Cheat Sheet
Tire Pressure Cheat Sheet
Check pressures cold — before driving, or 3+ hours parked. A tire that "looks fine" can be 10 PSI low. That's the trap.
Cold PSI targets
Typical Class 8 — check YOUR door placard / tire sidewall. Your placard beats this sheet.
The routine
- Monthly, cold. Same day each month. Takes 5 minutes.
- Before winter. Cold air drops pressure ~1 PSI per 5°C. A tire set in October is low by December if you don't recheck.
- After any long sit. Trucks that sat a week leak down.
- Use a real gauge. A $10–16 digital gauge beats the gas-station air chuck guess every time.
The math
10 PSI underinflated ≈ 2% extra fuel (DOE figures).
On a $50,000 diesel year, that's $1,000/year leaking out your sidewalls.
A $10 gauge and 5 minutes at the pump ends it.
Same physics, your car
Soft tires tax every kilometre you drive — car, pickup, or rig. Check them cold, monthly, same routine.
Research-based. We did not test gauges hands-on. Figures from published DOE data; your truck's placard is the final word on PSI.
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