Tire maintenance

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Tue 18 May 2021 15:27
Tire maintenance - Rachel011

Hi guys,

I am a new car owner, and relatively young driver. I have some (admittedly basic) car maintenance questions

1) I've noticed in some cases when my hand is not on the steering wheel (at low speed and empty roads), it would turn on its own a small amount. Is this normal? My understanding is that this can be due to tram lining, the crowning of the road, even a small amount of tire pressure difference, etc, is this right?

2) During driving, is it normal to see tire pressure drop by 1psi but then generally increase as tires get warm? Increasing is normal, but is it normal to see the pressure drop while driving too?

3) I have also noticed that one tire is slower to warm up than the other three. Is this normal or sign of a potential leak?

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Tue 18 May 2021 18:13
Tire maintenance - Andrew-T

[1] if you are on a cambered road the car will normally tend to fall gently towards the kerb. If you think your 'problem' may be something else, you could ask your garage to check the tracking. It's not a bad idea to do that from time to time, especially if you suffer a lot from speed bumps or potholes.

[2] I have no experience with electronic measurement of tyre pressure, but I doubt it is as accurate as a direct-measurement gauge. Pressure will normally rise by a few psi (or fraction of a bar) as tyres warm up with driving. Differences between the wheels may reflect differences between the 4 sensors, or that the sunny side shows warmer tyres. If the readings are about right, don't worry. Outdoor temperature also has a noticeable effect.

[3] 'potential leak' ? If the pressures stay from day to day, that is all you need. If you notice a steady fall of 2 psi or more per week, there may be a slow puncture (e.g.nail in tyre) or if the tyres are years old the leak may be round the rim of the wheel. Tyres always have potential for a leak, but that doesn't often happen.

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Tue 18 May 2021 19:16
Tire maintenance - Rachel011

1) I guess my worry is if the car will drift to one side or the steering wheel would physically move to one side. The former i understand is more common and fixed by alignment,but what I need to set my expectations on is if the steering wheel physically moves, is this normal? In this case, it was a small extent. I also believe this may be tramlining? The car drives centre for the most part, so I don't think it is anything to worry about, but I need to just set my expectations I guess.

3) It's more a few psi a month on one tire, that could be just bad luck/weather rather than a slow leak. The only thing is the same tire takes longer for the pressure to go up, not sure why, as I've noticed this in multiple drives.

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Tue 18 May 2021 20:45
Tire maintenance - skidpan

Are all your tyres (its how the word is spelt) the same brand? Do they all have the same tread depth?

Front tyres on a front wheel drive car heat up faster than the rears, they have more work to do.

There are just too many variables, the car needs a thorough going over by a trusted mechamic if you are concerned and if any tyre is loosing pressure it needs addressing, it will not fix itself.

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Tue 18 May 2021 23:23
Tire maintenance - Andrew-T

It's more a few psi a month on one tire, that could be just bad luck/weather rather than a slow leak.

If it's just one tyre compared to the others, it has a slow puncture or a leaky bead, as I said before. You can pump it every week, or have it fixed when that becomes a chore. Tyres are meant to run at 30-35 psi, but letting that drop to 25 or less is a bad idea.

You say the steering wheel moves. Are the wheels balanced ? If you get a shimmy at 50-60 mph that may be the reason.

Edited by Andrew-T on 18/05/2021 at 23:29

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Wed 19 May 2021 04:23
Tire maintenance - mcb100
What type and age of car are we looking at?
If it’s new, there’s a possibility that it has a ‘lane keep’ system that will nudge the steering wheel to prevent you inadvertently crossing white lines.
Set the tyre pressures, whilst they’re cold, drive for a couple of days and check again, using a tyre pressure gauge. If the pressures are all consistent, no punctures.
The pressures whilst on the move will vary by how much work they have to do. If your route contains a number of roundabouts, I’d expect the left hand front (whilst facing forwards), to be warmer - hence a slightly higher pressure - than the other three.
Cruising along a straight, wet, road, where the tyres are doing very little, pressures will drop again as the water cools the tyres.
I honestly wouldn’t get too hung up on what the Tyre Pressure Monitoring System is telling you, unless it flags up you have a puncture.
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