It’s an amazing thought: each of the tyres on your car has less surface area in contact with the road than one of your own feet. Consider how fast and powerful a modern car is, and that all of its power is transferred to the road through such a tiny patch of rubber. This really does highlight just how important it is to keep your tyres in the best possible condition. The performance of your tyres can be hugely affected by the amount of air inside them. All cars have a recommended pressure that its tyres should be set at. This is a figure that’s calculated to take the car’s weight and performance into account. If this pressure isn’t maintained, it can lead to decreased braking performance, a reduction in fuel economy and clumsier handling. A tyre’s pressure depends on the amount of air in it. Where air is concerned, a completely perfect seal is impossible to achieve, so if you give it enough time, air will eventually escape from tiny gaps between your tyre and the wheel it’s attached to.

Less air in your tyre means less pressure. It’s vital for safety that you regularly check the pressure of your tyres and top them up with air whenever necessary. Manufacturers use two common units of air pressure measurement: bar and pounds per square inch (shortened to PSI). Most air pumps display both units. The owner’s manual for your car will tell you which unit is favoured by your car’s manufacturer, and also what the recommended tyre pressures are for your car.Teacup Pomeranian Puppies For Sale Near Me Most recent cars also have a sticker inside the fuel filler flap (or sometimes on the vertical pillar between the doors) that displays the correct tyre pressures. How To Lose Weight ThailandYou may find several figures listed based on the average operating speed, how many passengers or how much luggage you usually carry.Natural Gas Hvac Units

Imagine what your tyre looks like if you look at it head on. This is the cross-section shape, and it changes depending on how much air the tyre contains. If a tyre is over-inflated, it’ll have a rounded cross-section, like a bicycle tyre. The more rounded the width of the tread is, the less of it is in contact with the road. This severely reduces the tyre’s grip on the road. Likewise, if the tyre is underinflated and has insufficient air pressure, the centre of the tyre’s tread won’t be pressing as hard on the road surface as it needs to, leaving the edges of the tyre doing all the work. Again, the amount of grip the tyre has on the road surface will be substantially reduced in this scenario. In both of these situations, you’ll experience less effective steering and reduced braking performance, both of which are potentially dangerous. Prolonged driving with incorrect tyre pressures can also lead to tyre damage or failure. The structure of the tyre could fail if it’s driven with too little pressure, as forces are being put mainly through its edges.

If the pressure is too high, you could suffer a blow-out. Incorrect tyre pressures can also accelerate tyre wear, or cause them to wear unevenly. There’s a more financially appealing side of regularly checking your tyres. If they’re underinflated, there’s usually more rubber in contact with the surface of the road. This increases resistance and friction, meaning the engine has to work harder. To work harder, your engine has to burn more fuel. And this means increasing your fuel consumption. So running your tyres at the correct pressure really will save you money. As regularly as possible, really. Weekly would be ideal, fortnightly is fine, but monthly is essential. This might sound like a lot of your time being taken up, but it really is wise to stay on top of your tyres’ condition. It saves money and could save your life. Roads aren’t clean, checking pressures can be a grubby job. It makes sense, then, to combine this job with a quick visual check of your tyres’ condition.

Having a good look at your tyres as often as is practical will alert you to any bulges, cuts or foreign objects like nails that can lead to punctures. While you’re at it, check your tread depth too – read our guide on how to do this If you’re uncertain about checking the tyres on your car, we recommend you visit a local garage or tyre fitter and ask if they can check your tyres – or, ideally, show you how to do it yourself. It doesn’t have to be a job you dread performing. You might find that your tyres are already at the correct pressure, if so then that two-minute job gives you instant reassurance. You can buy a good-quality tyre-pressure gauge very cheaply from any car-accessory shop, and owning one means you can do this job without visiting a garage forecourt. It’s also worth bearing in mind that some garage tyre-inflation machines aren’t as accurate as you might hope. To perform your own tyre pressure check, find the valve that protrudes from the rim of the wheel – on an alloy wheel it can usually be found between two of the wheel’s spokes.

Unscrew the dust cap at the end – this can sometimes be stiff, but will unscrew in an anticlockwise direction. Then, firmly attach the end of your pressure gauge over the valve. It may have a spring-loaded clamp you can release to hold it in place on the valve stem. Compare the pressure that shows on the dial or display against the figure recommended by your car’s manufacturer. If your tyre pressure is lower than it should be, you can either visit a fuel station with an air pump on the forecourt, or purchase one for your own future use. Manually operated foot pumps are cheap, but modern electric ones are easier to use and can be bought for around £30. They can usually be plugged into your car’s 12v power socket and follow a similar process to a forecourt air pump. The manual that came with your pump will provide instructions on how to use it. The tyre-inflator pump found on a garage forecourts usually has a digital display as well as four buttons. Two of the buttons will be marked with a plus and a minus sign – use these to set the pressure you want the tyre inflated to.

One button will allow you to choose the unit – PSI or bar – that you want the pressure to be measured in. There may be another button for use if the tyre really is flat. Don’t use this button unless your tyre has hardly any pressure in it at all. Before inflating your tyres, remove the dust caps from each of your tyre valves. It’s better to do this now than to do it while the pump is running, especially if it’s coin-operated. Look up the pressure for your tyres as recommended by your car’s maker. You may find that the recommended pressures differ for the front and rear tyres. Press the button on the pump marked ‘unit’ or ‘bar/PSI’, then use the ‘+ / -’ buttons to set the pressure you need your tyres inflated to. At this point, you may need to insert a coin or a token into the machine, although some are free to use. The machine should audibly whir into life once you’ve clamped the air hose onto the stem of the tyre valve – it’ll detect that the tyre needs inflation.

The pump will display the pressure in the tyre increasing and should beep once it has reached the pressure you’ve set. Carefully remove the air hose from the valve and then repeat the process with each other tyre that you need to inflate. Don’t forget your spare wheel if you have one! When each of your tyres is correctly inflated, carefully allow the air-hose to recoil into the pump. Don’t be tempted to simply release it and let it fly back into the machine, as this can cause damage. Then, re-fit the dust caps to your tyre valves. Since 2014, EU legislation has required every new car sold to be equipped with a tyre-pressure monitoring system. However, it’s a good idea not to become reliant on this system and to perform your own regular checks. This way you’re assured of accuracy and have a good idea of the condition of your tyres at all times. Performing checks on your tyres should be a regular task – it’s no different to checking your windscreen washer fluid or oil level.