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Time to check your tyre pressures

Monks

Monks

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People please check your tyre pressures if you have not done so recently. This recent cold snap will have seen your pressure drop considerably as the air in your tyre will contract. You really need to check your tyre pressures more often in the winter months. The shorter days, and less warming sunlight and colder temps will mean your tyre pressure can flucuate alot.

As a very rough guide for every 10 degrees F change your tyres will fluctuate around 1psi. What with the difference between summer and winter temps if you havent checked your pressures recently do so asap. I did my mums merc today which last had them check by my dad in August :( they where 5psi down all round B)

It got me thinking there must alot of people out there who dont know its even more important to check tyre pressure during colder snaps altho they should be checked on a regular basis. Guys sorry if this is like sucking eggs for some of you but its important especially at this time of the year.

Be safe out there people
 
Monks- Thats what I call really good advice. In my job I find that most experienced drivers I train have no idea of the importance of keeping tyres in good legal safe condition and pressures are an important part of this. All that car technology going through 4 tyres that usually have not been looked at for months.
 
Get your Tyres filled with nitrogen. Temp change doesn't effect it's pressure. Got all 4 Tyres done for six quid yesterday when my springs were done.
 
GA54 BLS said:
Get your Tyres filled with nitrogen. Temp change doesn't effect it's pressure. Got all 4 Tyres done for six quid yesterday when my springs were done.
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Sorry Gaz but like many youve been duped into stumping up another £6 as oxygen and nitrogen and normal air we breath all respond in the same way to temp changes as the tyre heats up and cools down: they all have the same rate of pressure change for an equal amount of temperature change.

My local depot was advertising this service with the following

"Up to 25% additional tyre life"
"Up to 5% better fuel economy"
"Improved handling & roadholding"

All that for £1.80 a tyre, it makes my blood boil when they can take advantage of people who dont know any better.
 
Monks said:
People please check your tyre pressures if you have not done so recently. This recent cold snap will have seen your pressure drop considerably as the air in your tyre will contract. You really need to check your tyre pressures more often in the winter months. The shorter days, and less warming sunlight and colder temps will mean your tyre pressure can flucuate alot.

As a very rough guide for every 10 degrees F change your tyres will fluctuate around 1psi. What with the difference between summer and winter temps if you havent checked your pressures recently do so asap. I did my mums merc today which last had them check by my dad in August :( they where 5psi down all round B)

It got me thinking there must alot of people out there who dont know its even more important to check tyre pressure during colder snaps altho they should be checked on a regular basis. Guys sorry if this is like sucking eggs for some of you but its important especially at this time of the year.

Be safe out there people
Click to expand...



Very good point to raise and more importantly in this weather allow greater breaking distance bewtween yourself and the car in front...you never know when you might hit some black ice. Drive safely
 
The air we breathe is 78 % nitrogen anyway...
 
Checked mine yesterday after an unforgivable lapse of time and the fronts were at 29psi :eek:. Pumped them up to 36 and went for a blast and the difference was biblical!

Handling, braking, feel all better. Even a mystery judder was improved although i am sure some weights have come adrift.
 
Well done Dan and thats in the milder weather imagine what it would have been during the colder snap :eek:
 
Funny, I've just done mine today. First time I've had a chance since I've bought it. I'm a regular tyre pressure checker anyway as I ride a motorcycle and it's even more important to keep an eye on them as incorrectly inflated bike Tyres can make for particularly messy results. Looks like the previous owner didn't keep an eye on that sort of thing as all four were at 25psi. That would explain the pull to the right and the dreadful understeer then.
 
Blimey. I have my tourer's 17"ers at 36 all round.
 
33 front and 32 rear for my 17s, but one had gone down to 22... The reason being I've found a sodding nail in it! quite central though so I'm hoping it can be repaired!
 
The reason they use nitrogen is because it does not contain water which will affect the balance of the wheel
So nitrogen is used it's nothing do do with it's expansion capibilitys the water also is bad for the heat displacement and it's not pure they(f1 teams) use different blends and they keep it secret from each other.
 
Nothing wrong with good old air its 78% nitrogen anyway

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/air-composition-d_212.html
 
brett said:
Nothing wrong with good old air its 78% nitrogen anyway

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/air-composition-d_212.html
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Exactly Brett, its all a big tyre fitter con that
 
Courtesy of the AA - sums it up nicely I think:

Purified nitrogen has been used to inflate tyres on aircraft and racing cars for many years, but now some tyre specialists are offering nitrogen inflation for ordinary car and van tyres.

