Cold Weather is Screwing Up Your Tire Pressure

I don't know about you, but my house has been whipped into a frenzy this past week since Mother Nature can't make up her mind about what season it is.

The three vehicles in my home (mine, my wife's, and my daughter's) all have the same problem. Apparently they all need new tires because each of them has a tire pressure warning.

Turns out, that's not the case at all and the tires are perfectly fine.

Since we saw 70° temps last week and in a matter of days the mercury dropped to below freezing, our tire pressure monitoring systems freaked out. But they do not need to be replaced either.

Your tire pressure will fluctuate with the temperature: for every 10 degree drop, tire PSI drops by about 1 pound per square inch. So you monitoring system is correct and you probably don't have a leak.

Just to be safe, always keep a pressure gauge in your car so you can check tire pressure before you drive off. Keep an eye on the PSI until the weather evens out.

If it seems like you have a constant leak, we got this email from a mechanic that might help:

Moisture gets into the bead of the alloy wheel and causes corrosion over time which in turn causes a slow leak. The tires need to come off the wheel and the bead of the wheel needs to be cleaned off to get the corrosion off. Then remount tire and fill with air and all should be fine for a few years until it happens again.