Keep Your Tires Properly Inflated

Did you know that keeping your car’s tires properly inflated will increase their lifespan and save you some gas? Yep. Carnegie Mellon University did an informal study on the effects of properly inflated tires and found that only one of 81 cars parked in a lot was properly inflated, if properly is what’s stated on the tire sidewall. The effect of under inflation?

If you do the math to calculate the extra fuel cars consume due to under-inflated tires, consider the Environmental Protection Agency standard that a 1% loss of fuel efficiency occurs for every 2 PSI of air under the maximum level. Add to that the 2003 Department of Energy report that states that vehicles average 22.3 miles per gallon and 12,242 miles per year, and you find that each of the 81 cars burned 144 extra gallons of gas due to under-inflated tires. At $3 per gallon, each car owner is spending $432 for gas each year that they really don’t need.

$432 just to make sure your tires are inflated? Sounds like a steal to me.

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