
1
Frequently checking your PSI becomes even more important in the fall and winter, when outside temperatures drop and weather conditions fluctuate causing your tires to lose air more quickly. Generally, your tire will gain or lose 1 PSI for every 10-degree change in temperature, which means if you have a sudden drop of 30 degrees, you could lose 3 PSI overnight. If your tires were already low, this could cause tire damage, steering problems or even a flat tire.3
Knowing and maintaining the right air pressure is important to the safety and longevity of your tires. All it takes is a tire pressure gauge and a few minutes of your time.
Once you have the right tire pressure, make sure you also have the right coverage. Learn more about how Nationwide auto insurance can help protect you and save you money.
Sources:
1 https://www.pirelli.com/tires/en-us/car/driving-and-tire-tips/how-to-read/recommended-tire-pressure, Accessed April 2022.
2 https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/tire-pressure-gauges/buying-guide/index.htm#:~:text=There%20are%20three%20types%20of,of%205%20to%2099%20psi., Accessed April 2022.
3 https://www.firestonecompleteautocare.com/blog/tires/should-i-inflate-tires-cold-weather/, Accessed April 2022.
4 https://rxmechanic.com/how-to-check-tire-pressure-without-gauge/, Accessed February 2022.
All pressure gauges built into the compressors show incorrect values! And the reason is not only the inaccuracy of the instruments.
The examination of compressors with digital pressure gauges did not involve big "discoveries". However, at the very first measurements, an interesting thing turned out: the reference pressure gauge showed that the pressure in the inflated tire was not at all the same as that set for the compressor. They took another compressor - the tire again turned out to be under-inflated.
And so it was repeated with all the devices. Why?
Related materials
10 pumps: Compressor expertiseTire pressure monitoring systems - how they workTire pressure: your norm
First thought: regular pressure gauges lie. To check them, a splitter was connected to the compressor hose. One of its sleeves was connected to a standard pressure gauge, and the other to the inflated wheel.
Related materials
How to inflate a tire without a pump? 5 myths and 2 risky ways
Indeed, they all lied, but at the same time, the pressure in the inflated tire still did not correspond to the required one. An exemplary pressure gauge connected to a running compressor showed 2.0 bar, but as soon as the electric motor died, the pressure decreased to 1.8 bar. The same exemplary pressure gauge showed when connected directly to the wheel valve. How to explain this fact?
The fact is that approximately 0.
2 bar is lost when overcoming a narrow bottle neck - channels in the spool. As soon as the compressor turns off and the air flow becomes equal to zero, the pressure in the entire system immediately equalizes - then the error of the compressor pressure gauge can be estimated.
Related materials
Pump up or inflate? Non-Standard Compressor Test
Understanding came when they guessed to connect a valve turned out of the wheel to a running compressor. It would seem that the pressure gauge should show zero: after all, there is no back pressure. However, the very first experience showed an excess of 0.4 bar! Having gone through several valves from different manufacturers, we determined the range of "overestimations" - from 0.4 to 0.6 bar.
The variation in readings depends on how much the valve stem moves when the compressor hose nozzle presses on it . Just don’t think that we didn’t fit or screw the pump tip onto the valve tightly enough.
If the tip does not press the spool pin at all, then the valve will open at a pressure of at least 5 bar. And such an ordinary automobile compressor develops with great difficulty.
Scheme of installation for checking pressure gauges of compressors
1 - wheel, 2 - valve, 3 - exemplary pressure gauge, 4 - tested compressor with built-in pressure gauge.
This "error" is easiest to catch when you inflate a completely flat tire. The pressure gauge in the first second of compressor operation will show a pressure of at least 0.4 bar. This is the backwater formed by very narrow sections for the passage of air in the spool. And its value is maximum on a flat tire. Why does it decrease as the tire pressure increases?
Related materials
Small-sized tire compressors: expertise of the magazine "Behind the wheel"
At the beginning of pumping, the flow is maximum, the speed is high and the resistance (it is proportional to the square of the speed) is greater.
As the tire is inflated, it becomes harder for the compressor to pump, the air consumption drops, and with it, the resistance on the spool decreases. Therefore, at high pressures, compressor pressure gauges show tire pressure more and more accurately. And at the maximum pressure that the pump can develop, the flow rate, and with it the back pressure, tends to zero. And the measurement error disappears.
