GregHowley.com

A Lesson on Tire Pressure

January 25, 2008 -

I brought my car in this morning just to have the tires rotated. I know it's been slightly over the recommended 10,000 miles since I last rotated them, so I figured I was being good by bringing it in now. I want to keep my car in good shape, since I'm in the car two hours every day. But a few hours ago, I got a call - "Your tires don't need to be rotated. They need to be replaced." Crap.

Turns out that I've been keeping my tires overinflated, and they wore badly. They each say "max pressure 44psi", so I inflated them all to 44psi, thinking that was the thing to do. Oh no. The tire guy recommended 32psi, given that it's generally just me in the car. He showed me a little guide sheet on the inside of my fuel tank lid.

So now I'm out $170 for two new tires. Maybe I'll be able to make it up hills when it snows now. You can bet I'll be paying closer attention to my tire pressure, and probably rotating them every 3000 miles now. Hopefully this can save you some grief. (and money)

Comments on A Lesson on Tire Pressure
 
Comment Fri, January 25 - 1:45 PM by Frank
Wow only $170 for new tires? I can't even buy one tire for our Chevy HHR at that price...
 
Comment Fri, January 25 - 3:56 PM by tagger
Just in case it wasn't mentioned, inflation pressure recommendations are always for _cold_ tires. If you inflated to 44 psi cold, the pressure would be much higher after some highway driving. Invest in a tire gauge and check them in your driveway. It doesn't take much driving to heat up tires, which causes the pressure to increase as the air in the tire expands. Underinflation is just as bad--it just screws up the tires differently. You could look at the older bias-ply tires and tell at a glance if they were low. With radials, it's just about impossible to spot a low tire unless it's almost flat. Any time you get gas you should be checking oil and tires, at the very least. Use a tire gauge, not the doohicky on the air hose. Some are fine and some are way off. Look at the people you see working in gas stations these days and tell me how many of them you think know the difference between a valve stem and a spark plug. Camels don't have tires.