Preventative tire maintenance is one of the best ways you can maintain the safety of your car and avoid costly auto repairs. An underinflated tire is much more likely to blow out. Therefore, car owners should regularly check and maintain proper tire pressure.

Why Maintaining Tire Pressure Is Important

The tires help control your vehicle’s behavior on the road. Overinflate your tires and you’re putting excess pressure on your center tread. This causes it to lose traction and can lead to uneven tire wear. This can affect your control when driving.

Underinflate your tires and you increase friction with the road, stressing the material beyond its intended limits, leading to wear and overheating and, eventually, failure. This is an especially likely outcome on warmer days.

In either case, you’ll probably have to replace tires sooner than you expected. 

How to Check Your Tire Pressure

First, check your tire pressure when your tires are “cold,” before you begin driving your vehicle. The morning before you drive or three hours after you’ve driven will give you a more accurate reading.

Then, find the recommended psi on the sticker inside the driver’s door of your car or inside your owner’s manual. Insert the tire pressure gauge into the valve stem on your tire. Compare the measured psi to the recommended psi. If your reading is high, let some air out slowly until the values match. If it’s below what’s suggested, add air until you reach the right number.

If you’re looking for a dependable, high-quality auto repair shop in Anchorage, AK, head to Professional Automotive. This team of Automotive Service Excellence (ASE)-certified mechanics has been providing top-notch services to the area for over 25 years, including replacing tires, fixing alignments, and performing brake repair. Learn more about these capabilities online. Call (907) 562-2471 to schedule an appointment. Read reviews from former auto repair customers on Google.