Properly Inflated Tires are Awesome
I noticed over the weekend while driving up to Davis that my tires looked little under-inflated, so I after filling up on gas this morning I properly inflated my tires. After doing so I realized the following:
- California has a sweet law that says gas stations have to provide free air and water for your car if you purchase gas. Score!
- As President Obama said during the campaign, filling up your tires can improve your fuel economy. My tires were about 8 PSI (front) and 13 PSI (rear) under-inflated – I was losing 10% of my fuel economy! Dang – would I have been able to go another 35 miles before filling up if I had correctly inflated tires?
- I was surprised by the difference in ride quality after properly inflating my tires: over the weekend I noticed that I was dreading hitting potholes as it felt my teeth were going to take a beating (disclosure: I drive a BMW 3 series with sporty tires). After filling them today the ride was amazingly smooth!
So 3 wins today for filling the air in my tires, and it took me less than 5 minutes. Why don’t I do this more often?!