 Beginning in 2005, the federal Department of Transportation began requiring auto manufacturers
to install tire-pressure monitoring equipment in passenger vehicles.
These systems are now mandatory for all new light vehicles built after
September 2007.
Rather
than eliminate the chore of regular tire maintenance, these systems
will actually force owners to pay attention to what's going on down
below them--because when a tire loses even a little air, a warning
signal on the instrument panel will demand action. Drivers of older
vehicles, of course, will still have to pay attention to their tires
without this prompting.
Virtually
all tires lose air over time, anywhere from a pound or two of pressure
each month, depending on such variables as temperature, potholes and
the way you drive. So it�s important to check each tire's pressure at
least once a month. There are several cars and trucks in our family and
I check them religiously. I even make it my business to check the tires
on the press cars I get to drive, and the tires of people who drive a
long way to visit me.
Having a good tire pressure gauge makes
maintenance an easy and accurate operation. Buy a quality gauge for
your home garage and keep one of those inexpensive "pencil" gauges in
the glovebox of each of your vehicles. I prefer the type of gauge that
has a large, easy-to-read dial with a valve attached to a short,
flexible hose. These are a bit more expensive (around $20), but they're
also more convenient to use and built to professionally accurate
standards. Some models include a bleeder button that lets you
over-inflate the tire slightly, then bleed off air until the tire
pressure is precisely where it should be.
If you don't know
your vehicle's recommended tire pressure, you can quickly find it in
one of several places--in your operating manual, printed on a sticker
pasted in one of the door jambs, and on the tires themselves. A little
known fact is that vehicle manufacturers, not tire manufacturers,
determine the proper inflation pressure of the tires rated for each
vehicle. This is important to note if you replace your tires with
exotic or oversize rubber.
In the U.S., air pressure in tires
is rated in pounds per square inch, or psi. The metric equivalent (used
everywhere else on the planet) is kilopascals, or kPa. Always check
tire pressure when the tire is cold, as heated air expands and will
result in a false reading. Automatic pressure monitoring systems, noted
above, typically detect a loss of air in any one tire or an imbalance
among all four tires on the vehicle. Whether you have one of these
systems or not, always check all tires together to ensure that they are
each inflated properly.--MM More about Tire Maintenance:
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