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Winter and Your Stittsville/Kanata Tires

Have you heard of deflategate?  In short, New England Patriots quarterback and All American heartthrob was accused of letting air out of footballs to make them easier to throw and catch.  His defense?  Cold weather.  That’s right… it was cold, so the air in the footballs was low because of mother nature, not father Belicek.

The fact is, winter air does impact air pressure, so beyond whether you believe (or care) what Tom Brady says about his footballs, you need to make sure the same science doesn’t bite your Kanata/Stittsville tires and their winter performance.

In short, warm temperatures increase the PSI (Pounds per Square Inch) in your Kanata/Stittsville tires. If you’ve been checking your tires every once in a while you probably have the pressure set according to the reading you took some time over the summer. And in contrast, colder weather decreases the PSI in your Stittsville/Kanata tires.  How much?  More than you might think as your “check tire pressure” light goes off because you can lose a pound or two overnight.

As temperatures fall you or your favorite Kanata/Stittsville garage (ahem) should add a few pounds of air pressure into your tires. And don’t be fooled into thinking all is okay just because your tire pressure light is on and then off. The friction created by driving between the road and your tires creates a lot of heat and ups your PSI.

A lot of Stittsville/Kanata tires actually have a recommended “cold tire pressure” on their side walls. This just means that your tires should be cold when you take your pressure reading to insure that friction heat hasn’t caused the pressure to be artificially raised. The tire manufacturer accounts for this heat-produced increase in pressure when they state the recommended PSI on the tire.

This is a lot of talk about PSI for you, who probably don’t care.  In short, make sure when you winterize your car at your Kanata/Stittsville garage they also check your cold tire pressure.