*Checking BOV Tire Pressure*

By Jaden

10 November 2003

Maintaining your BOV’s tire air pressure is crucial. A slack tire(s) could mean losing control of it and getting into an accident or just having a flat tire. Low tires also decrease your gas mileage, power and handling capabilities.

You only need one tool to check the pressure.

I prefer these type. There are some with a needle gauge, but these have always worked for me. I have a cheesy needle gauge one and it never worked right.

Cheap plastic gauge

On the sidewall of your tire somewhere it will say what to inflate the tire to (whatever). Mine is 40PSI.

Make sure that the slide is pushed all the way in. Then push the head of the gauge onto the valve. The slide will pop out like in the right pic. You can then remove the gauge from the tire stem.

Where the metal meets the plastic (where the #’s are) is the reading.

You can see the increments. 5/10/15/20 and so on up to 50. Each small dot in between is 1 pound.

Ok, so my tires need to be at 40 PSI. I blew them up today to make sure that they were correct. One tire I slightly over inflated to 45 lbs. Dropping the air pressure is really easy.

Use the stub on the head of the gauge and push the valve stem in for a couple seconds. Air will come out. Then recheck the pressure. Keep releasing air until you get the correct reading.

If your area has major temperature changes you’ll notice that on a cold morning the tires look slack. When it warms up the tires look fine. That’s normal. Some tires have summer & winter pressure recommendations. Consult your owner’s manual or look on the tire.