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By: Scott Siegel
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One of the fastest ways to rob a vehicle of good gas mileage is to ignore the tires. There are many different ways that tires can affect the fuel economy of your car. Checking that you are riding on correctly inflated tires is one of the easiest ways to save money on fuel.
Energy Information Administration and EPA statistics support the fact that it is possible to save between $100.00 to $200.00 per year by maintaining properly inflated tires. Your individual savings will be unique based upon how many miles you drive and how much your tires may be under inflated.
Twenty-three per cent (23%) of cars have at least one (1) tire under inflated by more than twenty percent (20%) according to the Canadian Office of Energy Efficiency. In addition to hurting your fuel consumption, under inflated tires can also lead to poor steering and delayed or bad braking. those factors describe situations where under inflated tires can be dangerous. Although using a tire gauge is the only way to be certain what pressure your tires contain, a telltale sign of under inflated tires are squealing when stopping or cornering even at moderate speeds, particularly on warm pavement.
Operating a vehicle with just one tire under-inflated by 20% (8 psi) can reduce the life of the tire by over 9000 miles and can increase the vehicle's fuel consumption by 4%. Tires are permeable and can lose up to 2 psi (pounds of pressure) per month. More air is lost in hot weather as the pores in the tire material expand.
When a tire is under inflated, the sides of a tire bend and flex too much. This builds up heat. As stated earlier heat can accelerate air loss in tires. So an under inflated tire will continue to lose air at an increasing rate.
Under inflated tires and gas consumption are related in another way. Under inflated tires tend to have increasing rolling resistance. Because of the increased resistance the engine has to work harder to push the car and that increases fuel consumption. Extra flexing and bending in the tire can damage the tire walls and that could lead to tire failure.
You should make it a habit to measure the air pressure in your tires at least once every month. When you measure your tire pressure the tires need to be cold. A tire on a car is considered "Cold" if the car has not been driven more than 1 mile or the car has been sitting still for at least three hours.
Keep a pressure gauge in your car and check the tires often. By maintaining your tires at the correct inflation levels you could save between $100.00 and $200.00 per year in fuel. Of course in addition to saving gas, maintaining the correct tire pressure could also prevent tire damage that could lead to serious accidents.
Article Source: http://www.ezarticles.info
Scott Siegel is the author of a 143 page manual of industry insider information on saving gas and money at the pump. Visit us to learn how you can get better gas mileage. Find out how to increase gas mileage.
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