Tire maintenance for newbs...

Okay guys... its just about the time of year when you start seeing temperature shifts that can affect things. Tire pressure is extremely important, and while you can get away without checking too often in the summer that changes as fall approaches.

Tire pressure can make a huge effect on your fuel mileage. Under inflated tires can easily take 0.5 to maybe 1.0 mpg off of your fuel economy. Bad for a lease ops bottom line, kills the company-side fuel bonus, and company guys can loose their jobs if they don't toe the fuel economy line. This is a real easy way to help keep the fuel economy number up!

Its real simple to stick your drive and steer tires before you get going in the morning - that's your cold pressure. Don't listen to idiots who tell you to under-inflate your tires because you might be running I-10 in 120-degrees! Your tires are designed to handle increasing pressure!!! What they can't handle is the increased heat from running them at too low a pressure!!! Don't worry about the trailer tires unless they look or sound flat when you thump them... the tire inflation system on the trailer should take care of that for you. A real handy accessory is one of those air hoses you can hook up to the gland hand on your emergency line from the tractor - beats dealing with a leaky or worse - NO - air pressure hose at the fuel island. The company store at the terminals have them...

So here's the seasonal scoop. When you checked your pressure in Dallas at a morning temperature of 90-degrees, and ran north to Minneapolis where the temperature is 70 this morning... guess what??? Your tires are now under-inflated. If you move into cooler weather, your tire pressure will decrease... its physics.

Finally... when its really cold, make sure you check your tire pressure! That really sucks coming out of a warm sleeper into -10, but it's important. The really cold temps can shrink metal parts enough to cause a pressure loss at the tire bead - so suck it up and check em' out.

Good luck!