Safety

Your car's tires have been engineered to provide safe performance whenever you need them, but they can't do that without some help from you. Regular maintenance and keeping them at the right pressure will help you. That's because tires that are under or over inflated will cause problems with handling. You may not notice it right away, but your vehicle won't be steering, accelerating or slowing down correctly, and traction control and anti-lock brake systems might not work right, either.

Fuel Economy

If your tires are correctly inflated, you'll save more gas. That's because well inflated tires have less rolling resistance and take less fuel to move. If you were to maintain your tires correctly, you could save two weeks or more worth of gasoline each year. That's a lot of money, especially with gas prices fluctuating.

Environmental Factors

Did you know that every gallon of fuel you use results in around twenty pounds of carbon dioxide being released into the air? This greenhouse gas has been attributed with making climate change much more severe. If your tires are inflated and your fuel efficiency goes up, your emission will go down. Given the number of tons of CO2 released each year just because of badly maintained tires, isn't it worth it to inflate yours? On top of that, using less fuel means requiring less fossil fuel production, which is also environmentally advantageous.

Another environmental impact that tires have is disposal. Most tires end up either in recycling centers or landfills, and tires don't really decay. Even recycling them is difficult, with some states banning the use of shredded tires in asphalt, and this material being difficult to use in the amounts in which it's produced. Better tire maintenance means less need to figure out what to do with the old ones.

You'll Save Money

If your tires are maintained correctly, your car will be a lot more efficient, and your tires will last longer. You'll get those two weeks worth of gas savings, and you won't have to replace your tires as often, too. Those are pretty good cost benefits compared to the price of the air needed to keep your tires in top condition. So, if you think your tires are over or under inflated, check them out now.

Too many people rely on visual inspections to tell them whether their tires are over or under inflated, but that's not an accurate way to do it. You can't tell whether your tire inflation is correct just by looking. The best way to find out if your tires are in the best shape possible is to measure the pressure in them with a tire gauge. You can get one of these in many different places - most auto and hardware shops carry them. Even most gas station air pumps have a tire gauge attached.

The correct tire pressure for your vehicle will vary depending on the make and model, and may even be different on different wheels. The recommended pressures for personal vehicles can be anywhere from twenty psi to more than fifty psi! Fortunately, you'll find the correct tire pressure for your car in your owner's manual. If you no longer have the manual, you can ask a dealer or look online to find out the pressure to which your tires should be inflated. There may also be a place inside the car, glove box, or trunk which has the tire pressure listed for some vehicles.

Don't just go by the pressure listed on the sidewalls of your tires. That's the maximum tire pressure for this type of tire, not the recommended pressure for the tire. Many people don't realize this and have improper inflation. Most of us under inflate our tires, but some go to far to the other extreme and over inflate theirs. Both are a bad idea. Under inflation is the biggest cause of tire failure and it can cause a lot of problems, including poor braking, acceleration, and steering. Squealing tires are a sign of bad inflation.

All that inefficient movement is also playing havoc with your fuel efficiency. More and more people are being concerned with how much fuel their cars use, and that's smart. After all, vehicles that have tires which are under inflated by ten percent will have five percent more wear and use two percent more fuel. That doesn't sound like a lot, but it adds up at the pump and at the mechanic. Twenty percent under inflation, which many people are driving around on and aren't aware of, brings additional wear up to sixteen percent, and fuel use up to an extra four percent. Tires that are poorly inflated have a higher rolling resistance, and it just takes more fuel to get them moving.