Why Should I Lower My Tire Pressure?

So, you’re cruising down the white sand beaches of Mexico inyour truck with a Diesel Turbocharger, and all your buddies are flying by.  What’s going on? How come they seem to befloating on the sand while you’re struggling? They have exactly the samevehicle as you, right down to the exact same Diesel Injector.  The answer is probably tire pressure.

You may have heard people say that it is good to lower yourtire pressure anytime you go off-roading, but might have never known why. Youprobably don’t want to ask, because not knowing something about off-roadingwould make you seem unmanly. Well, no need to wonder anymore, because I amabout to tell you. The answer is a simple one word solution, FOOTPRINT. Justthink of a camel.  Those things havebigger feet than Shaq, and Mother Nature gave the camel those aircraft carriersfor a reason.  The bigger the foot, thelarger the area to distribute the weight of the camel, which keeps the camel ontop of the sand instead of sinking into it.

When you let air out of you tires it increases the size ofyour cars footprint.  More of your tiretouches the sand.  When you do this youmay think that more of the tire touches in width just by looking at it, but itactually increases the length of the footprint. With this increased length your friends will no longer be leaving you inthe dust… or should I say sand?

Driving in the sand is not the only time when lowering yourtire pressure optimizes your ride. Anytime you are off-road it will help, especially bumpy or rockyroads.  When you go over a rock, a fullyinflated tire has to climb it. Even a small rock can cause the car to thinkit’s about to go up a steep hill. Just driving over a 2x4 piece of wood createsthe same increase in angle as a hill with a 30 degree incline.   When you lower your tire pressure the tiredoesn’t climb the rock or piece of wood, it engulfs it.  Your car stays flat on the road while yourtire eats up the rock and spits it out the back.

Remember when you get back on a hard surface to reflate yourtires.  Tires with low pressure easilybend and break wheels, and driving too fast could overheat your tires. Thelower your pressures are set the lower the speed you should drive.

Cars to Avoid on Friday the 13th

Car Problems are a scary thing.  It does not matter whether it’s a faultyDiesel Injector or a malfunctioning Engine Control Module.  The issue is either going to cause unsafedriving, or scare the stuffing out of your wallet.  Although failing car parts are bone-chilling,cars themselves can be even more menacing. Over the years, the movie industry has tapped into this and has given ussome classic movie villains.  While themovie, Friday the 13^th did not star any of these vehicles, I thoughtI would mention some of the definitive horror cars to honor this day.

Any conversation about horror movies and cars must start withChristine.  The killer in this JohnCarpenter movie was a 1958 Plymouth Fury. In Stephen King’s book Christine was haunted by her past owner, but inthe movie adaptation the car was born bad. The film’s tagline claims the vehicle was possessed by Hell.  So, before you decide to restore an oldPlymouth make sure you warn your girlfriend, because it may try to kill her.

One of the creepier cars to grace the silver screen was therusty old 1941 ChevyCOE (Cab Over Engine) in Jeeper Creepers.  The movie starts off with a young brother andsister driving back from spring break in a 1960 Chevy Impala.  As they drive through some corn fields themassive COE tries to run them off the road. Then a bunch of people die, more non-car related stuff happens, the driverof the COE grows wings and I think someone gets eaten.  At least I know the COE’s license plate was,B EATING U, so someone better have gotten eaten.

Stephen King makes his second contribution to this list withhis 80’s horror movie stinker Maximum Overdrive.  In this movie, Emilio Estevez is chased by abunch of vehicles that came alive because of a freak radiation storm.  The leader of these deadly automobiles is aWhite Western Star 4800 semi-truck, with the face of Green Goblin fromSpiderman.  Unlike the Spiderman moviethis Green Goblin was not voiced by Willem Dafoe, it simply made a lot of vroomvroom and toot toot sounds.

Honorable mentions go to, Herbie from The Love Bug and TheDelorean from Back to the Future 2. Herbie makes the list because anything thathas to do with Lindsay Lohan scares the me. Sadly, the Dolorean gets a mention because Back to the Future 2 was oneof the worst sequels of all time, It was scary bad.  Also, it’s 2012… WHERE IS MY HOVERBOARD!!!

Hope you have a frightening Friday the 13^th Muahahahahaha