Checking Your Car’s Tire Pressure

An under inflated tire could easily cause tire pressure failure and performance issues with your vehicle. Under inflation will continue to cause wear on your tires and this could mean burning through them early. Keeping your tires under inflated also wastes gas and the Department of Transportation has estimated that over 5 million pounds of fuel a day is wasted due to vehicles running on low tire pressure.

Now that you understand the risks associated with low tire pressure, you can understand why it’s so important to regularly check your tire pressure even before your tire pressure monitoring system kicks on. Most TPMS systems are responsible for alerting the driver when the tire is 25% below the recommended tire pressure from the manufacturer. Checking your tire pressure with a digital gauge on your own will offer the best results.

How To Check Your Tire Pressure

Pick up a digital tire gauge. These generally cost about $10 and they can record the pressure in your tire with the most accurate results. You can record your tire pressure a few days a week to track and see if there’s anything going on with the quality of your tire.

How To Find Your Desired Tire Pressure

To find the required pressure level for each tire, you need to find a manufacturer sticker which is usually located in the door jam of the driver side. You can also find manufacturer specifications for tire inflation in the owner’s manual. It’s likely that some passenger vehicles will call for different pressures in the front and rear tire.

Checking Tire Pressure With Changes In The Weather

Make sure you’re checking out the pressure when the tires are cold and after a significant change in the weather. It’s always best to check the tire pressure before you start driving as your tires will take roughly 30 min. to cool down after the vehicle has been in motion and this can affect your reading.

By using your new digital gauge and the manufacturer specifications, you can regularly monitor your tire pressure and inflate each tire to its desired level.

This post was written by Justin K, owner of Wheel Identity and wheel specialist in Tampa. Wheel Identity is Tampa Bay’s premier custom shop. We carry wheel and tire packages for every vehicle, custom suspension kits, and all accessories for the interior or exterior of your vehicle. We only hire highly trained technicians using state of the art equipment with experience in all areas of tire, wheel, suspension, and 4×4 needs.