What is the right inflation pressure for your car?

If you ask this question to every car owner, I am pretty sure they will give you big range of answers. So let’s find out what inflation pressure you should actually set for your vehicle.

Vehicle settings

So the easiest way is to follow the recommended inflation pressure given by your automotive manufacturer. This could be usually found in your hand book or at your door ledge.

During the car’s development phase, the original equipment (OE) manufacturer has tested various tire sizes & its corresponding pressure. The clear recommendation comes knowing the comfort & handling target conflict. A lower inflation pressure allows the possibility to absorb harshness/vibration while a higher inflation pressure allows your tire to reach is optimum cornering stiffness which is vital for handling. The tire pressure settings also need to work in harmony with the suspension system of the car to achieve the optimum results. Hence it can be certain that both the handling & comfort criteria’s are properly evaluated to get the optimum tire pressure setting.

Off-road settings

In a off road settings where the conditions are very slippery, there is a common practice to reduce your tire pressure down. The main idea is as the inflation pressure goes down, the contact area between your tire and the ground grows bigger than before. Hence this allows you to get much higher traction through the muddy or stone terrains. Even though this is a common practice, with a drop of inflation pressure the tire is more susceptible to damage especially at the sidewall area. Tires should be quickly re-inflated to the standard range once the vehicle is at a tar road condition.

Under inflated tires, is it bad?

In general, under inflating your tires is bad & you should always try to avoid it. The basic concept of a tire is to use air to support the car’s tire weight. Without sufficient trap air, the tire will be stressed out at points which is damaging to your tire.

1. Bad wear performance
   –> Low tire pressure leads to more force on the rubber hence generating higher abrasion.
2. Higher rolling resistance
   –> With a much higher contact patch, a higher force is needed to overcome a higher resistance resulting in much higher fuel consumption.
3. Bad handling characteristic.
   –> Source

With the increase in contact area due to a lower inflation pressure, you do gain some small amount of traction & braking. However this is relatively small and the cost benefit is not in your favor.

Summary

In a nut shell, you should stick to your OE recommended tire pressure settings and always try to maintain your tire inflation pressure as frequent as possible.