Proper Tire Inflation
One thing that people often forget is that the tires on their car are vital to the safety of the driver and their passengers.
In fact, most people only consider their tires when they have to get through an MOT – and all that matters then is being road legal.
But there’s a lot more to tires than keeping the occupants of the car safe. Having properly inflated tires will decrease your car’s rolling resistance and make the fuel efficiency of the car far better than if your tires don’t have enough pressure in them.
This rule applies to the hybrid car as much as the conventional car. The only difference with a hybrid is that you’ll be increasing your fuel efficiency on two fronts as the mere fact of driving a hybrid is that as it’s got a dual electric-petrol power source, you use less fuel in the first place.
Some people find the prospect of checking their tires such a chore that they just push it to the back of their mind and don’t do it; but once you have done it a few times and established a routine, it should only take a few minutes.
Plan to do the tire check once a month, and combine it with a trip to fill up with fuel as pretty much every fuel station has an air pump available for public use. Consult your owner’s manual to check what PSI you should have, and then just top up each tire to the requisite amount. Whatever brand car you have, whether it’s a Honda, Ford or VW, they all include this information in the driver’s manual. However, if you’ve had the car a while and already changed the tires, or bought it second hand, your car may have different tires than the manufacturer equipped it with. Double check this. Don’t rely on the PSI stamp on the sidewall of the tire itself, as this indicates the maximum pressure the tire will stand – which is higher than the PSI recommended for safe driving.
Remember, when you take the tire pressures, the tires should be cold as warm tires will register with a higher PSI. This figure will be inaccurate when the tires cool down. So do the check before, rather than after, a long journey.
As well as checking the tire pressure, you should also check that the tire tread is greater than the legal minimum. In the UK this is 3mm, but in the US, this varies from state to state, so check with your local garage.
Checking your tires needn’t be a chore, and doing it regularly will offer you a double reward of protection and better fuel economy.
Related articles
- Ways to Make the Car you Drive more Green (gogogreencars.com)
- Best Sites for Buying Tires (verybestsites.com)
- Choosing the right tire type
- Touring Tires
- Proper Tire Inflation
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