Does Inflating Tires Help with Gas Mileage?

The idea of your tires being able to save you from high mileage woes, has long been regarded as a motorist myth, but there have been several studies that suggest otherwise, and backup the inflate a tire to save mileage idea. Many studies have concluded that if tires are inflated to the proper pressure, motorists will be able to improve their mileage savings up to 3.3 percent.

This is compared to leaving your tires under-inflated, which will reduce your mileage by 0.4 percent for every pound per square inch. As you can see, motorists should spend more time checking the pressure on their tires instead of handing out the cash for extra gas. Knowing this, you can come to the conclusion that, there is a lot of mileage lost when tires are not inflated properly. Can you imagine if all four of your tires aren’t inflated properly?

If any of your tires are inflated poorly, they will increase the cost of fuel and emissions and even though it may not sound like a lot, the amount will eventually add up. Take into consideration, that the average motorist drives about 12,000 miles yearly, on tires that may not be inflated properly. Once you factor in the cost of gas, the tires will use up to nearly 144 extra gallons of gas, which will cost you between $300-$500 dollars a year.

It only takes one gallon of burned gas to release up to 20 pounds of carbon dioxide which is added to the atmosphere that mixes with the oxygen in the air, making under-inflated tires also a hazardous towards the environment.

Use Proper Tire Gauges Or Apps to Help

Properly inflating your tires to the recommended pressure will save you hundreds of dollars every year in gas. Over the years, the price of gas has gone up, averaging nearly $3 dollars at its lowest value, you can save up to $432 dollars each year thanks to inflating your tires.

A study noted that nearly 3,000 students applied for parking permits at a community college. What does that have to do with properly inflating your tires, you ask? A lot, and according to the test results, if every one of those students properly inflated their tires, the annual savings for the community college would be, $1,296,000 dollars in total.

Properly inflating your tires have many other benefits outside of just saving you a great deal on mileage yearly; it also helps the environment and makes traveling safer, because inflated tires are less likely to fail at high speeds and stops compared to under-inflated tires, which are more likely to increase the chance of accidents.