Maintaining Your Car Tyre Air Pressure

Do you remember Barack Obama talking about how by just keeping your car tyre pressures at the manufacturers rating, we would save enough oil per year to stop drilling for oil in certain parts of the world?

His argument has very good grounding , but the figures are slightly out, as this video brilliantly explains:

75'00 barrels of oil a day is still a lot, so here is a quick guide to keeping your car tyre pressures correct

Firstly, why bother?

• Safety
• Performance
• By law

• Better fuel economy
• Performance

How And How Often To Inflate Your Tyres

Look in your car manual, tyre pressures are normally easy to find if not look in the index. If you have an air compressor, then you will just need a tire inflator tool. For home use, a hold-on one is best. This way you just hold on/push on the inflator onto the inlet to break the seal and hold till you think the pressure is about right. Take the inflator away and check the pressure. Try not to lose too much pressure when putting the pressure checker on. It’s a bit of a skill! Do this for all four tires.

I drive more than the average for year, about 20k so I check my tires every month or so. It soon becomes clear if one tire has a slow leak or puncture. Whilst you are there, check the depth gauge and for any signs or nails or punchers.

If you do not have an air compressor, then you can use the tire inflators at forecourts for a small fee. Coin operated you have to use them yourself. You may think I am bias and the forecourts around this way may just be unique, but I have not yet found a decent inflator to use! They are not kept fully serviced and are very hard to us, if not slightly broken. You can get a tire pressure checker from anyway now a days. Halfords for example. I got a cheap little one from Tesco that does the job. Happy inflating! You will need:

• Air Compressor
• Air Hose
• Tyre Inflator
• Tyre Pressure Checker