Understanding Tire Pressure

In the past few years of maintaining this blog for Freeman Grapevine, I’m pretty certain I’ve written about deciphering the numbers found on your tire walls, and now I want to touch on another imporunderstanding tire pressure, Buick Dealer, buying a car easy, buying used car, car brakes, dallas Buick Dealer, Dallas GMC Dealer, dallas GMC Truck, dallas new car, dallas Used Car, dallas Used Truck, dallas Used Truck. New Car, DFW Buick, dfw car dealer, dfw gmc, engine dissection, Fort Worth Buick, fort worth gmc, Fort Worth Truck Dealer, Ft. Worth Buick, Ft. Worth car dealer, ft. worth gmc, GMC Dealer, GMC Truck, professional grade, used buick, Used Car, used gmc, Used Trucktant feature about tires. Tire pressure!

The bottom line is, that regularly checking tire pressure is key to having a safe and well maintained vehicle.  How do you know what amount of pressure your tires should have?  Every vehicle that has been manufactured in the last twenty years or so has a placard located generally inside the driver’s side door jam that indicates the proper cold tire pressure.  The vehicle’s user manual also usually indicates the correct cold tire pressure amount.

Often, individuals fill their tires to the pressure shown on the PSI level of the actual sidewall of the tire itself.  This number is usually the maximum pressure allowable for the tire and not what the manufacturer of the vehicle recommends.  Tire manufactures print this maximum PSI tire pressure on the sidewall of the tire to show the maximum pressure the tire can hold, but because tires are installed on a wide variety of vehicles, and every vehicle has a different recommended tire pressure, you should go off of your vehicle’s specifications and not the tire’s maximum capacity.  It can get a little confusing, so you’re more than welcome to swing by and chat with one of our service guys to find out what exactly your tire pressure should be.

It is important to go off of the tire’s cold psi pressure.  A tire “warms” up once being driven, and once a tire warms up, the pressure will increase, but the recommended levels are based off of a cold pressure reading.  If your tire pressure is 5 psi below the recommended level at a cold level reading, but then reads at the recommended level after driving to the gas station to fill up the tire because the tire has warmed up, you should still add an additional 5 psi as the pressure will be at the correct amount once the tires cool down again.

Another plus to regularly checking tire pressure is that it helps improve gas mileage.  And now that gas prices seems to be on the rise, this is a great way to get the most bang for your gasoline dollar.

There are many maintenance techniques to keep your vehicle performing at its best, and don’t forget to frequently check your tire pressure as this is one of the most important and easiest maintenance activities you can do.  If you  have any questions just post below or see us here at Freeman Grapevine and one of our guys will show you how to check tire pressure.