ralliart low tire pressure?
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ralliart low tire pressure?
lately it has been very cold in my area , and when i took my ralliart out to drive in the morning to school, a warning low tire pressure popped up in the dash, but after around 30 mins of riding, it just went away. ive checked the tire pressures later taht day and everything seemed fine, the door said tire pressure was 35, which i meausred in each wheel. but then i woke up the next morning and when i started up the car it had the same low tire pressure sign, then went away after going on the freeway, my question is , is this normal?
#2
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lately it has been very cold in my area , and when i took my ralliart out to drive in the morning to school, a warning low tire pressure popped up in the dash, but after around 30 mins of riding, it just went away. ive checked the tire pressures later taht day and everything seemed fine, the door said tire pressure was 35, which i meausred in each wheel. but then i woke up the next morning and when i started up the car it had the same low tire pressure sign, then went away after going on the freeway, my question is , is this normal?
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If you have just plain ol' air in your tires, when it gets cold, you'll drop pressure, causing the TPMS light to come on. Driving around warms up the air, and causes the pressure to build back up to normal. My suggestion is fill up with nitrogen... most places do it for less than $10 and will check pressure and fill as needed for free afterwards (in my area anyway)
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If you have just plain ol' air in your tires, when it gets cold, you'll drop pressure, causing the TPMS light to come on. Driving around warms up the air, and causes the pressure to build back up to normal. My suggestion is fill up with nitrogen... most places do it for less than $10 and will check pressure and fill as needed for free afterwards (in my area anyway)
[incidentally, if you really want to fill up your tires with something inert, then use argon, not nitrogen -- personally I'm sticking with air, because I never have tires keep their tread past two years, so there's no real chance of tire rot from oxygen in air]
Last edited by aestival; Dec 10, 2008 at 11:25 PM.
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Both air and nitrogen contract with temperature -- there's no advantage here at all to nitrogen (all that nitrogen does is improve rubber life, on account of not containing any oxygen). Going from 20 degC (68 degF) down to -40 degC (-40 degF) would reduce a tire pressure of 40 psi to below 32 psi. It's wise to get your tires inflated at or near the ambient air temperature, and to check the pressure frequently when the temperature is swinging wildly around (as it sometimes does in Spring and Fall, or all Winter long, in unlucky places such as Calgary).
[incidentally, if you really want to fill up your tires with something inert, then use argon, not nitrogen -- personally I'm sticking with air, because I never have tires keep their tread past two years, so there's no real chance of tire rot from oxygen in air]
[incidentally, if you really want to fill up your tires with something inert, then use argon, not nitrogen -- personally I'm sticking with air, because I never have tires keep their tread past two years, so there's no real chance of tire rot from oxygen in air]
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Someone has already touched on this...it's cold pressure. If you've driven the car even a few miles that number goes out the window...add about 3 pounds more when checking them hot. So if it reads 35 psi on the sticker and you check them hot, set them to 38 psi
Also tire pressures go down 1 psi for every 10 degrees in outside temperature and vice versa up 1 psi for every 10 degree raise in outside temperature.
So most likely you checked the tire pressures when the tires were hot and figured it was correct but was really 3 pounds low and then overnight the temps went down further lowering the tires psi to a light-triggering low. I hope that helps.
Also tire pressures go down 1 psi for every 10 degrees in outside temperature and vice versa up 1 psi for every 10 degree raise in outside temperature.
So most likely you checked the tire pressures when the tires were hot and figured it was correct but was really 3 pounds low and then overnight the temps went down further lowering the tires psi to a light-triggering low. I hope that helps.
Last edited by EVO Neil; Dec 11, 2008 at 03:59 PM.
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That light could very well save your life...if you picked up a puncture at speed and didn't know your tire was going down, that light could be the difference between a bad incident or worse and you knowing you should stop and check the tires.
I'm not sure if it starts in 2009 or not, but all cars will be required to have some sort of TMPS. Think of how many lives during the Firestone tire/Ford Explorer debacle that light could have saved.
I'm not sure if it starts in 2009 or not, but all cars will be required to have some sort of TMPS. Think of how many lives during the Firestone tire/Ford Explorer debacle that light could have saved.
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The only difference in the big three atmospheric gases is that oxygen is hideously reactive (i.e. it reacts with things to make them burn and rust), while nitrogen is not very reactive (except with oxygen, mostly), and argon goes beyond even nitrogen to being practically 100% inert.
Sorry for the chemistry lesson -- lecture mode off
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