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Tire Pressure and Your Gas Mileage

Keeping Your Tires Filled Saves Gas and Money.
Did you know that how much air you have in your tires can
have a direct affect on your gas mileage? It's true. Here's why:
Let's say your tires are supposed to be filled to 35 psi. If they
are filled correctly, six square inches of your tire are touching
the road, just the way your tires were designed. But let some
air out, and now the pressure is only 30 psi. Since your tire is
like a balloon, the more air you have on the inside, the
rounder and more firm your tire becomes. If you had six
square inches touching the road at 35 psi, the flatter 30 psi tire
will have eight square inches touching at once, making it
harder for your engine to get things rolling from a dead stop.
Here's another way to think of it. Say your dog is going to the
vet, and she's not so interested in moving toward the car, so
you pull. You start out pulling her with all four of her feet on
the ground. We'll call this four square inches touching. But then
she plops her rear end on the ground. You're now pulling 12
square inches, and boy is she harder to drag toward the car.
Unfortunately you can't dangle a piece of salami in front of
your car to make it go, so you're left using the engine, which
uses more gas the harder it pulls. Filling your tires to the
correct pressure will make it easier on the engine, and that
means you'll be using less gas. It can make a difference of a
three or four miles per gallon. That's at least 36 more miles to
the average tank of gas. At one tank of gas per week, you
could be adding 1,872 free miles in a year! That's savings, and
that's Automotive Empowerment for no money at all.
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