How Tire Pressure Saves Fuel on HHIs.
Ever wonder why your car is not getting quite as good a mileage as it used to? The culprit is often underinflated tires which waste gas for lots of local folks as well as visitors on Hilton Head Island. Sure they look black and round and the car still drives fine. However, think how hard it is to walk in the soft sand near the sand dunes versus the hard pack sand near the water – you just have to work harder because of the resistance. When your tires don't have enough air in them, their rolling resistance is dramatically increased: so your engine has to work a lot harder and it burns more fuel to get from the South End to the North End of the Island. Properly inflated tires will last a lot longer and the car will handle better as well.
It is perfectly normal for tires to lose up to 1.5-lbs of pressure per month. Don't rely on your tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) to alert you to when you need more air. The TPMS system is set to warn you when pressure drops twenty percent below recommendations …in most case it will NOT activate the warning light until the tire is at least 5+lbs too low. That is severely under inflated and you needed more air a long time ago. Stop into either Island Tire & Automotive Services location and we will check your tire pressures anytime free of charge. If you aren’t sure how to check your tire pressure we would be pleased to show you how. If they're low – even just a little bit – we will bring them up to proper pressure. Most vehicles have a sticker on the inside of your driver's door that gives the manufacturer's recommended tire pressure for that specific model.
If you have set the tire pressures and the TPMS light keeps coming back on you probably have a slow leak. Please stop by Island Tire & Automotive Services right away and let us fix it right away. Continued driving on a leaking tire usually ends up destroying the tire and rendering it unrepairable.
So stop by and let’s check your tire pressure so you can save some gas.
