I saw a low tire pressure alert in orange. On the touch screen, it's showing my front passenger side tire at 35 psi and driver side at 36 psi, both in orange colour. The rear tires show 36 psi as well but in black colour. On the same screen on the top, it says 'Recommended Cold Pressure front and rear 42 at psi. So the question is should I fill the air only in my front passenger tire to inflate it to 36 psi, or should I inflate all 4 tires to 42 psi? It's a winter season and cold in my region. Thanks.
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Tire Pressure Alert
- Thread starter IntroversionEx
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Use the tire pressure display before driving and when reaching the pump to tell how much "extra" to put in.The only problem with driving the car to get the car’s tires filled is now you’re not checking and filling the tires at their cold pressure since driving warms them up. I’m sure they’re close enough though
Or pump it up at home.
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Shelburne
Member
ALWAYS keep ALL your tires at 42PSI (or at least within 2PSI of that), measured when the tires are cold. I bought an air compressor from the Tesla store. I think it was $80. You plug it into the 12v outlet in the center console. It's really very simple and only takes a few minutes to do. The best time to check the air pressure is first thing in the morning after the car has sat idle overnight. And I always double check the air pressure with an old fashion tire gauge too. It's going to cost you at least $800 to replace those tires, so take care of them. 35 PSI is certainly too low. This is true no matter the time of year.
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Thank you for the great advice. Could we say how frequently should one be checking the tire pressure?
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I don't want to pull too hard on some of these strongly held opinions, so let me suggest this to the OP:
Why don't you talk to some folks that know air pressure and what it all means in the real world. Find some guys doing road racing, maybe a few truck drivers, somebody running a taxi service, a fleet manager of sales folks in sedans, etc..
My bet: This concern about being at 35 won't be supported by those with decades of driving and millions of miles. What I expect you'll learn is that tire profile (and thus wear) can change under both serious over or underinflation, (like 28 and 50), while things like turn-in, feel, and grip are the issues between say 35 and 45. Comfort and efficiency too of course, but if you find anybody that thinks you're compromising safety or creating excessive tire wear at say 38psi instead of 42 well, I'll be mighty surprised. In fact, I can tell you mine will be at 42 right until I take delivery. I'm going to let the air out and replace it with nitrogen and set them at.... 38.
One thing to know: Tire load capability is highly affected by tire pressure. If you're carrying lots of weight or people, towing, or playing on off-ramps it's 40 PSI time, then adjust for handling & feel.
Another thing: Aside from load there are three things pushing mfg's to higher air pressure. 1) Bent rims. These tall rim/short aspect ratio tires will ruin a rim in a heartbeat with low air. You HAVE to run lots of air if you're running 45 series tires, as an example. 2) Efficiency. You'll see posts here, and advertisements from marketing, all about miles per watt. Want a bigger number? Push more air in the tire! 3) Speed. If you're going to support a car to say 135mph, such a car/tire combination is almost always going to include higher air pressure. Not gonna play boy racer? Well....
Did you know Tesla varies air pressure requirements based on rim size on many of their vehicles? See #1 above...
I ordered 19's explicitly so I could air down to 38 and have some "cushion" (pun intended) before bending a rim. In fact, soon I'll be asking if others have used the old "3"'s 18" rims on a "Y" as I'm inclined to put snow's on the 19's just as soon as OEM tires wear out. I'll know when I need more air, and in fact I'll know if I can drop down more too Sadly, it looks like the TPMS is set at 35 so I may not have that card to play.
Luck to you,
-d
Why don't you talk to some folks that know air pressure and what it all means in the real world. Find some guys doing road racing, maybe a few truck drivers, somebody running a taxi service, a fleet manager of sales folks in sedans, etc..
My bet: This concern about being at 35 won't be supported by those with decades of driving and millions of miles. What I expect you'll learn is that tire profile (and thus wear) can change under both serious over or underinflation, (like 28 and 50), while things like turn-in, feel, and grip are the issues between say 35 and 45. Comfort and efficiency too of course, but if you find anybody that thinks you're compromising safety or creating excessive tire wear at say 38psi instead of 42 well, I'll be mighty surprised. In fact, I can tell you mine will be at 42 right until I take delivery. I'm going to let the air out and replace it with nitrogen and set them at.... 38.
One thing to know: Tire load capability is highly affected by tire pressure. If you're carrying lots of weight or people, towing, or playing on off-ramps it's 40 PSI time, then adjust for handling & feel.
Another thing: Aside from load there are three things pushing mfg's to higher air pressure. 1) Bent rims. These tall rim/short aspect ratio tires will ruin a rim in a heartbeat with low air. You HAVE to run lots of air if you're running 45 series tires, as an example. 2) Efficiency. You'll see posts here, and advertisements from marketing, all about miles per watt. Want a bigger number? Push more air in the tire! 3) Speed. If you're going to support a car to say 135mph, such a car/tire combination is almost always going to include higher air pressure. Not gonna play boy racer? Well....
Did you know Tesla varies air pressure requirements based on rim size on many of their vehicles? See #1 above...
I ordered 19's explicitly so I could air down to 38 and have some "cushion" (pun intended) before bending a rim. In fact, soon I'll be asking if others have used the old "3"'s 18" rims on a "Y" as I'm inclined to put snow's on the 19's just as soon as OEM tires wear out. I'll know when I need more air, and in fact I'll know if I can drop down more too Sadly, it looks like the TPMS is set at 35 so I may not have that card to play.
Luck to you,
-d
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So, this is one of those questions that gets answered, first, as, "It Depends."
Let's say one doesn't have excessively leaky tires. Keep the temperature the same and the tires will lose, say, about 1 psi a month. Which, in theory, if one is trying to stay around 42 psi, one would only need to check and adjust the pressure once every month or two.
