# Cool weather, check tire pressure



## bwilson4web (Mar 4, 2019)

Just a reminder, with the cool weather, it is time to top off the tires. It is 58 F (14 C) in Huntsville AL which means all the tires will be about 3-5 psi low and need to be brought up.

My practice is to set them to the maximum sidewall pressure. Decades of Prius driving confirms higher pressure means: (1) more precise steering; (2) less hydroplane in the wet, and; (3) longest life on the tires. This is a tire temperature graph from my Prius days:









higher pressure reduces tire tread temperature which lowers energy loss
lower pressure increases tread temperatures which increases energy loss

higher pressure reduces miss alignment effects for longer tire life (do get alignment checked)
Modern radial tires have a belt that prevents abnormal wear as LONG as the alignment is checked yearly. On caution, the tire shop will set the tires to the door jam pressure for their alignment machine. So I borrow their hose and use my tire gauge to air them up again or use my 12V tire pump to what I want to run.

As always, your mileage may vary.

Bob Wilson

ps. Some other souces:



























Tires have vibration modes at different speeds. Around 100 km/h (~63 mph), there is a knee in the curve that increases these energy wasting, vibration modes.


----------



## Klaus-rf (Mar 6, 2019)

Cold weather? What's that? We won't see "cold" weather for another two to three months around here. Although we did have a "cold" spell last week where it only got up to high 90's for a few days. 

Today at 0830 it was 98 F. outside, on the way to a predicted 110. Some would call that "toasty". A good weekend to stay indoors IMHO.

I usually set my T3 tire pressure to 50 cold (naturally my definition of cold is probably different than most) which translates to ambient without any driving time for 6+ hours and not parked in the sun..


----------



## RickO2018 (Mar 13, 2018)

Car’s TPM usually reports a pressure less than a manual tire pressure gauge reports. Often wonder if I should reset the sensors to get them in line with the manual gauge and which one to trust. Any thoughts?


----------

