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Ignoring the tires on your car is one of the fastest ways to prevent your car from getting good gas mileage. Checking your tires to ensure you are traveling on correctly inflated tires is one of the easiest ways to save money on gas. According to statistics provided by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Energy Information Administration, the Possible savings of avoiding under inflated tires is between $100.00 to $200.00 per year depending upon how much you drive and how under inflated your tires may be. There is at least one tire under inflated by more than twenty percent (20%) on approximately twenty-three per cent (23%) of cars based on information from the Canadian Office of Energy Efficiency. That means that almost 1 in 4 cars has at least one under inflated tire. Besides lowering your fuel consumption, under inflated wheels can also lead to steering and braking problems. That makes under inflated tires a possible danger. Using a tire gauge is the only sure way to know if your tires are under inflated but a telltale sign of under inflated tires are loud squealing when coming to a stop or turning a corner even at slow speeds. Operating a vehicle with just one tire under-inflated by 20% (8 psi) can reduce the life of the tire by over 9000 miles and can increase the vehicle's fuel consumption by 4%. Tires are permeable and can lose up to 2 psi (pounds of pressure) per month. More air is lost in hot weather as the pores in the tire material expand. When a tire is under inflated, the sides of a tire bend and flex too much. This builds up heat. As stated earlier heat can accelerate air loss in tires. So an under inflated tire will continue to lose air at an increasing rate. There is more bad new concerning under inflated tires and gas consumption. Under inflation also causes the tire to increase rolling resistance. That means the motor has to work harder to move the car and that also increases fuel consumption. Also the extra flexing and bending can weaken the tire walls which could lead to sudden tire failure. You should make it a habit to measure the air pressure in your tires at least once every month. When you measure your tire pressure the tires need to be cold. A tire on a car is considered "Cold" if the car has not been driven more than 1 mile or the car has been sitting still for at least three hours. Keeping your tires at the proper inflation can save you between $100.00 and $200.00 per year in gas savings. In addition maintaining the correct tire pressure can prevent conditions that could cause serious accidents Keep a pressure gauge in your car and check the tires often.
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Scott Siegel is the author of a 143 page manual of automotive industry insider information on saving gas and money at the gas pump. Visit us to discover how you can get better gas mileage. Find out how to increase gas mileage. Feel free to grab a unique version of this article from the Unique Articles Submission Service
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