But then one runs into Physics. The standard pressure equation from good old high school chemistry, is
PV = n*R*T
Where P is pressure, V is the volume, n is the number of moles, R is a fudge factor, and T is a temperature on an absolute temperature scale. Like, for example, Kelvin. Or Rankine, which is the Fahrenheit equivalent. Let's stick with Kelvin for the moment.
If we're looking at Pressure, volume is fixed, let's say that "n" is fixed, R is fixed, and T is in Kelvin.
Room temperature = 25C; Kelvin is 273 plus that = 25+273 = 298K
Let's say the temperature drops to freezing. that's 0C, or 273K.
What does the pressure do?
P = n*R*T/V, but Delta-P = n*R*delta-T/V
And, yeah, this actually works, even with PSI being in pounds per square inch.
So, let's say that P = 45 psi. Then, n*R/V = P/T, so we got n*R/V = 45/298 = 0.151.
So, Delta-P = 0.151*(Delta-T). If we got Delta-T = (273-298) = -25, then the Pressure difference is a-gonna be 0.151*(-25) = -3.77 psi. So, instead of being at 45 psi, one will be at about 41.
So, if one is old-school and doesn't have TPMS (describing me and VW Beetles back in 1971), one checks the air pressure about every other week. Because air leaks. Because temperature changes. Etc. Bicycle tires are the same way, only, with typically higher pressures at 65 to 90 psi, they naturally leak more, so drop off more rapidly.
But! You're Driving A Tesla! Reach up the Ye Screen and, just below the image of the car, there's a little panel that (typically) has one's streaming service or radio station on it. Swipe to the left twice - and there's your tire pressures. Alternatively, hit the bottom left corner "car" symbol and tap the Service menu. And there's your tire pressures!
Check it once a week or so. If it's low, go fill your tires up. If it's high (happens when the temperatures zoom from freezing to the 70's, or 70's to the 90's), go let some air out of your tires.
If you're going on a long trip, check your tire pressures, just like you check that you got snacks and drinks in the back.
Tesla's certainly don't need much maintenance, but tire pressures is one of those that drivers should do and don't need a service station employee to do.
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The newest software revisions have a lower left display than can be changed between audio system, trip numbers, and tire pressure. If you leave it at tire pressure, then checking as often as you like is trivial.
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I bought a digital inflator/gauge to use with my compressor and it is dead accurate. After a trip to the cold in December the tires went all out of whack. I filled them at a station with quarters and when I got home saw everything was off again so I figured it would be good to get consistent readings. The only problem is that the compressor is heavy to lug up from the basement. At least it has a long hose. I put them at 42 when the car was cold and they've stayed there so far.
As for a bicycle pump, I wouldn't want to even try. That'll be a lot of pumping. Even using a road bike pump on a mountain bike with fat tires takes a lot of work. I pump my road tires up to 105, mtb around 65-85. Bike pumps don't move a lot of air even if they go high pressure.
As for a bicycle pump, I wouldn't want to even try. That'll be a lot of pumping. Even using a road bike pump on a mountain bike with fat tires takes a lot of work. I pump my road tires up to 105, mtb around 65-85. Bike pumps don't move a lot of air even if they go high pressure.
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If you have the audio system display in the lower left of the screen (the default when the new software version with it was installed), you can try swiping it right and left to find the trip number screen and tire pressure screen.
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I found that a bicycle pump takes about 10 strokes per psi (for a car tire, not a huge truck / SUV tire).
Perhaps a high volume bicycle pump intended for mountain bike tires (lower pressure limit, but still plenty for car tires) may work better.
You may not want to use a bicycle pump to pump up a car tire from flat, but it works fine for adding a few psi to adjust the cold tire pressure in your garage.
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Yeah, well, I wouldn’t want to use one of those clip-to-the-frame pumps that are better than nothing when one has a bicycle tire flat on a road trip. Slow, yeah.
The pump type I had in mind would be ye olde upright, two hands on the handle, gauge at the bottom, and a place to put one’s foot to keep it from running away. For better or worse I’ve always had one of those around whatever car or garage I’ve had since forever. Since one can get one’s weight on the handle, putting 5 psi on a tire can be done in around a minute of bouncing up and down.
Since cheap 12V compressors became available some 20 years ago, I’ll admit that I keep one of those in the trunk these days: less room used and all that. But it’s about the same speed as the upright manual one, really. Especially as the manual one doesn’t require unwrapping the cord, fishing it in and plugging it into the car, and then having to pass it back and forth from side to side when doing both sides. YMMV.
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Shelburne
Member
I bought a nifty little compressor at the Tesla store for about $80. You just plug it into the 12v outlet (AKA cigarette lighter plug) in the console. It has 2 settings: one is for just air, the other is for inflating and sealing punctured tires. I haven't had a puncture yet, but I use the compressor frequently in the winter when temps can fluctuate wildly. It takes about 2 mutes for each pound of air pressure added to each tire. You can probably find something similar on Amazon or any auto parts store too.
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I was talking about upright ones in my post. I think you are underestimating how much effort it will be, although I'll admit I've never tried it. A 700x25 bike tire doesn't take much air to get to 100psi.
I only paid $20 for my inflator, but I had a compressor already. It only takes about 15 seconds to go from almost flat to proper pressure. I also have a very long air hose that reaches all 4 tires even with the compressor on my porch. Of course this is restricted to home use. When I needed a carpeting tacker to recarpet some stairs, I bought a much cheaper pneumatic one too. When I originally bought the compressor and nail gun as a combo I figured I'd never use it again after the DIY job I did, but it comes in handy.
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