Tire Pressure!!!

[JohnHenry]

A friend of a friend buried his twenty year old daughter yesterday. She was driving at interstate highway speeds when a tire failed, the car rolled and even her seatbelt and airbags did not save her. Good low-mileage car, no road debris, no alcohol, no weather, no speeding, no other cars involved.

Being the ex-cop butinski that I am, I thought about going to see the car at the impound lot. But I realized that I may unintentionally inflict even more pain on the family. I know what I would find... underinflated tires.

I`ve ranted about this before on DC, and now someone I know indirectly has suffered the ultimate penalty... possibly for poor car maintenence. My daughter and I have had some harsh words when I`ve found her tires at 12 pounds of pressure, with a recommended 35! I routinely check my nieces` cars and discover low oil, corroded batteries, and LOW TIRE PRESSURE!

What if the couple hundred or so regular DC users, members and lurkers, made it our mission to regularly check the vehicles of our family members, elderly neighbors, parents, and anyone else who is close to us? Toss a tire gauge in your detailing stuff and do your customers a favor.

Trying not to sound too neurotic about this... I really think that we might actually save a life or two.

[Ronkh]

Actually that was 1/2 the problem with the firestone/explorer problems. Ford recommended lower than Firestone did.

Good post, good point.

[Beemerboy]

Excellent point...I check the tires in both my cars on a regular bases...its also good for improving tire wear and gas mileage.

Really sorry to hear about an accident that took such a young life!

[CharlesW]

To elaborate a little on this;
Many people are not aware of the tire pressure fluctuation due to ambient temperature.
The tire pressure tends to go up or down approximately one degree for every ten degrees of ambient temperature change.
So, your 32 lb. tire pressure at 85 degrees in August may very well be almost 10 lbs. lower in January.
Check regularly when the tires are at ambient temperature before driving the vehicle.
FWIW, I have been told that having your tires filled with nitrogen does away with the temperature/pressure fluctuation. I still use air, but it might be worth looking into.

Some time back, I read an article where a tire manufacturer checked the tire pressures on motorcycles at Daytona Bike Week as a free service. Something like 80% of them had low tire pressure.
Chances are cars not a lot better.

[Beemerboy]

Charles

That`s why there is a trend to use nitrogen filled tires, on my BMW they had done this, very little fluctuation in tires pressure in any condition and the tires don`t loose air as fast...as conventional air filled

[black bart]

Dealers deliberately lower tire pressure.
My daughter bought a new HHR and when she brought it to show me I thought the tire looked low and I checked them and they had 15psi.

I aired them up and she said it did not ride as good and I told her that was why they lowered them was to improve the ride they wanted to sell her the car.

[jaybs02]

Sorry to hear of the loss.
When I was growing up I worked in a gas station, and that was part of the job. You checked tires, oil and radiator and of course cleaned the windshield.
Now with self serve stations people don`t do these things. By me I can`t even set the pump to fill and check stuff I have to wait till I am done, and many times stopping for fuel is done while we are rushing around and is not on the top of the things to do list.

[JohnHenry]

You`re exactly right, Jay. When was the last time you saw a hood raised at a gas station, unless the radiator was boiling over? I know that New Jersey (possibly others) has a no self-serve law. Probably a union/labor thing, but I hope that their vehicles are getting serviced.

Charles, I also have read recently (I think from AAA) that even brand new premium tires will lose a couple of lbs. of air each month. Nitrogen supposedly reduces this loss.

Dave, I know that Pres. Obama mentioned the tire inflation-mpg connection during the campaign and was ridiculed. I think he was exactly on point. (Sheesh! I`m agreeing with a Democrat! Has Hell frozen over?)

[jaybs02]

Dave, I know that Pres. Obama mentioned the tire inflation-mpg connection during the campaign and was ridiculed. I think he was exactly on point. (Sheesh! I`m agreeing with a Democrat! Has Hell frozen over?)

Sure looks that way to me

[Poorboy]

sorry to hear Jay ... just did my mother`s tires the other day when she came past the shop ... they were all 8-10 pounds low

[GearHead_1]

This is all well and good but the majority of people really don`t know what their tire inflation should be. If they trust their local oil change shop they are just asking for trouble. When inflating tires many just look at the Maximum Inflation Pressure listed on the tire sidewall. In almost every case filling to this pressure leads to dramatically over inflated tires. This equals a harsh ride and accelerated tire wear. Tire inflation pressure is specific to the car. Check the door placard, that`s where the correct inflation numbers for your car reside.

Actually that was 1/2 the problem with the firestone/explorer problems. Ford recommended lower than Firestone did.

RonH, I mean no offense here but being in the business at the time and having to warranty hundreds of Firestone tires, I know first hand about this problem. I`ve seen these tires dissected, blown out, cross cut as well as watched them being made. I`ve had the chance to see tires made in Firestone, Pirelli/Armstrong and MAST (Michelin American Small Tire, this includes BFG) tire plants. Very cool process to watch, Michelin will not let you watch the build process on the Michelin brand tire. Once you see the pristine environment tires are made in you wonder how people can actually take them out and put them on a dirty road.

I can tell you that the issue with the Firestone blowouts had little to do with the numbers Ford recommended. Should people have followed Ford`s guideline the tires would have likely lived. The problem had everything to do with the particular tire design and being run under inflated (below Ford`s guidelines). Ford chose the wrong tire for the weight of the vehicle on which the tires were being installed, even slight under inflation caused problems with this tire design. On a lighter vehicle the problem didn`t show up (these tires were installed on many other vehicle models without the same result). There was just no margin for error when running under inflated and since that`s what people tend to do it was a disaster just waiting to happen. This was the 3rd time in my adult life that Firestone had similar problems. The first two tires were the Firestone 500 (early 80`s) and the Firestone 721 (late 80`s). Their engineers just couldn`t get away from a particular under lament design (they thought it to be revolutionary) that caused much of the problem. The Ford problem was by far the most widely publicized of Firestone`s problem.

[Bunky]

There are several gifts that one could consider for Christmas (or otherwise) for those that have everything: a portable air compressor to pump up tires (even those slow cig lighter ones would work) and a decent air gage and a fire extinguisher for home or vehicle.

You do not use them often but they come in handy at times.

[blk45]

Good ideas Bunky, but they won`t do anybody any good if they don`t use them. It amazes me how many people are too lazy, or just don`t care to check their tires, fluids, etc.

[Poorboy]

Good ideas Bunky, but they won`t do anybody any good if they don`t use them. It amazes me how many people are too lazy, or just don`t care to check their tires, fluids, etc.

sometimes its just too hard for some people to bend over and do this maintenance

[CARTfan]

Supposedly this will become a moot point since all new vehicles from 2008 and beyond must have a tire pressure monitoring system...riiight. So now if you buy a new car, you have to put up with a TPMS system that quite often malfunctions, will cost hundreds of extra dollars over the life of the vehicle to recalibrate and/or replace sensors when buying snow tires and wheels, and when having tire rotations done. All because people cant take the time to maintain one of their largest investments. Sorry off topic, but the OP brought up a good point, and so sorry for the loss.