Tire Pressure

Maintaining your vehicle's tire pressure is necessary to ensure optimum performance and life from your vehicle and its tires. Consisting of a rubber tube attached to a wheel and filled with air, the tire is the only component of a vehicle that touches the ground. Throughout its lifetime, in any weather or speed, every motion of the car requires the tire perform its job well.

Modern tires have several requirements. They must be able to absorb road impacts, transmit braking, accelerating, and cornering force to the ground and maintain these capacities in inclement weather. Tires are a pneumatic device, in that they require pressurized air to perform properly. They rely on maintaining a certain pressure to keep the tire in full contact with the ground—too much pressure and the center of the tire bulges, decreasing grip, control and increasing wear. Too little pressure and the edges of the tire support the vehicle's weight, also decreasing grip, increasing wear and increasing rolling resistance, leading to poorer fuel mileage.

By using compressed air within the tire, another spring is effectively created within the car's suspension system. Road bumps can deform the tire, meeting resistance due to the pressure and cushioning the wheel rim and the vehicle from undue shock. Low pressures can allow the tire to deform too much and damage the wheel rim, while too much pressure can cause a harsh ride and wheel hop.

Tires must absorb impact and create good grip even in the rain. If the handling characteristics are compromised by low or high pressure, the effect will become amplified in inclement weather. When grip and control are already decreased due to road conditions, it is necessary to prevent any further decrease in performance.

Maintaining tire pressure at the manufacturer's recommended level is important. It will increase car handling and safety in all conditions, decrease tire wear and improve fuel mileage.