Why you must check your tyre pressure

For smooth, safe rides and long-lasting tyres, it is important to know the right tyre pressure for your vehicle. FILE PHOTO

What you need to know:

  • Taking care of your tyres
    Check the tyre pressure for all tyres (including the spare tyre) every four weeks, before going on holiday, and if carrying more people or more luggage suggesting that the tyre pressure needs to be boosted.
  • Check pressures before the tyres have heated up from a long journey.
  • Look up the proper air pressure in the driver’s handbook, door sill or petrol filler cap.
  • Increase pressure levels when the load is going to increase (holiday, etc.) based on the driver’s handbook information.
  • Only use a quality pressure gauge.
  • Check all tyres, not forgetting the spare tyre.
  • When towing, check the pressure levels of the second vehicle too.
  • When checking tyre pressures, look at the condition of the tyres for cuts, tears, tread wear, and other warning signs of future problems.
  • Warm weather causes tyres to lose more pressure than in the winter. Check pressure levels more often in the summer time.

Whereas every car tyre that is manufactured for the automotive market has a specific tyre pressure it is supposed to contain, it is equally synonymous that every manufactured car ought to be carried or move on a particular tyre size. Jimmy Ssebadduka, a mechanic at Shell Jinja Road, says with German made cars such as the Volkswagen (VW), Bavarian Motor Works (BMW), Audi and Mercedes Benz, the tyre size and the tyre pressure are indicated on the fuel tank door.

Dangers of too much pressure
Ssebadduka notes that if your tyres were made to contain 40 pounds per square inch (PSI- units for measuring tyre pressure) and you exceed at the pump machine and reach, say, 60 PSI, as you drive, the car becomes unstable on the road.
“Your car will tend to veer off the road as you accelerate. As you steer to the right, you will feel as though the car is going to the left and when you steer to the left, at times you will feel as if the car is taking the right direction,” Ssebadduka explains. He says just like your fuel gauge, checking your tyre pressure should be one of the things you do not only on a daily basis but each time you are starting a journey.
“Before you set off, check your tyres to understand if you have the right tyre pressure. Sometimes soil or dust can enter your car rims and this reduces the tyre pressure without your knowledge, especially if you drive on tubeless tyres,” Ssebadduka advises.
Peter Kasoma, a mechanic at Shell Fuel Station on Jinja Road, says when you inflate your tyres with pressure beyond what a tyre was designed to accommodate, it becomes hard for you to drive the car.
“If you have too much pressure in your tyres, you will feel your car vibrating through your feet and steering wheel as you accelerate. You can also develop body pain because you will use a lot of energy to steer,” Kasoma explains, adding that in extreme situations, the tyre may burst.

Dangers of less tyre pressure
The most common dangers of driving a car with less or little tyre pressure is that your tyres will wear out faster, however new they may be. However, if one or two of the tyres have less pressure and the other two are inflated with the right amounts of tyre pressure, it becomes obvious that there will be uneven wear of your tyres that you will at some point have to replace the old tyres. “Driving on less pressure means that you will not be able to load luggage that the car is supposed to carry. Your car rims will also be squeezed and will fall out of shape and this wears out your tyres in the shortest time possible,”Kasoma cautions.

Imbalanced tyre pressure
Mark Kiryowa, a mechanic at Kisaasi Motor Garage, says it is rare to find all the four car tyres with the same pressure, though they may be the same size. In such a scenario, Kiryowa says the car may not move well on the road.
“It is always recommended to follow the tyre pressure indicated on your tyres. It prolongs their lifespan compared to when you drive on tyres that are low on pressure,” he says.

Causes of tyre pressure loss
Kiryowa says every car tyre has a tyre pressure nozzle from where pressure is inflated. These nozzles have stoppers. If at any one point the nozzle has no stopper, it may slowly release pressure whether the car is parked or moving. Similarly, when the stoppers also absorb and store sand or soil, it may lead to tyre pressure loss even when the tyre was not pricked by a sharp object such as a nail to develop a hole.
“When you are driving, the tyre rubber heats up and expands. When you park and it has cooled down, the tyre pressure suddenly reduces but may at times remain too inflated that you may wonder if someone added more pressure,” Kiryowa explains.

Tyre pressure and fuel consumption
Kasoma says although some motorists link tyre pressure to fuel consumption, the only situation when car tyres increase fuel consumption is when the wrong tyre size has been fitted onto your car, smaller or bigger than it is supposed to carry or possess.