How 60 seconds can save you thousands of dollars.

We know it - checking the air in your tires is one of those nuisance chores that often goes weeks or even months without being done - and what difference does it really make anyway?

Well, I'm here to tell you that properly inflating your tires is one of the primary ways you can both lengthen the life of your tires and also to make sure they're performing at their best in terms of traction, load carrying capacity and soil compaction. Tire manufacturers go to a lot of trouble creating resources (tables, charts, websites, apps) that cover the topic of inflation pressure, all with the hopes of training customers to not ignore this seemingly innocuous chore.

So what are the manufacturers trying to say to you with all this focus on tire air pressure? Why should you check the air in the tires?

Because inflating your tires properly will save you time, money, aggravation, machine down-time, and lost profits. It will allow you to maximize the load carrying capacity of your machines, get over the roads faster, safer and more comfortably, and cause less damage to fields, turf and forest lands. It will allow your tires to wear better and more evenly, expose less sidewall to damaging intrusions, and allow your tires to stay stronger, longer.

Need we say more?

The easiest step you can take to keep up your tires is to get a reliable tire gauge and use it frequently. If you know that this is a task you just won't do, then delegate it to a junior employee or one of your kids on the farm (it helps increase their sense of involvement and builds their values). Monitor tire air pressure in the morning before your machines get rolling, this is the best time to get an accurate reading (under cold weather conditions, you may want to operate for a time before you measure). Since you’re going to go through the trouble of checking your tire pressure, you might as well be as accurate as possible. We make some of the most durable and long-lasting farm, construction and forestry tires on the market; by keeping those tires properly inflated, you’ll make the most of your investment. 

We depend a lot on the simple tire pressure gauge, and because of its importance we suggest replacing it every year. Dust from the inflation valve and water from the air eventually takes a toll on even the best gauges, affecting their accuracy. Our Product Manager Steve Vandergrift, in an article on tire maintenance for Waste Advantage Magazine, suggests purchasing a new tire gauge every October when you get your Halloween candy. Halloween functions as a simple reminder to pick up a simple item. A simple time that increase your bottom line at the end of the year!