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Pre-Travel Information
These actions, along with other care and maintenance activi-
ties, can also:
• Improve vehicle handling.
• Help protect you and others from avoidable break-
downs and accidents.
• Improve fuel economy.
• Increase the life of your tires.
Use this information to make tire safety a regular part of your
vehicle maintenance routine. Recognize that the time you
spend is minimal compared with the inconvenience and safety
consequences of a flat tire or other tire failure.
SAFETY FIRST – BASIC TIRE MAINTENANCE
Properly maintained tires improve the steering, stopping,
traction, and load-carrying capability of your vehicle. Under-in-
flated tires and overloaded vehicles are a major cause of
tire failure. Therefore, as mentioned above, to avoid flat tires
and other types of tire failure, you should maintain proper tire
pressure, observe tire and vehicle load limits, avoid road haz-
ards, and regularly inspect your tires.
RECOMMENDED TIRE PRESSURE & LOAD LIMITS
Tire information placards and vehicle certification labels con-
tain information on tires and load limits. These labels indicate
the vehicle manufacturer’s information including:
• Recommended tire size
• Recommended tire inflation pressure
• Cargo weight (the maximum cargo weight a vehicle is
designed to carry)
• Front and rear gross axle weight ratings (GAWR– the
maximum weight the axle systems are designed to
carry).
Both placards and certification labels are permanently at-
tached to the trailer. See the “Weight Ratings Labels” in this
section for location and detailed information.
UNDERSTANDING TIRE PRESSURE & LOAD LIMITS
Tire inflation pressure is the level of air in the tire that pro-
vides it with load-carrying capacity and affects the overall
performance of the vehicle. The tire inflation pressure is a
number that indicates the amount of air pressure, measured
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