It’s very common for a lot of motorists to forget to check their tyre pressures. When hearing that ensuring your tyres are inflated properly can save you money, they tend to become more eager to get the job done as motoring can be really expensive with increasing insurance and high fuel costs. Running your car efficiently is becoming more and more important – and saving money leading up to Christmas is on most people’s minds! Whether you’re using winter tyres, summer tyres or all season tyres – you must make sure your tyre pressure is correct all year round.
When it comes to under-inflated tyres, lots of different problems can arise. For example, they can massively affect grip and handling which will result in your car not being as safe because the area of contact with the road will be reduced. Being more easily damaged and susceptible to blow-outs is another reason why you shouldn’t have under-inflated tyres – these could result in having to replace your tyres. If you check your tyres regularly, and ensure that they are inflated correctly, you will improve your fuel efficiency. When tyres are under-inflated, they don’t turn as easily and more fuel is consumed.
It doesn’t take long to check the pressure of your tyres, just a couple of minutes every fortnight will make sure that your vehicle’s tyre pressure is correct and that you’re not using any fuel that you could have saved. If you’re planning to go on any long journeys then you need to make sure that you’re safe so it’s best to check the pressure before then as well. If you want a precise, accurate reading then you should wait until your tyres are cold before you check them – you should remember that your pressure increases when your tyres are warm. If you want to check your tyre pressure, you can buy a home testing kit or visit a petrol station.
To find out what your tyre pressure should be, you can look in your user manual, which will highlight what the correct pressure should be for your vehicle – it will often advise you to look in your petrol cap or the pillar on the driver’s side to find out the tyre pressure. You could also have a look on the internet or call your car manufacturer and they will let you know too.
Some people think that they can tell by looking at their tyres if they’re under-inflated or not as they’ll look ‘flat’ – but that’s a common misconception and performance can be affected even if your tyres show no signs of deflation. Make sure your winter tyres are inflated once you’ve had them fitted this season too.