A critical part of maintaining your vehicle's tires is ensuring that they remain at the proper pressure. Too little pressure can cause the tires to deform, reducing their performance and potentially damaging the sidewalls, and reducing their overall structural integrity. This situation can cause your tires to wear out more quickly and may even lead to catastrophic failures.

While it may be clear that you shouldn't drive on flat tires, overinflating your tires can be a significant problem, as well. Even if you think you're keeping your tires well within safe limits, you may be causing extreme amounts of premature wear and many other potential problems.

Why Do People Over- or Underinflate Their Tires?

Although it's generally best to keep your tires at the recommended pressure levels for your vehicle, some people may choose to use higher or lower pressures in certain circumstances. Understanding why this is the case can help you see why it's typically necessary to maintain proper tire pressure. In other words, these exceptions prove the rule.

Underinflation is most commonly used to improve traction in rough terrain. An underinflated tire "squishes" more, creating a larger contact patch for snowy, sandy, or muddy situations. This approach can get you out of a low-speed jam, but it's perilous to drive on underinflated tires at higher speeds once you're safely back on the road.

On the other hand, many people mistakenly believe that overinflating their tires will increase fuel economy by reducing rolling resistance. Although this is technically true, your fuel economy gains are likely to be extremely minimal. More crucially, leaving your tires overinflated for long periods can have severe consequences.

The Impact of Too Much Air

Recall that underinflating your tires create a larger contact patch for more traction in hairy situations.  On the other hand, overinflating reduces the size of the contact patch. This effect lowers your car's traction and creates a bulge in the center of your tire. Not only will you have less grip, but you'll concentrate road wear on a smaller portion of your tire's tread.

That center bulge does more than just create uneven, premature wear, however. You'll also negatively impact your car's ride since you'll have less cushioning over bumps or potholes. Even worse, your tire will become vulnerable to punctures or structural damage when you drive over uneven and damaged roads.

Maintaining your tires to give you the most extended life and best performance means ensuring that they remain correctly pressurized at all times. Follow the guidelines on your vehicle's door jamb or owner's manual, and routinely check your tires for signs that they may be under or overinflated. These simple maintenance steps will ensure that you get the best value from your car's tires. To learn more, contact a tire maintenance service.