A few months ago, my tire pressure dashboard light came on after I bumped a curb a bit with my 2008 Toyota Yaris's rear right tire. I drove to a gas station and tried to pump up my tires, but the gauge was broken, so I left.
Later, I got a Black & Decker cordless tire inflator and gauged each of my tires:
- Front left: 70 psi
- Front right: 90 psi
- Rear left: 20 psi
- Rear right: 20 psi
The door well label says that all four tires should be at 32 psi cold inflate. I inflated my rear tires up to 32 psi. I read that overinflated tires can be dangerous, and here's where my confusion sets in.
My Black & Decker Cordless AirStation gauges the front left tire at 70 psi, above my door well's recommendation of 32 psi. But when I use a flathead screwdriver to slowly deflate the tire down to 60 psi, it starts to look saggy.
I thought this could be an artifact of deflating the tire in a fixed place, so I packed up, pulled my car out a bit, and rolled back into the parking spot. The tire still looked saggy, so I reinflated it back up to 65 psi.
I need an outside opinion on this, because I'm getting conflicting information:
- Door well says all my tires should be inflated near 32 psi
- Various Internet forums say my tires should be inflated near 35 psi front / 33 psi rear
- Black & Decker gauge says my front tires are overinflated (70 psi and 90 psi)
- Black & Decker was at low battery after 10 minutes fresh out of the box, refused to pump anymore
- But Black & Decker gave consistent gauges for each individual tire
- Deflating them slightly (60-65 psi) makes them look saggy, underinflated
Is my gauge functioning correctly? Does my door well recommended inflation label have a misprint? What should I do?