Hey guys,
Quick question, will driving around with low tire pressure do damage to anything except the tire? i found myself to be driving around a bit with lower than normal air pressure. I didn't notice the leak until it was kind of low on air and the thing read like 20-25 PSI's at times. But besides damage to the already unrepairable tire, do you think i did any damage to the suspension driving around like that? Still waiting for my tirerack tires to come in.

thanks

 

Suspension, no. Wheels, probably not. I think you'll be fine. Just keep a closer eye on things from now on. The only damage you probably did was to your gas milage. Driving on under-inflated tires will kill it.

 

Ok... just asking becuase before my tsx went in for the brake job, it was fine. But afterwards, on the highway at 70mph, there's an ever so slight vibration in the steering wheel. But new tires should be here by tomorrow. So... we'll see when they install the new ones and i torque everything down to spec, whether or not it's still there.

 

normal air pressure is 14 psi, make sure u stay above that so ur rims dont rub, other than that just be careful

 

The new tires should solve that vibration.

 

Thanks for the advice. UPS just dropped off my yoko Avid V4's so ill see if a shop still has time to install them today.

 

Nah... rims appear to be fine. Just worried about suspension because suspension damage is not easily spotted and can cause cupping of the tires and uneven wear.

 

What do you mean normal pressure?

 

I thought normal pressure was 34/32.

 

^^ I believe he means normal atmospheric pressure.
1 atm = 14.6956 psi

 

Lemme guess.... We're on Candid Camera, right?

 

It would not be a good idea to travel on tires that are inflated to atmospheric pressure.

 

Could damage the sidewall if it's really under-inflated.

 

lol, like i was saying above, the tire can't be patched anyways so i'll hve to throw it out. So trashing the sidewall is ok with me.
Just didn't want to damage any other components while at it. It wasnt like it did it intentionally, i didn't notice it until i got out since it was stop and go traffic all the way home.

 

Dang... they finished up the install at like 5:30pm and i can definately tell that the ride is much quieter and smoother. But there's a slight vibration in the steering like something's not balanced. Either that or the lugs weren't torqued properly. I'm going to go out there and retorque them myself with a torque wrench to see if that fixes things. I also had to redo the tire pressure. None of them were 32psi. They ranged from 25psi all the way to 30psi.

 

hehe, yeah. I was going to say as much... but couldn't find the "right" words.

 

I think you are correct, however it does not work like he apparently thinks it does. A tire reading a pressure of 1 ATM is NOT at equalibrium with the air outside the tire, which is what I gather he thinks.

As to the original thread only tire damage UNLESS the low pressure causes a significant amount of ocillation which could wear the suspension faster than usual, or it is low enough to allow wheel damage, the later is an easy inspection and the former is not likely in a short period of time and you would notice it anyway.

 

Thanks for the words everyone.
I didn't drive on it too long too low. So i think i sohuld be ok
I just got the new tires put on yesterday and then they rebalanced today because there was a vibration. Vibration is about 95% gone now but still there. Tire place refuses to dismount the tire and remount in order to match up the colored dot to the wheel. Plus... today when i was retorqueing my lugs i noticed that they'd scratched 2 of my rims. They will probably pay for it. But should i let them refinish that one spot? Or do i demand they buy me new ones?