Tired of Checking Your Tire Pressure? Here’s a New Way

When was the last time you checked the pressure in your car’s tires? The standard recommendation is to check the pressure and treadmonthly. Formany drivers, however, getting out a tire gauge or looking for a free air pump with built-in pressure reader is simply a bothersome and overlooked chore. Still, the factremains: Drivingon underinflated tires is dangerous.

Tires with low pressure can overheat and are a leading cause of blowouts and accidents; over-inflation can affect driving performance and cause uneven wear. At the very least, you won’t get optimal gas mileage without correct tire pressure and may end up having to replace those expensive tread more often.

Tire tread depth is another issue. How often do most motorists get out a coin and try to determine how much tread is left on each of their four tires? Probably not very often. Low-tread tires can affect a car’s braking ability or result in hydroplaning, a serious situation in which the vehicle’s tires leave the pavement and “ride” on a road’s wet surface.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website, safecar.gov, nearly 11,000 accidents per year result from tire failure, and in 2017 tire-related accidents were responsible for 738 deaths. Taking a few minutes to check tire pressure can literally save a life – maybe even yours.

Keeping up with your tires’ pressure and tread depth is a serious issue with a simple solution – at least it is in lower Troup County – and it’s as easy as making a quick visit to the Ga/Al Line, I-85 Georgia Visitor Information Center/ Rest Area, mile marker one, just north from Lanett, Ala.

Drivers, who want to check their tires for pressure, depth, and now sidewall reading, don’t even have to exit their vehicles. Simply pull into the Rest Area and drive around to the other side of the Visitor’s Center to the “Wheel Right” drivethrough tire safety station. Instructions on how to use the station are simple and easy to follow. After driving slowly up to the Kiosk, motorists will stop to receive a detailed printout of their tires’ results.

If the tires need air, then it’s just a short trip around to the front of the Visitors Center to a free pump, where there’s a second perk: Punch in the tire’s maximum inflation pressure, or PSI (pounds per square inch) information – found on a sticker in the door jam, trunk lid, fuel lid, center console, or owner’s manual – then attach the gauge, and once the proper PSI is reached, the pump will “beep,” signaling the correct pressure, and letting the user know it’s time to move to the next tire. (A tire’s PSI is usually between 30 and 35.) The Wheel Right system is a full-proof way to check and secure proper tire pressure.

To learn more about the Wheel Right system, the partnership between The Ray, Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia (KMMG) and the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), and “The Ray,” an innovative, 18-mile “highway of the future,” visit: https://theray.org/ And those who have their tires checked at the Visitors Center soon will get an extra freebie: a breathtaking display of median wildflowers sure to please the eye and stir the soul.

The author of this article can be reached via email at info@troupcountynews. net