If you’ve lived in Des Moines for the past few years, you know that Old Man Winter can really dish it out in this area! The drop in outside air temperature affects your tire pressure. Vehicles sitting outside all night long tend to be more susceptible than those parked in a garage, but in reality all vehicles are affected, even if they have new tires. Low outdoor temperatures will lower the pressure in your tires, and if it’s a drastic enough drop, it could turn on your TPMS light.
TPMS stands for Tire Pressure Monitoring System. This system alerts you when one or more of your tires are under-inflated. In most vehicles, it is a yellow or orange light that illuminates on your dash, similar to the warning light above. In newer vehicles, each wheel has a sensor built into it to monitor the tire pressure at all times.
If your TPMS light is on, you need to have your tire pressure checked very soon. Driving on under-inflated tires increases tire wear, decreases your fuel economy, and can cause unsafe driving conditions like poor handling or even a tire blow out. Check your owner’s manual to find out the recommended tire pressure for your vehicle or PSI (pounds per Square Inch) rate.
One way to help avoid the low tire pressure annoyance is to have your tires filled with Nitrogen instead of air. Nitrogen particles are larger and slower moving than compressed air. Therefore nitrogen won’t seep out of your tires as quickly when the weather drops in temperature. Does this mean you will never have to inflate your tires again? No. Nitrogen simply takes 3-4 times longer to seep out compared to compressed air.
Stop by one of our 3 locations in the Des Moines metro to have your tire pressure checked or learn more about nitrogen.
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