How often do you guys need to inflate your tires?

All tires lose pressure over time. It is a good practice to check the pressure at least once a month, or at every fill-up.

 

I check my tires when the weather changes seasons, and about every 4-6 weeks when I think about it. They stay pretty consistent so I'm mostly just adjusting them to current conditions. I'm not sure if I get a boost in mpg's, but higher psi's seem to produce more even tire wear. Factory spec psi tends to have the tires wear out on the outer edges faster.

 

Ambient temperature makes a difference too. If the weather has got much warmer or colder you'll notice a difference in tyre pressures.

Always worth checking the pressures once a month at least. If you notice one tyre suddenly losing a lot of pressure and it has to be topped up every few days or once a week, then double check there isn't a nail or thorn in it.

Tyres will hold air for ages - usually about 10-15 psi. Not what you want to drive them with.

 

First, the pressure should always be checked while the tires are COLD, that is, the car hasn't been driven in several hours AND one side is not sitting in the bright sun.

Second, temperature has a big impact.
Even if the tires held air perfectly (some do and some don't), it is not unusual to have to add some going into the winter months and maybe then bleed a bit off when it gets hot in the summer.

 

Yes, the outside (ambient) temperature definitely affects air pressure in tires. Also all tires will lose air over time. It is a good idea to check your tires whenever the temperature drops considerably and also to check them at the very minimum of once a month. I usually check ours about once a week or at the most twice a month. I check often so I can tell if I have picked up a nail. When that happens, the pressure will drop slowly but consistently until the tire is flat. More air in the tires definitely will help with how the tires wear as well as how the Prius coasts (glides) on the road.

Best of luck to you.

Ron (dorunron)

 

Ambient temperature makes a huge difference.
Inflate late fall every year.
Deflate late spring every year.

Tyres do loose pressure slowly on their own without the assistance of ambient temp. This is a slow loss of air.

The ambient temp effect is not because of loss of air, it's because of loss of energy -in- the air.

Further, be aware there is water vapour in the air, including the air you put in your tyres, unless you fill with dry compressed air (good luck finding that) or dry nitrogen from a bottle. Most stations these days that -sell- "nitrogen fill" do so from a machine, not a bottle. Bottled N2 is expensive. The machine N2 is less dry than the bottled stuff.
If there is water vapour in your tyres (and there is) -and- if you live where the ambient temp drops below freezing, when the water vapour freezes there is a larger loss of tyre pressure than you would see just from the temperature effect, as it (the water vapour) goes to a solid (ice, though if you could look inside you would say frost).

When I lived on the coast I had -lots- of water vapour in my tyres. So much, one cold day when I tried to fill the tyres they started with a "snap" as the air pushed ice out of the valve part inside the tyre.

The reason you can get water vapour buildup in a tyre is the act of compressing the air heats it up. Hot air holds more water vapour. It can build up in the compressor tank if nobody pays attention to it (and they don't). You can even get liquid water coming out of the hose (experienced by me in a car wash that offered compressed air for tyres). A combination of very high humidity, a compressor kept inside the car wash so it wouldn't freeze, and lax maintenance.

 

This difference is within the range to expect between warm and cold tires. If the 40/38 psi figures were on road-warmed tires, then morning cold tires could easy be at or a bit lower than 36/35.

Some tires do seem to hold air forever, others don't. I see that with my seasonal tires swaps, where one set is stored in the shed on their own wheels for many months. Until you check for patterns, you won't know what you have.

But as many others have pointed out, ambient temperature changes still demand attention even on tires with almost no air seepage.

PS - I use 'hyper-inflated' to mean pressurized well above the tire's sidewall max label. Anything at or below that sidewall max is no more than 'fully inflated'.

 

Well if the OP is a "Newbie" to automobiles, I'd say one staple of vehicle ownership is having a good quality tire gauge. The ones at publically used coin operated air stations at gas stations and the like, are not trust worthy, and the cheapest of the "pen"-stick type are suspect as well.

