Maintaining Your Tires Keeps Your Car Healthy
We often ignore our tires unless they're flat. But they play a
vital role in the overall condition of your car. Maintain them
properly, and you'll save money on repairs and on fuel costs.
Keeping your tires properly inflated ensures that they wear
longer and can prevent accidents. Your car likely has a card or
sticker attached to the door edge or the inside of the glove box
door. The right amount of air your tires need is specified here.
In case your car doesn't have this sticker, you can check your
owner's manual.
Serious accidents can happen if your tires are under-inflated or
overloaded. One of my tires blew-out on me and caused an
accident. Luckily I was on a little traveled country road and
was going slowly. I hate to think of what might have happened if
I had been in major traffic.
Buy your own quality tire gauge. You can't tell if tires are
inflated properly just by looking. And the air meters at your
service station may not be correct!
Ask your auto supply dealer for a tire gauge calibrated up to 80
PSI. They'll know what you mean, even if you don't.
Take a moment at the beginning of each month to check your tire
pressure (don't forget the spare! Uhm, you do have a spare tire,
don't you??) Check them before you get in the car to drive.
Write down the actual under-inflation amount for each tire. Take
this info with you to the service station.
Now measure the inflation again and record these numbers. (Don't
worry, this only takes a couple minutes.) Now inflate the tires
to a level that equals the warm pressure (that you just took)
plus the first under-inflation amount. (called the "cold"
inflation pressure)
If the above instructions sound intimidating or confusing, take
your car to a shop and give them the