Properly maintaining your car or truck\u2019s tire pressure is a quick and easy task that\u00a0pays off big time<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0in the long run. Beyond promoting optimum fuel economy, it is of the utmost importance to ensure that your tires wear as they should, resist pops and provide as much service as they can. Between all the information floating around out there, the numbers written on the tire sidewall and the owner\u2019s manual, however, you might be asking yourself: \u201cWhat should my tire pressure be?\u201d<\/p>\n Assuming you don\u2019t have a leak, tire pressure changes throughout the seasons and simply the course of the day, because pressure is affected by temperature. So if it\u2019s a hot time of year or you\u2019ve been on the road all day generating heat through friction, the air inside your tires expands, increasing pressure. Tires need to accommodate that fluctuation, but they have their limits. Recommended pressure is set with this in mind, so it\u2019s important that you get a reading at the right time and under the right circumstances, or you risk overinflation. First thing in the morning is best, before your tires heat up on the road. Try to have the car parked in the shade for similar reasons.<\/p>\n The max tire pressure marked on the sidewall of the tire is not\u00a0for inflation purposes. This number takes into account recommended inflation plus expected pressure increases. Never inflate your tires to this pressure. You\u2019ll want to find the manufacturer\u2019s recommended pressure, reliably located in the owner\u2019s manual and sometimes also listed on the edge of the driver\u2019s side door.<\/p>\n Tire gauges are cheap and easy to get a hold of. Some are digital, but these have a habit of running out of battery and acting up in extremely cold weather, leaving you without an answer to the question: What should my tire pressure be? Honestly, an old-fashioned analog\u00a0slide gauge<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0will do you just fine. It\u2019s easy to read and reliable. Simply remove the dust cap and press the head onto the stem, and the slide ruler will pop out to the current reading. If you need to adjust the pressure, drive on over to the nearest gas station with an air chuck, apply the head in the same way as you did the gauge, and either press on the stem until you hear air hissing out or make a solid connection such that no air is escaping and pump more in. Afterward, take another measurement to ensure proper inflation.<\/p>\n As mentioned, there are a lot of benefits to keeping the right inflation, but ultimately it comes down to you. Checking every day certainly wouldn\u2019t hurt anything, but if you only get around to it once every other month, you probably won\u2019t be facing any major catastrophes as a result. The most important time to check is when the outside temperature is changing \u2014 so spring and fall. The more often you can do it, the better it is for you and the lifespan of your tires.<\/p>\n There aren\u2019t a lot of excuses for neglecting this task, especially considering the payoff of not having to replace a set of tires as often. So grab a gauge and use it every once in a while \u2014 and don\u2019t forget the spare.<\/p>\n Check out all the\u00a0tools & equipment<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0available on\u00a0NAPA Online<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0or trust one of their 17,000\u00a0NAPA AutoCare locations<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0for routine maintenance and repairs. For more information on tire pressure, chat with a knowledgeable expert at your local NAPA AUTO PARTS store<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n Photo Credit:<\/em> Pomona Swap Meet<\/p>\n This article has been reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder, National Automotive Parts Association. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Click here for more\u00a0<\/i>automotive tips and stories<\/a><\/i><\/strong>\u00a0from NAPA, or here for more information on\u00a0the next Pomona Swap Meet & Classic Car Show<\/a><\/strong>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":null,"protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":10161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cos_headline_score":0,"cos_seo_score":0,"cos_headline_text":"","cos_headline_has_been_analyzed":false,"cos_last_analyzed_headline":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[805],"tags":[3056,4152,600,1301,5966,5965,5968,3491,3026,5967,5964,4110,3928,53],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/23885664088_50ed30552a_o.jpg?fit=3264%2C2448&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9nnZN-2DS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10160"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10160"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10163,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10160\/revisions\/10163"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Timely Measure<\/strong><\/b><\/h3>\n
The Right Amount of Pressure<\/strong><\/b><\/h3>\n
The Tools for the Job<\/strong><\/b><\/h3>\n
How Often Do I Have to Do This?<\/strong><\/b><\/h3>\n