Because yes, you do have to check your tires PSI from time to time for all the reasons already illuminated.

Also if you can afford it, I'd also recommend one of those portable compressor power stations. These are multiple facet tools, good for battery jumps, powering things when camping or during a outage, and also if you get one with a compressor, excellent for pumping air into your tires.

You can buy some compressors that plug into your vehicle AC socket...but I personally like the ones you charge up at home, and keep charged. Then when you need it, you can just take it wheel to wheel without having to turn on the vehicle or deal with a cord. ---This is a personal taste decision...both will work. Ends justify the means. I just don't like plugging anything into my Prius electrical system if I don't have to do so.--Don't want to put any extra draw on the Prius 12 vlt battery if it is unnecessary.

Those are two tools I would really recommend having.

And I might get some flak..because everyone embraces their own ritual and time frame. But I check my tires pressure, if the seasons change and temperatures with it...and/or about once every 4- 6 weeks. You can work out a time line that you feel comfortable with, given your environment and/or how your tires seem to be reacting.

 

I usually check mine every week or fortnight. I fill once a week and it takes a minute or two to check/verify pressure is ok. I know that it is not necessary, it's just a habit really. Same as I check the oil once per week too, when I fill the washer bottle

 

I check mine every 2 weeks, just to make sure they are correct or when I get back from the dealer and they put them below the factory spec

 

Tire Tech Information - Air Pressure, Temperature Fluctuations

 

I try to check/adjust my tire pressure every 2-4 weeks. I always do so at night at least 3 hours after the car has been driven.

The last time I checked, I noticed that my tires measured 0.5-1 PSI higher than when I last inflated them (I'm using a good quality digital gauge). I suspect this is due to ambient temperature change, as the weather has been warmer lately. Also, last time I checked the pressure was on a particularly warm day/evening.

In my area, there may be a 10-40 degree difference between the high and low temperatures in a given day. This equates to a difference of 1-4 PSI, which leads me to the following question:

Should tired be inflated when the ambient temperature is at or near the average low for the time of year? Or is it better to do so when the ambient temperature is at the midway point between high and low? I tend to suspect that the former is a better practice, as inflating when it is warmer outside will produce a less than desirable PSI when it cools down, and tire manufactures take temperature change into account when specifying the max PSI.

Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

Don't forget the common bicycle tire pump. Use the bigger old fashioned floor pump style, not the smaller portable type carried on a bike frame or tool bag.

These hand pumps are cheaper, need no electricity, and have no cords to stow into cramped compartments. While not convenient for fully inflating a completely empty tire, I find them perfectly fine for the periodic pressure checks and re-topping. And faster than the 12V portable electric compressor taking up space in the corner of my garage.

 

I do that from time to time as you do.

However, when it makes more sense, I'll charge up my portable 30 gal, then roll it around to all of my 5 vehicles one at a time.

 

I'm getting too old to look at possibly manually pumping air into 4 tires.

And as I pointed out, those multiple function "power stations" have a lot of other tools that are nice to have. I like owning one as much for possible battery jumps, camping, and/or power outages as well as having a compressor.

But if you've got the stamina? Nothing wrong with a manual pump. In fact it's a good idea to have one period.

 

Old? Stamina?

I can understand not wanting to manually pump up 4 tires from completely flat. But for just topping off for seasonal temperature changes and a few months typical leakage? Either you have seriously overestimated the effort, or have used very bad pumps, or have a quite substantial physical disability.

 

I carry one of those little foot pumps in the boot together with a small trolley jack, again, probably overkill, but better be safe than sorry (the reason for the jack is that mine was missing when I bought it from the main dealer - I really don't like these supermarket main dealers as they really don't seem to give a sh1te about their customers)

 

Hey, my moniker is "The Electric Me"....and I'm applying that to my tire inflation choices.

Like I said, there are numerous additional reasons why I think having a multi-purpose compressor, jump start, power station is a good idea.