Which Tire Pressure Should Your Car Use? Tire Pressure Guide
Tire Pressure GuideChanging the tire pressure in your car is a simple task that significantly impacts how well your car handles. When you have low tire pressure, it can cause poor handling and even blowouts. On the other hand, when you have high air pressure your tires wear down much quicker.
which means more frequent replacements. This article will discuss what tire pressures are recommended for different types of cars and give tips on how to check your current levels.
What Is Tire Pressure?
Tire pressure is how much air you put in your tires. The right amount of air helps with traction on the road, helping to prevent accidents and increase fuel economy.
Which Car Tire Pressure Should You Use?
We recommend using a tire gauge to measure your current tire pressures before changing them or adding more air if necessary. Four different numbers on your tire indicate the current pressure. The first number indicates the pressure of cold (or starting) in pounds per square inch (PSI). This is what you should set when checking and changing it for the very first time.
A car tire’s recommended PSI can be found on a sticker or label usually displayed somewhere around the driver-side door jam. You can also check your car manual or the sticker on the inside of your trunk door to find out what they are rated for.
What Are Recommended Car Tire Pressures?
The second number indicates the tire pressure when it is hot (or running). It should be between 30-35 PSI higher than cold pressures, which you will record as the first number.
The third and fourth numbers indicate the tire pressure when it is either cold or hot, respectively. These should be your starting point to check your tires’ complete (and add more air as needed). They will give a rough estimate of what pressures you can expect after driving for a while on them, but they won’t always be accurate.
How to Check Your Tire Pressure?
- Get a car tire gauge and go outside with it.
- Bring the cold pressures inside so you don’t have to deal with any hot tires while handling them.
- Start by recording the four numbers on each of your tires before going out into the garage or driveway to check them.
Get your car tire gauge and put the air nozzle into one of the tires you want to check while pressing down on it until there is no more air coming out (it should make a little hissing sound). Record what number came up on your pressure gauge when you did this, then move onto another tire if all four need to be checked.
Once you’ve completed this step, go back into the house and open up your car manual or door sticker that contains information on what pressure should be for both cold and hot tires (make sure it is a full-size spare tire as well). Recheck each of the four numbers with your gauge while recording them just as before and compare them to the recommended ones. If they match, you’re done!
If not, record what number is now missing from your tire pressure gauge readings (you may have more than one different value). Now go out into the garage or driveway again and check each of those tires until you find which one has a lower reading than the others.
Now that you know which tire doesn’t have as much air in it go ahead and add more until the numbers match up to your recommended car tire pressures. This is a good starting point for where you want them to be before going out on a drive since they’ll increase after some time has passed (remember this when checking them again in the future).
What If You Find Your Car’s Tire Pressure Is Too Low?
If you find your car tire pressure is too low, there are a couple of different options available to fix this. You can either add more air with an air compressor or take it in to a local auto store where they will have special machines that can add more air to your tires.
Do not let the numbers get over what is recommended on the sticker or in your car manual or you risk blowing a tire and making for one dangerous situation while driving! Be safe and go with whatever number that treads closest to your recommended PSI, whether it’s lower than normal or higher than normal.
Conclusion
I hope this article will help you understand your recommended PSI for your car better. Even though the numbers are different, they should be close enough to each other that you can still use them as a general guideline rather than relying on one or another alone. If it’s too low or too high, make sure to take action and correct it so no damage is done to your car!
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