I am in the process of vacuuming and otherwise cleaning my 2008 TCH's interior including the trunk, and I decided to check on the spare tire's inflation. Well, to my surprise it read (on my digital gauge) 35.5 psi!

I checked the manual, the sidewall of the spare, and the little yellow sticker on the "floor" of the trunk, and they all say inflate to 60 PSI. I've only been driving my TCH for a year and a half, should I really add 25 more PSI to the spare?

My hesitation is this: it feels solid enough, and though it clearly states to inflate to 60 PSI, I don't want to over-inflate it! Help! What have you guys noticed and done about this?

Thanks!

 

60 psi is what the manual recommends. 60 psi is what I've put in every small spare I've had. It's a very small tire and needs all that air pressure (or something close to it) to properly support the car.

If, like most people, you don't check the pressure often, then you have all the more reason to put the full 60 psi in.

 

Stick with the 60 psi recommendation on the sidewall. High pressure temporary spares tend to lose their air a bit quicker, and this is compounded by less frequent checks, due the increased difficulty in getting at them: in my experience I've always had to haul it out to get at the valve.

 

The only way to be sure that your spare tire will never be flat when you need it is to have an air compressor. There are a number of small air-compressors on the market. Several brands are made to plug in to a cigarette lighter outlet, and are small enough to keep in the trunk. I use a medium size tool bag for the emergency kit, and keep it in the trunk. The emergency kit contains one of those compressors, along with jumper cables, wind-up flash light, emergency flares, extra fuses, a tire-plug kit, a few hand tools, and a reflective vest, and a poncho. I have never needed to use any of that stuff to help myself. But, it has come in handy to help other people from time to time.

 

Awesome advice, this weekend I will be re-filling my spare up to the 60 psi! I'm surprised that in a little less than two years, it lost nearly half the air pressure just sitting there, crazy!

As for the other emergency stuff SteveHansen mentioned, I do have a question about the jumper cables: I thought I read somewhere that it's unsafe, or unwise, or both to use the 12V battery accessible in the trunk to jumpstart other cars? Perhaps this warning was to reduce the risk of damaging the battery (that would lead to the high replacement cost talked about in a thread concerning said battery)? Any thoughts?

 

See my post (#2) in

https://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/...45/#post143515


It isn't a problem if you are careful.