Finding Your Vehicle's Recommended Tire Pressure and Load Limits
TIRE SAFETY Everything Rides On It
Studies of tire safety show that maintaining proper tire pressure, observing tire and vehicle load limits (not carrying more weight in your vehicle than your tires or vehicle can safely handle), avoiding road hazards, and inspecting tires for cuts, slashes, and other irregularities are the most important things you can do to avoid tire failure, such as tread separation or blowout and flat tires. These actions, along with other care and maintenance activities, can also:
Improve vehicle handling
Help protect you and others from avoidable breakdowns and accidents which can result in Injury or Death
Improve fuel economy
Increase the life of your tires.
Improper speed (speedometer) reading for improper wheel (rim ) size. Speeding tickets my result in wrong wheel size
Safety First?Basic Tire Maintenance
Properly maintained tires improve the steering, stopping, traction, and load-carrying capability of your vehicle. Underinflated tires and overloaded vehicles are a major cause of tire failure. Therefore, as mentioned above, to avoid flat tires and other types of tire failure, you should maintain proper tire pressure, observe tire and vehicle load limits, avoid road hazards, and regularly inspect your tires.
Tire information placards and vehicle Safety certification labels contain information on tires and load limits. These labels indicate the vehicle manufacturer's information including:
Recommended tire size
Recommended tire inflation pressure
Vehicle capacity weight (VCW?the maximum occupant and cargo weight a vehicle is designed to carry)
Front and rear gross axle weight ratings (GAWR? the maximum weight the axle systems are designed to carry).
Both placards and Safety certification labels are permanently attached to the vehicle door edge,or door post,
Steps for Maintaining Proper Tire Pressure
Step 1: Locate the recommended tire pressure on the vehicle's tire Information Placard, Certification Label,
If you have been driving your vehicle and think that a tire is under inflated, fill it to the recommended cold inflation pressure indicated on your vehicle's tire information placard or Safety certification label. While your tire may still be slightly under inflated due to the extra pounds of pressure in the warm tire, it is safer to drive with air pressure that is slightly lower than the vehicle manufacturer's recommended cold inflation pressure than to drive with a significantly under inflated tire. Since this is a temporary fix, don't forget to recheck and adjust the tire's pressure when you can obtain a cold reading.
Tire Size
To maintain tire safety, purchase new tires that are the same size as the vehicle's original tires or another size recommended by the manufacturer. Look at the tire information placard or Safety certification label