Tire Pressure: Being Lazy Costs Money
With the price of gas rising, tire pressure has been in the news a lot lately. But my mechanic checks my tire pressure and inflates it correctly... doesn't he?
Yesterday I took out the tire gauge and checked the pressure on all four of our vehicles. (Yes, we have four: two for daily use and two for special purposes.) Not one tire was inflated correctly. All but one were in the 40-50 psi range, more than 25% overinflated. The other was at 20 psi, 2/3 of what it should have been. (By the way, most new cars have a sticker on the edge of the driver's door indicating the correct pressure.)
Underinflated tires cause increased rolling resistance and lower gas mileage. Overinflated tires can be dangerous, are likely to wear faster— and though at least one study suggests that overinflated tires improve gas mileage, another says they don't. With the price of tires, that's not likely to pay off anyway.
And don't forget: changes in temperature affect your tire pressure. Pressure will drop in the winter and rise in the summer, so check them monthly. For the same reason, since driving makes tires hot, check them before you drive to get an accurate pressure.
The moral of this story is, five minutes a month can save you money. And as gas prices rise, the amount of money you'll save by checking your tires will increase, too.
Comments