cold weather travel
I am traveling from a warm Florida to a cold Missouri. If my tires are at the correct psi when I leave Florida do I have to check and add air when I get into cold weather?
Forum Discussion
Passin Thru wrote:
We ran heavy trucks for well over 3 million miles and never checked the air pressure from FL-MO-CA-MT or anywhere else from -50 to 130 F. We thumped them with a tire billy and if they all sounded the same we went. You can hear if one is low.
That explains why we see parts of truck tires all over the highway. Since the pressure drops in ALL tires when the temps drop they will all sound the same when thumped and will all be low in tire pressure.
There are so many articles from "real" experts out there that say that tire pressure drops when driving from warm temps to cold temps that the air pressure needs to be increased or your tires are under inflated and dangerous.
On one of our trips I could hear the TPMS going off on the vehicle next to us as the driver was getting ready to depart on a cold morning. He told me that he didn't have to add air since the tires would heat up in 5-10 miles and the low pressure warning would go off. Stupid!!!
If I would have left Florida yesterday morning, the outside temp was 80. Right now in St. Louis, MO the temp is 13 degrees, or a 67 degree difference. If you think your tire pressure would not drop to the point of having dangerously under inflated tires, you are an accident waiting to happen.
