Check your tire pressure!!

B

BradE

New member
Well, my story is interesting and sad at the same time. I had some new tires installed on the Explorer a week ago. Due to my own lazyness I didn't bother to check the pressure. After a week of driving, the X just was not driving right. This morning I decided to get off my lazy butt and check the tire pressure. The two rear tires had 37 psi, front driver tire had 41 psi, and the front passenger has a whopping 46 psi. :eek:



Ford spec on Explorer tires is 30 psi all around. As you can see, the idiots at the tire shop didn't bother to put the correct pressure in. :rolleyes: Incorrect tire pressure is dangerous (could cause blowout :eek: ), and can hurt ride quality and gas mileage. Moral of the story is, don't be lazy like me. Check your tire pressure often! Especially after any type of work is done on your vehicle.



:wavey
 
Yeah some shops just seem to "eyeball" it when filling the new tires. Same thing happened to me, only I caught it right away. Good tip.
 
just checked and inflated mine today :). Nothing horrible, all four read ~28-30 psi when it should be 35 psi.

btw, already common knowledge but:

1) take the measurement when the tires are cold (i.e. first thing in the morning)

2) don't trust the gas station readings, double check with your own gauge after inflating.
 
I take weekly readings in the morning with my digital gauge. I have a little air tank and fill em' right in the driveway. My tires ALWAYS have the proper pressure. :xyxthumbs
 
Weekly readings are good practice, especially on garage queens. On daily drivers, my rule of thumb is at least once a month. And check things like oil and coolant, etc. at the same time.



The general rule of thumb is a 10% rise in pressure from cold tires to operation temperature. Proper inflation prevents uneven tire wear, improves grip and fuel economy too. Plus it'll prevent dings on the rim (from too low a pressure) or rough rides (excessive pressure).
 
Ugh. :down I bet the guys who installed those tires on your Explorer just pumped as much PSI into them as needed to seat the beads (pop!), then just mounted them! :mad:
 
4DSC said:
Ugh. :down I bet the guys who installed those tires on your Explorer just pumped as much PSI into them as needed to seat the beads (pop!), then just mounted them! :mad:
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Would not suprise me at all Brian. I've noticed most of the "shops" in my area are either staffed by idiots, or the try and rip you off. Back when I had my Jag I had an A/C leak. One of the local shops found the compresser kick out switch on the back of the compresser leaking. They tried to tell me they had to remove the compresser to get the switch, yada yada. The entire bill was going to be $900. I said forget it. Went home, did a little reading through the shop manual, none of that stuff needed to be removed. I went to Jag dealer and purchased the part, it took all over about 5 minutes to install.



So, shop wanted $900 to "fix" it.

Cost me $74 and took about 5 minutes.



Why can't there be more honesty in the Auto repair industry?



Too bad I didn't have a machine to put the tires on the rims, or I would have just done it myself. :p
 
Most motorcyclists complain about the same thing. The shops charge a huge premium for the tires, and then still ding you $35 a tire to mount them. And you still end up with scratched rims....:angry
 
I just got new rims and tires, the first tried charging my $150 because they used this fancy machine that doesn't scratch the rims, but the neglected to tell me this price before they used it, because I called earlier and they said it was $48, so I got it for $48. ANYWAYS They over inflated my Nitto 555R Drag radials, to 56psi!! They normally run 25 psi or lower!
 
94NDTA said:
They over inflated my Nitto 555R Drag radials, to 56psi!! They normally run 25 psi or lower!
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So the idiot syndrome at tire shops just isn't limited to Cincy eh? ;)



New rule for tire shops, you must be able to fill a tire to the proper PSI!! :p
 
Checked mine today...a nail had gotten in and broken off. But it was leaking so slow it was almost unnoticable...but when checking the pressure it was only 3/4 what it should have been. Had to dunk the tire in water to find the leak.
 
Wow, I've never had this problem before - I have 2 regular tire shops I go to, they know me a both of them, and they know what I drive (and that it requires different pressures than normal - 34 in the rear, 28 in the front, since my car is midengine) - every time I go in, they show me the pressures before I leave. And it's not like these places are anything special - just Discount Tire. Good service though (but I HATE waiting for flat repair there).
 
Dunno if it's true ... :rolleyes: but a fella told me that the only prerequisite for employment at a tire joint is the lack of a felony conviction ( maybe that was a RECENT conviction ). :shocked



And perhaps that is just here in Swampland, USA :D
 
titus said:
Dunno if it's true ... :rolleyes: but a fella told me that the only prerequisite for employment at a tire joint is the lack of a felony conviction ( maybe that was a RECENT conviction ). :shocked



And perhaps that is just here in Swampland, USA :D
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Wouldn't be surprised - though they might also have a requirement as far as strength goes (can you lift 50 lbs)
 
I helped clean up last night after auto-x, and started driving home before I realized I had not aired down. Those cracks in the roads become much more noticeable with 50+psi!!!

I had to pull into the 1st community I came across and air down before I hit one of our famous potholes and blew a sidewall out.

Whew!:doh
 
Even a 1/2 pound of air can make a huge difference! At my track sessions I "chalk" my tires (see the remnents of the white marks) to see how much of the chalk is getting worn off. This tells me how much tire is rolling over during cornering at speed on the track. If the chalk gets worn off completely I don't have enough air. The marks will wear differently at all four corners so each tire holds slightly different pressures.



It's amazing the difference just a pound will make in the handling of your car. :up



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I sure do see chalk marks, but I also see tar or some other ungodly substance on the rocker pannel behind the wheel, and... brakedust?! ;) :p



unmistakably though yet another good tip from a pro.... wonder if the chalk thing would work for fine tuning of on-road tire pressures?
 
Hey, Shiny, I think I just noticed that our Brad's just back from another of those speed-driving events. I'm just thankful the wheels are still on his car! :D
 
I couldn't agree more. I don't think I've ever gotten a car back from a tire shop with the appropriate pressure in the tires. I've started thinking I should actually check the pressure before leaving the shop. When I got new shoes for the Corvette, I got home to find they had about 15 psi per tire... It was a good thing they didn't slide right off the rims on the way home!



Showroom, 46 psi! That's really insane. Many tires have a rated maximum pressure of only 35 psi.



Hey Brad, how do you know how far down to make the chalk mark? Obviously whether it gets wiped off or not depends a bit on how far down the sidewall you make the mark.
 
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