0

Recently, because of an incident with a friend's car, I started monitoring my tire pressures regularly, and I'd like to understand if the encountered behavior is normal.

I started checking tire pressure daily (through the built-in sensors), on the cold tires, as well as 'hot' (after a 30+ minute fast drive). The daily values are consistent, and slowly lower over time. What I found is that I continually lose some pressure over the months, about identical on each tire.

Question: Is a loss of 1.5 - 2.0 psi per month normal? (that's 0.10 - 0.14 bar)

I am comfortable to pressurize the tires to about 3 psi over the recommended pressure (cold), but not to let them get under the recommended value.
With that, I would need to 'top them off' every three months at least.

Is that normal? Or do I have an issue (in all four tires?)

Improve this question
2
  • Losing 1-2 PSI is fairly normal. Lots of other factors such as the tire stem fitting, temperature, the beading, or even the type of driving can affect tire pressure. Whats important is that the loss is consistent across all 4 tires, so that they wear evenly.
    – Henry
    Aug 3, 2018 at 7:35
  • Does this answer your question? How much air should a tire lose each month?
    – Pat Myron
    Jul 12 at 21:16

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
1

All pneumatic tires lose pressure, it's just a matter of at what rate. I don't think 1.5 to 2 psi a month is all that unusual. It might be higher than average, but not enough that I would worry. The fact that it's consistent across all the tires is a good sign. If one was conspicuously more than the others then you'd definitely want to look at it more closely.

Car manufacturer's recommendations for tire pressures tend to be at the bottom of the safe range, to give a better ride. You can safely go much higher than the recommended values, but you're right to try not to go below them.

Improve this answer
0

You should check tire pressures weekly and before any long or arduous trip.

A small variation could simply be due to temperature ie having the sun on the tire will cause a difference.

Improve this answer
2
  • Sorry, but that is a standard recommendation, and doesn't answer the question at all. I don't have 'small differences', but a continuous 'loss of pressure', monitored with controlled conditions, over several months. My question is Is a loss of 1.5 - 2.0 psi per month normal?
    – Aganju
    Aug 3, 2018 at 1:50
  • 1.5 to 2 psi is small - sorry
    – Solar Mike
    Aug 3, 2018 at 5:32

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .