Screwed up

[BHarvey]

I have been playing with my motorcycle for the past few months and have neglected one detail on my car....... you guessed it, tire pressure.

Can't really say that I felt something was wrong because your brain adjusts slowly to a slow change, but my coast distances seemed 'off' and I did not think the tires would have lost SO much pressure. They looked fine, but when I applied the gauge to them this morning I was shocked they were 10 psi off what I normally run them at, and 4 psi under where you initially feel the coastability difference.

So, aired them up and just releasing the clutch I could feel the rolling difference.
Was even more shocked when rolling through the neighborhood.

Before getting back into motorbikes, I checked the pressure every other day.

It makes a massive difference, so keep track of it.

[CigaR007]

Mine too were low by as much as 10 psi.

[Rick323]

I used my truck a month or so ago to get some firewood. I didn't check the tire pressure before I used it. When I was in the woods, I just thought my tire was parked on a rock or something, it looked flat. Finally after moving the truck and the tire still looking flat, I decided it was flat. I nursed it home (7 miles) and tire pressures were as follows--45psi (normal), 25psi, 20psi, and the flat one 12psi. Before using the truck for firewood, the truck sat for a month and a half in my barn.

[Old Tele man]

...somebody (other than OnStar™) needs to market a "Tire Pressure" app for smart-phones!

[mcrews]

why dont you just 'schedule an appointment' with your tires on your calander??

[Old Mechanic]

My 2008 Altima sat for 10 months before we finished repairing it and got it back on the road. I was amazed that the tire pressure monitoring system did not show a single tire to be low on air. I keep them at 40 PSI and have never seen them loose more than maybe 1 PSI a month.

My experience has been that when you change tires it's a good idea to clean the bead seating portion of the rim very carefully to make sure there are no rubber fragments left from the previous set of tires.

Seems to make a difference in long term pressure retention, if you actually have the opportunity to thoroughly clean the bead portion of the rims, as well as the area where the valve stem seats on the rim, especially on older cars and trucks.

Slow leaks can be hard to find, but the old sink it in a water tub will still find them if you are patient enough.

regards
Mech

[Old Tele man]

...rule-of-thumb's are:

-1 psi per month
-1 psi per -10ºF

[nemo]

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

Slow leaks can be hard to find, but the old sink it in a water tub will still find them if you are patient enough.

regards
Mech

Adding a little soap can make it even easier.