Are Your Tires Properly Inflated?

Seriously, how did this suddenly come up in the national political discourse?

Apparently, when one presidential candidate mentioned that making sure that the tires on our cars are up to proper inflation would be a good way to save on gas, this is a cause for derision and mocking.

OK, I understand, asking for rational and reasoned discourse concerning energy policy from politicians, especially political operatives that recently worked with Karl Rove, is probably asking too much.

And I also understand that as a car guy, writing for other car guys, saying that ‘You should check to see if your tires are properly inflated,” is pretty damn close to an insult. Hell, who doesn’t know what their tires are inflated to; I can tell you that mine are at 32 PSi on each corner, give or take half a PSI.

How can I tell you this with such certainty? Because tires are fricking important, that’s why. Like the Goodyear tire rep said to me at the track one day, “Sooner or later, it all comes down to tires.” He’s right. Doesn’t mater if you have a 1000 HP engine, if your trying to put that power down through bald, bias-ply tires 2 inches wide, you might as well have a 25 HP engine. And how do you think bald, bias-ply 2 inch wide tires will effect your cornering or breaking, regardless of the big break kit you just installed or those bitchin’ coilovers.

What this political maneuvering points out is something pretty damn annoying. Professional campaigners, of any given party, will exploit any given advantage that they find (especially pipe-hitting SOBs like Karl Roves acolytes), that’s what they do. Asking them to “keep things on the up-and-up” or “run a respectful campaign” is like asking a shark to “not the eat children”.

So if they’re bringing this up, it means there’s a significant number of drivers out there that don’t think their tires are that big of a deal, or should be checked or monitored.

That’s pretty disturbing, because, like the Goodyear tire rep said, “Sooner or later, it all comes down to tires.”

Source: Turn on the TV”news” (but not for that long, there’s nothing of value there)

Filed Under: Car News