This tyre pressure guide will help you understand that the reliability and performance of your tyres are enhanced when you maintain and monitor your tyre pressures. Having the correct pressures not only prolongs the life of the tyre but also improves your vehicles fuel economy. Checking your tyre pressures on a monthly basis is important, not only for your safety, but for the environment and your wallet.
A process known as permeation is where a gas or liquid can penetrate through a solid, this is why a tyre slowly loses pressure. This can happen daily and in varying amounts depending on the tyre, weather conditions or the condition of the vehicles wheels themselves. Steel wheels although painted, can become rusty where the tyre bead meets the rim, much the same as alloy wheels, the clear lacquer starts to flake off and air starts to leak between the tyre bead and the alloy wheel.
The recommended tyre pressures for your vehicle can be found in the owner’s manual, on a decal on the inside of a door post, glove box, under the bonnet or on the fuel filler flap.
You need to physically check your tyre pressures with a tyre pressure gauge rather than simply looking at the appearance of the side wall of the tyre. Having your own tyre pressure gauge can give you a more accurate reading than the gauges at a local petrol station as they are often not calibrated, misused and exposed to the elements. To check your tyre pressures, you must ensure that your vehicles tyres are cold or that you haven’t driven further than 1-2 miles and the vehicle hasn’t been sitting in direct sunlight for a long period of time. The reason for this is that tyre pressures rise when the tyres get warm.
