Why should you check your tire pressure?
Most of us spend a lot of time in their cars for their daily commute or for other travel purposes, hence the maintenance of the car seems a bit annoying but it is very important, or else our car will wear and tear in no time. Similarly, the most important yet neglected part of a vehicle is its tire. It is although difficult to keep a check on the tires of a car after every mile you drive, but still maintenance of tires is not only important for the life of tires but also for your personal safety as well. So, not only proper checking of your tires but also selecting the right tires according to your car and driving style would help you in determining that at what time your tire needs replacement.
But, the question would arise that what you would do in order to keep your tires in good condition and to check its safety? So, the few important things that you need to be careful regarding your tires include are checking the regular tire rotation, wheel alignment issues, and obviously keeping a regular check on the tire pressure. And in this article, we would be focusing on the importance of tire pressure. The following are some of the important aspects of why tire pressure is important.
- Safety: the first and foremost important aspect of tire pressure is its safety. Tires should be properly inflated because tires that have improper tire pressure not only would cause traction and handling issues but driving with them would be dangerous especially in winters. In fact, even if the tire is underinflated or overinflated, it would make you lose control over your car leaving you stranded on the road or may cause a serious accident.
- Money-Saving: Saving money is quite important in this era where inflation is rising day by day. So, if your tire is overinflated or underinflated, then not only it would speed up the wear and tear of the tires, but the maintenance cost would be high. When you are driving on a tire that is overinflated, then your tire tread would wear out more quickly because the tread is touching the road. While when the underinflated tire does the opposite as it makes the tire wear and tire way faster than the overinflated tire. Either way, be it underinflation or overinflation of tire it will leave your tire vulnerable to extreme wear and tear.
- Smooth driving: Bumpy ride is undoubtedly expected when you have an overinflated tire and in case of underinflated tires, your ride would be soft but it would cause handling issues which again make driving dangerous.
- Gas mileage: Now, last but not the least, gas mileage for the drive is affected when tires are either underinflated or overinflated. And you have to spend more money on maintaining your car and prolonging its life. Gas mileage is highly decreased when the pressure in the tires is either too much or too low and can make your car stop too often and also would increase your visits to service stations.
This was all about why the pressure of tires is so important now the question would definitely arise that how can you check the tire pressure?
- Obviously, first of all, you can’t tell or even measure the tire pressure by simply looking at the tires. The tire pressure of a car might be 10 pounds down but you may not be able to tell exactly.
- So, the best is either ask the mechanic to check the tire pressure correctly using a tire pressure gauge or you can check it yourself using a tire pressure gauge. Apart from checking the tire pressure in the four tires don’t forget to check the tire pressure of spare tires as well in case of emergency.
- Now, the following steps would help you in checking the tire pressure.
- Firstly, get a tire pressure gauge. Tire gauges are pretty cheap and you can easily get the type depending on your choice and tires.
- After this, remove the cap from the tire stem. It is actually a small rubber piece that sticks up from the tire.
- Now, take the tire pressure gauge and then put it inside the tire stem. Once you do it, you’ll easily feel when the gauge would easily fit inside the stem correctly. If you use a gauge with a knob for deflation and if you don’t hear the air escaping then this will tell that you are using the right end.
- In the last step, the tire pressure will either show the reading electronically or it’ll show the white numbers at the very end of the tire pressure gauge.
Now, after all the above discussion, a question must pop up in your mind that what is the total pressure of your tires? Indeed it is a good and valid question. Well, about that, there is a misconception that tire pressure is on the tire, which is indeed not true. And the proper PSI “pounds per square inch-tire pressure” is present either on your car’s manual or it is written on a decal on the bottom of the door frame on the driver’s seat.
In the end, the most important question is that how often should you check the tire pressure of your car? The answer to this is that there is no hard and fast rule; however, with the seasons, the tires can easily either gain the pressure or lose it. Hence, you have to seasonally check the tire pressure and especially ask the mechanic to check the tire pressure whenever you go for an oil change for your vehicle. Apart from this, you can also get the tire pressure checked whenever you go to the shop to have your tires either balanced or rotated.
That’s all from our side on this topic folks! Hope you find it helpful. Happy safe driving !