PSI

I'm not a car person. I still drive the first car I've ever bought and owned, a 1997 Honda Civic EX. Yes, it's black. Yes, I'm asian.

But I do get a little obsessive when it comes to car maintenance and the latest zit on my mind was tire pressure.

My wife's Subaru Outback LL Bean edition has a leaky tire that I refill with air every once in a while but never checked the psi before. When I brought it in for a checkup at the dealer I asked them to be sure to check the pressure in the tires. They assured that they had when all was said and done. Shortly after I noticed that the leaky tire was low again, so I read up on the manual on what the correct psi is for front and back tires (30 psi front, 29 psi back) and got out my trusty tire pressure gauge (pictured above) and checked the pressure on ALL the tires.
Front driver side: 20 psi
Front passenger side (leaky): 10 psi
back driver side: 35 psi
back passenger side: 37 psi

Needless to say I corrected the tire pressure for all four wheels and keep an eye on the leaky one. My wife said she immediately noticed a difference in the way the car handled.

Then I checked MY car's tire pressure...
Front driver side: 20 psi
Front passenger side (leaky): 10 psi
back driver side: 20 psi
back passenger side: 15 psi

I corrected these as well and I did notice a difference in handling although it could be my imagination.

Moral of the story. Go get yourself a tire gauge. Check your tires when they're cold - as in not driven for at least 2 hrs. Add or release air as necessary.

From your friendly car maintenance man,
Fred.