The connecting element, slipped or screwed onto the valve, also plays a role in the resistance of the air supply line from the compressor to the tire. The largest air passage is provided by tap type tips, and the greatest resistance - up to 0.15 bar - is provided by tips with a narrow gap. But it is especially important that the tip fully presses the spool valve. Because if it does not fully open, the resistance of the spool will become even greater. The correct connection of the tip to the valve is important here. It is necessary to ensure the tightest possible putting on (or screwing) of the tip.
Compressor tips are available in different designs. The larger the cross section, the better for the passage of air.
Compressor tips are available in different designs. The larger the cross section, the better for the passage of air.
It remains to recognize the obvious: it is impossible to accurately set the pressure using compressor pressure gauges . After all, any valve is an obstacle to the air flow. And any obstacle creates the same counterpressure. For this reason, in all compressors, the generated pressure always exceeds that which we later measure directly on the wheel. Therefore, even the most accurate built-in device will always show a pressure higher than in the tire. And accordingly, the compressor will turn off earlier than necessary.
It is better to inflate the wheel with a margin, measure the pressure with an accurate pressure gauge and bring it back to normal by bleeding excess air from the tire.
Related materials
Choosing a tire pressure gauge - cheaper and more accurate
You can set the pressure with some advance. If you need to get 2.0 bar, you should inflate the wheel to 2.2 bar. However, different valves create different back pressure, the value of which is not known in advance. And even in one car, she can walk from wheel to wheel. We encountered this phenomenon in the examination of electronic pressure gauges (we will publish it in the September issue of the journal). By the way, in most cases their accuracy is higher than that of devices built into compressors. Therefore, we advise everyone to get such a pressure gauge in addition to the compressor.
As a result of , the surest way is to inflate the wheel to a known higher pressure, with an excess of 0.2–0.3 bar, and then measure the actual pressure with a pressure gauge, bleeding air from the tire if necessary .
OUR REFERENCE
Spool design
2 - seal; 3 - threaded bushing; 4 - spool rod; 5 - valve body; 6 — valve body; 7 - conical spring; 8 - valve cup.
The spools of the old (a) and new (b) samples are completely interchangeable. The air resistance is about the same.
If you looked into the wheel valve hole, you probably saw a spool there. This device, standardized throughout the world, is used not only in the wheels of cars, motorcycles and bicycles, but also in air conditioners, scuba gear and other elements of pneumatic equipment.
It is the Schrader valve that creates the main resistance to the air flow. Due to its influence, no pressure gauge will show the correct pressure while the compressor is inflating the wheel.
.. Maxim Stroker
In winter, even in such a simple action as pumping up the tires, a number of not very obvious nuances appear. They are connected, in fact, with the fact that frost rages on the street. The fact is that, as you know, all substances shrink and decrease in volume when cooled, and expand when heated. Moreover, gases are especially susceptible to this effect. The air with which we pump up the wheels is also a gas. Rather, it is a mixture of gases, but this is not important in this case.
So, based on the experience of operating machines, it is empirically deduced that for every 8 ° C decrease in the temperature outside, the pressure in the wheel drops by 0.1 bar (10 kPa, 0.1 atmosphere). Thus, if at + 20ºС the wheel is pumped up to 2.4 atmospheres, then when it gets colder (well, let's say this, purely theoretically!) To -20ºС, the pressure in it will drop to 1.9atmosphere. That is - almost 20% lower than recommended in the "manuals" of many automakers.
It is a mistake to think that such a situation is possible only in an inflamed journalistic imagination! Imagine a typical autumn situation: you came to the tire shop to “change shoes” - change tires from summer to winter. As is often the case in small workshops, the wheels are pumped up to the required 2.2-2.4 atmospheres immediately after balancing - in a warm room at a temperature of about + 20ºС.
In a short time, normal winter cold sets in - albeit not with a 20-degree frost, but with a confident "minus" of about -10ºС. The pressure drop in this case will be about 0.4 atmospheres, which is also significant. If you do not pay due attention to this moment, it will turn out that the car will then drive for almost the whole winter on flat tires. Someone will say that this is even good - they say, cross-country ability is improving.
Yes, but only in one case - when driving on soft loose snow, when an increase in the contact patch between the wheel and the road allows the car to fall less into soft snow.
