subject: Auto Tire Maintenance: Tire Pressure [print this page] The maintenance of your tires can be a fairly easy thing to do and can save time, energy, money, and maybe even a headache or two. Many people do not think of, or worry about maintaining their tires. "Hop in the car and drive" is their motto - a motto that can surely come back to haunt them at some point.
Imagine you are on vacation driving in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. You have a flat tire on a winding mountain road, where there are no shoulders. As the old song goes, there is no place to run to, no place to hide. How frustrating and stressful a situation this would be? Who do I call? What will I do if a car comes up behind me? What should I do with my children to get them out of harms way? Not a situation any of would like to find ourselves in. Here are a few pointers to try and keep yourself and your family out of a tire nightmare.
Tire Pressure
It is a good idea to check your tire pressure on a consistent basis. Once a month or is a good rule. Some more recent model vehicles have a built in computer that do this for you. A warning will show up when a tire is low on air pressure, and which one is the culprit. Bur for those of us who need to do this on our own, buy yourself a reliable air pressure gauge (these can be purchased for just a few dollars) and keep it in your glove department. Also you can have your local tire dealer or auto maintenance person help you with this. Any time you go in to get an oil change on your vehicle, make sure to ask them to check the air pressure of the tires.
Spare Tires
Do you know where your spare tire is? Do you know if you even have a spare tire? Do you know how to remove it from inside the vehicle and get it installed on the outside of the vehicle? If your answer was no to any of these questions, then you need to do a little homework. Look through and study the car manual, or better yet, ask someone who is good with vehicles. Your motor-head friend who likes to change his own oil etc., get that guy to spend a few minutes showing you how to do these things. Knowing these things could save you in a tough situation. And it will save you a ton of cash for not having to call a tow truck or a tire service truck.
Spare Tire Air Pressure
As mentioned before, it is important to check your tires' air pressure every so often. It is just as important to check the air pressure in your spare tires. Imagine you reach in to get the spare tire and it is flat. What a disaster. Well this can happen very easily if you fail to check the air pressure on your spare tire often. Sitting around doing nothing tends to sap the air out of tires. Rims can easily leak air if not completely sealed, especially in the cold winter months.
by: Jon Miller
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