The advantages of using nitrogen in specialist applications are clear
Planes fly at heights where temperatures may be as low as -40C. Any moisture in the tyres can freeze causing vibration and balance problems when landing. Pure nitrogen is dry so eliminates this problem (as would using dried compressed air)
In motor sport the smallest fraction of a second can make the difference between winning and losing. Filling with nitrogen can reduce tyre pressure variation caused by changes in tyre temperature.

For passenger car applications the main claims seem to be
Reduced corrosion – because unlike air there's no moisture in pure nitrogen
Slower rate of pressure loss – because nitrogen molecules are larger than oxygen molecules (which make up 21% of compressed air)

Leakage can occur through the tyre's inner liner but can also occur through the valve, punctures, or failure of the seal between tyre and wheel rim. Pure nitrogen might leak more slowly through the liner, but regular checks of tyre condition and pressures will still be essential.

Corrosion of the tyre through use of normal compressed air alone is most unlikely because only the outer tread band of a car tyre contains steel – the amount of moisture reaching it from the inside is minimal.

Changing to nitrogen involves removing all the air which is already in the tyres and then re-inflating them with purified compressed nitrogen. There will be a one-off charge per tyre but once filled with nitrogen any future top-ups would also have to be with nitrogen if any advantages are to be maintained.

Overall, while accepting the possibility of purified nitrogen being of benefit in certain applications, we don't think that the cost and possible inconvenience are justified for normal passenger car use.
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Yep thats spot on however I do like to put dryish air in my tyres so I stay away from fuel stations and use my compressor which has water traps and I bleed then tank every couple of month or so or when ever I paint
Nitrogen isn't much use on road cars especially with the roads we have to deal with
It's like my pal spending thousands on a mountain bike making it gramms lighter (I understand it on revolving parts) then he will have two bottles of water on his bike .
That's part of the reason I am not going to drop and stiffen the accord too much as I am sick of avoiding pot holes and slowing to 5/10 mph over speed bumps
 
Going slightly off topic here, but a few years ago my watch (I'm a fire fighter) had a visit from the Devon & Cornwall Police accident investigator who gave us a very interesting lecture on how they carry out investigations on serious RTCs (Road Traffic Collisions). He used three RTCs as examples and two of them I attended. One in particular stuck out in my mind as it was a pretty tough shout although thankfully non-fatal.
We attended a minibus on it's roof on the M5 carrying 12 females on their way back from a hen night in Newquay two trapped in the vehicle and the rest with multiple fractures etc. The upshot of the RTC was that a Peugot 205 had veered across the path of the minibus causing it to swerve out of control. The AI bought the tyre from the Pug in to show us and it had a big hole in it from a blow out, his findings were that a puncture repair on the tyre had sucked water into the steel radial causing a weakness in the tyre.
I've never had a tyre repaired since and if I were to do so I would probably keep it as a spare and put a new one on.
Food for thought though!

Cheers,

Wayne
 
Very interesting - and I have to say - I never have had or will have a tyre repaired.

Just don't trust it to take the strain of nearly two tonnes pushing down on it at high speed - especially when I am making the most of my suspension.

I have had the tread part of my van tyre completely come off the tyre wall at 8-mph on a motorway once. The feeling of watching your own tyre over take you is rather surreal.

Thank god they were reinforced walls otherwise it could have been nasty. I think they were Continental tyres, but surely a one off.
 
Does anyone else think that the tyres always look underinflated on the front when pumped to the correct pressures or is it just me. It must be a pretty heavy lump in there even if bits of it are aluminium.
 
yep, it has been mentioned a few times. the diesel engine is "only" 70kg more than the petrol.

always do a double take when i walk past the car :lol:
 
Another thing to have in mind is that the gas station air pumps are often badly calibrated. Last time I used one, it was 2 psi lower than it showed.
So I bought this:
medidorms27.jpg


Then, I use the gas station air pump and fill the tyres with 1 or 2 psi more than it's recommended. Then I use the above tool to bring the air pressure down to what I want.

Just a note: the ****ogic air pressure readers are more accurate than the electronic ones.
 
Jimbob said:
Does anyone else think that the tyres always look underinflated on the front when pumped to the correct pressures or is it just me. It must be a pretty heavy lump in there even if bits of it are aluminium.
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I thought exactly the same thing.
 
Guys just to remind you all to check your pressures this weeks colder weather will have affected them.
 
Yep - noticed both the car and the vans are looking little on the low side - mind the Accord always does :lol:
 
Yep mine where down 2psi from a week ago due to the weather, agree visuals are useless for low profile tyres as they always look a little low.
 
Thanks Andy. Will be checking them today. It had slipped my mind TBH
 
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