Meta: Having the tires heated or even overheated during the summer? Click here to find out what to know about summer driving and tire pressure!
When the summer comes, the temperature might rise suddenly, going along with hot weather. People might look down on some problems relating to the vehicle during this time, but road safety cannot be overlooked.
Mentioning this problem, tires in general and tire pressures specifically are the most crucial component, especially for summer driving. Why is that? What to know about summer driving and tires pressure? Let’s check it out right now!
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How does the heat in the summer impact your car tires?
You may know a simple scientific knowledge that heat expands, cold contracts. It means with the ambient temperature, each 10°C change will increase the tire pressure by about 0.1 bar. This still happens when you are driving or not.
It seems like a small number, but back to the mechanism of tires. People often keep tires at a temperature of approximately 32 PSI. Whereas there is around from 30 to 35 PSI in passenger vehicles’ tires.
Thus, only 0.1 bar still creates a huge difference, making it pop at any time. Even when this situation will not happen, over-inflation is another problem. It might interfere with the brake system, causing a premature tear or wear.
About some factors possibly leading to the overheated tires, they are rubber, friction, and hot molecules.
Rubber
The tires’ rubber is manufactured to resist abrasion, cracking, or even low heat that builds up gradually. Yet, all things have a breaking level. For instance, you can hold a rubber balloon to a valid air amount, beyond that, it will burst. So, the rule is true for the tires as well.
Friction
Friction is what happens when the tires rub against the road asphalt. This action produces a certain friction amount. As you can guess, the friction generates heat, making your tires hot and even hotter in the summer.
Hot molecules
Normally, the tire body contains an amount of compressed air. Also, all air-filled tires are formed of molecules and atoms. Thus, if molecules become heated, they will vibrate intensely before expanding as a result.
What is the ideal tire pressure during hot days?
Every manufacturer publishes its own manuals for tire pressure, but it is only for cold tires. The idea here is that you do not drive the vehicle for hours before you measure the tire pressure.
So, according to the manuals, you should measure before driving your cars in the morning or late in the evening. That is when the tires’ temperature is equal to the outside temperature.
In case the outside temperature gets higher, the tires are not totally cold. Put it different, the tire pressure after driving will be higher. For that situation, remember do not to diminish the warm tires’ pressure. They should let them cool down, then the pressure will go down below the least number.
Here is some recommended pressure that you can consult and follow. If the temperature goes up to 40°C, you should not lower the pressure below 2.2 bar. If the temperature plunges to 0°C, you should keep the pressure at 1.8 bar or a little bit below.
Finally, if the temperature is about 20°C, you should inflate your tires at recommended pressure, 2.0 bar for example. You can find the recommended tire pressure from the manufacturer in the glove-box door or the door Jam. Also, it can be inside the trunk lid or simply on the car door edge.
How to keep a heated tire from blowing out?
Check your tire air pressure regularly
You should have a gauge to measure the pressure on a daily basis. To be safer, you can check it every 160 kilometers or every 2 hours.
Inflate your tires to the suggested level
Each vehicle has a specific recommended air pressure. Thus, the recommendation from the manufacturer is one of the criteria that you should go for.
Replace worn tires
Aging tires or worn tires that are too thin can lead to air leakage. You can contemplate the summer tires or all-season tires as they are produced to deal with high temperatures.
Avoid heavy load
The load weight will affect the tires, you know. If there is too much load inside the car, the tires cannot afford to blow out anytime.
Wait until the tires cool down
If your tires get overheated, you should pull over and wait for a moment so that they have time to cool off a little bit. Some people might choose to let some air out of the tires. It seems to be a good and quick solution, but it is not. Your tires are likely to be underinflated and hazardous.
Keep eyes on the speed
As said before, friction is one of the reasons why your tires become heated. When you go too fast, you may create greater friction. As a result, the heat will be greater and will increase the risks of blowing out.
What to do if you have a tire blowout?
First of all, you have to keep calm and use both hands to keep the steering wheel tight. The favorable steering position, in this case, is 9 and 3. Then, you release the car accelerator gradually.
Next, keep your eyes on the road ahead and steer to a suitable place to regain control and stabilize your car. After stabilizing your car successfully, apply small pressure to the brake pad.
At the same time, you still keep your car slow and stop at a safe and comfortable place. Finally, you should turn the hazard light on.
Conclusion
To be brief, you should not look down on the heated-relating problems of your tires when the weather becomes hot. Above is some information for your wondering “what to know about summer driving and tire pressure”. Hopefully, after reading this article, you will be more aware of some tire issues to avoid emergencies.