Keep Your Car Tuned

Print This Page

How to take action

• Keep your tires properly inflated. Tires that are below their optimum pressure produce more drag and cause your car to burn more fuel – just one tire under-inflated by 8 psi can increase your fuel consumption by 4%. Under-inflated tires also wear out faster and create safety risks. Buy an inexpensive tire pressure gauge and check your tires monthly, when they are cold. This will help you save money on gas and give you an early warning if you develop a slow leak.
• Have your tires aligned and wheels balanced regularly. Correct tire alignment and wheel balance enhance your car's handling, reduce wear, and improve your fuel efficiency. It's recommended that you balance tires annually, or every 25,000 km, and have wheels aligned every 20,000 km, or anytime you feel a vibration while driving.
• Buy motor oil that is rated as being "energy conserving" – this can improve your fuel efficiency by as much as 2.7%. Purchasing the lowest multigrade of oil recommended for your car also helps fuel efficiency. You can also buy recycled, re-refined oil certified with the EcoLogo mark. This performs as well as "virgin" other motor oils. (If you change your oil yourself, be sure to take your old oil to a service station for recycling. One litre of engine oil can contaminate 2 million litres of water.)
• Perform your own monthly check on your vehicle, and take it for a professional tune-up once a year. Ensuring that cooling, ignition, and other vehicle systems are running smoothly keeps your fuel consumption down.
• To keep tabs on your fuel efficiency, track your consumption. At every fill-up, write down your current vehicle mileage and the number of litres you've just added to the tank (always fill the tank full for accurate comparisons). The distance since your last fill divided by the amount of fuel you just added, gives your km per litre (or miles per gallon) performance. To make it easy, try an on-line fuel consumption calculator.

Why it makes a difference

• With proper tire maintenance, the average Canadian driver can save two weeks worth of gas each year. It's estimated that under-inflated tires alone cost Canadian light-duty vehicle owners more than $500 million per year in wasted fuel.
• Since every litre of fuel consumed by a vehicle contributes to global warming by releasing 2.4 kg of carbon dioxide, good tire maintenance across the country could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1.5 million tonnes per year.
• Well-maintained tires last longer. Over time, fewer tires are used, transported, and sent to landfill, reducing our environmental impact. A tire that is under-inflated by 8 psi will have a lifespan reduced by 15,000 km.

For more information

• Watch online tire maintenance videos, produced by the "Be Tire Smart – Play your PART" campaign.