4 Important Things You Need to Know About Tyre Pressure

Here are four important things that you need to know about a car’s tire pressure. They can be useful to increase the life of your car’s tire.

1. Tire Pressure Changes with Temperature

Modern cars around the world come with tire pressure monitoring systems, though most of our local cars don’t. In order to monitor the tire pressure of a car that doesn’t have a pre-installed monitoring system, you can buy a Tire Pressure monitoring device. There is a general rule of thumb that for approximately every 5.6 degree Celsius change in temperature, there is a 1 Psi change in pressure. This means that pressure is directly proportional to the temperature.

2. Tire Pressure Affects Grip

On a dry and sandy terrain, it can be beneficial to slightly decrease the pressure of tire. This increases the contact patch of the tire to the ground, resulting in more grip. In a wet terrain, this is going to be opposite. It’s recommended to increase the tire pressure; in order to understand why, it’s important to know about Hydroplaning. Aquaplaning or hydroplaning by the tires of a road vehicle, aircraft or other wheeled vehicle occurs when a layer of water builds between the wheels of the vehicle and the road surface, leading to a loss of traction that prevents the vehicle from responding to steering control.  Increasing pressure allows the car’s tires to cut across the puddle of water on the road. Under inflation can cause a tire to deflect inward, raising the tire centre and preventing the tread from clearing water. Higher tire pressure decreases the chance of hydroplaning. It’s important to refer to the manual of your car in order to know what tire pressure is recommended for it.

3. Tire Pressure Affects Fuel Economy

To better understand why tire pressure affects fuel economy, it’s important to know what rolling resistance is. Rolling resistance, sometimes called rolling friction or rolling drag, is the force resisting the motion when a body (in this case the tire) rolls on a surface. A car must overcome rolling resistance in order to move. There is a strong relationship between the rolling resistance and pressure of the car’s tire. As pressure of the tire decreases, the rolling resistance increases. Keep the car’s tire pressure at the recommended pressure in order to reduce rolling resistance.

4. Tire Pressure Affects Tire Wear

 

A properly inflated tire evenly wears off, while an over inflated tire wears off from the centre. An under inflated tire, on the other hand wears off from the edges. Always maintain the recommended pressure of your car’s tires to reduce the chances of their premature wear.