Apart from an engine, Tires are the most important component of your vehicle. It’s obvious that you can’t move from point a to point b without tires. Improper inflation leads to irregular wear that results in internal and external tire damage that can cause serious injury to the driver and the passengers. Also, due to over or under inflation, a vehicle can lose its stability which negatively affects the handling and stopping. So, maintaining proper tire pressure is very much important. Proper tire pressure distributes the weight of the vehicle evenly across the tires tread pattern that provides – Stability to the vehicle.

Keeping a tire pressure close to recommended is mandatory to promote vehicle safety, increase the life expectancy of the tires, and maintain fuel efficiency. Apart from front and rear you also check the pressure of the spare tire and make sure that all the valves have a cap to prevent the dust particles from entering the inner tires and compromising your air pressure. Hence, it is mandatory to check the spare ones also so that you don’t need to suffer from any problems especially, on your long roadway journey!

Underinflation and overinflation of tires – why is it problematic?

UNDER INFLATION

• It leads to excessive flexing of tires’ sidewalls, which results in overheating and ultimately tread separation.
• In any case if your tire pressure is low by 60%, it will definitely reduce the lifespan by over a third and also increases the fuel consumption
• If more of the tire’s surface touches the road due to underinflation it will create more friction which will result in premature wear and tear, tread separation, and total tire blowouts!
• It increases your stopping distance at normal speed and if you have a heavy vehicle the dangers are compounded while windy or wet weather.

OVER INFLATION

• It adversely affects the tires by including unpleasant and harsh rides which means tires are unable to soak up bumps.
• Puts negative impact on the braking system and causes poor handling.
• Mostly overinflation is responsible for irregular wear of tires and it also reduces the road-tire contact.

What is the correct tire pressure for your vehicle?

There’s no particular recommended tire pressure, it always depends upon the manufacturer of the vehicle and varies from model to model. You need to know that depending on different vehicle’s loads there’re different pressures. The more load or passengers, the more tire pressure will be! You should keep a check on tire pressure after every 3 months especially when you’re planning for long holiday trips and journeys.

Maintaining tire pressure feels like a low priority for everyone but you need to keep the correct amount of air in tires which is an important part of your vehicle’s maintenance, that results in :

• Safety and longevity of tires
• Optimizing the tire performance
• Improving fuel economy
• Improves handling and the performance of driving
• Maintains the steering response
• Improving cornering ability and stability

Tips to maintain the tires of your car

• When the tires are cold- you need to check the pressure
• Always keep a check on its condition, make sure there’re no cuts and tears for future safety.
• While going on holidays, we carry heavier loads in a car and due to more weight tire needs more pressure.
• Excessive and sudden braking should be minimized which leads to reduce the life expectancy of the tires
• As mentioned earlier you should also keep a tab on the PSI level of the spare wheel for future safety purposes.

Even after following these basic steps, you need to change tires at some point because the rubber hardens over time which results in overheating and blowouts. It not only causes injuries but it is also life-threatening. So, tires should be changed after 50,000km or maximum 6 years.