Rental car tyre pressure issue.

[King Herald]

Picked up a car from Europcar at Heathrow and noticed the tyre pressure warning was on. I pulled into a petrol station and types looked okay, no flat or even soft look. When I got to the midlands, to my dads place, I checked the pressures. 38 in three types, 42psi in the one giving the warning!!!

How on earth can that happen, seeing as each car is signed for as 'prepared' by some bozo?

Google tells me 30-32 is recommended pressure.

Adjusted them all, drove it, no tyre pressure warning now.

And it is a lot quieter and smoother too.

[King Herald]

accident said:

so you have a warning light telling you TYRE pressure warning.
your plan is to pull onto a filling station equiped with a TYRE inflator and just look at them?
you then drive from heathrow to the midlands and only then do you actually check the TYRE pressures.

well done

Thank you, I knew someone would have to say it, and you are correct, basically. BUT, I assumed the warning would be for LOW pressure, not far too high, and I could see and feel it was definitely not soft, looked no different than the other three.

The car is a Fiat 500 something or other. There are no tyre pressures marked anywhere in or on the car, though the 'manual' that comes with it states it is inside the filler cap or B pillar. It is not. I can't even tell what model it is, no numbers or letters anywhere in or on the body or paperwork. Just a gutless petrol engined something or other.

Also, no valve caps on the three types that were 38 psi, and a piece of door trim missing from the passenger door.

I shall be having words with them when I take it back on Tuesday. I took the full cover insurance so I was told no worries about inspection before I drove it...... It was the only car left in that class anyway........must be busy, bank holiday etc.

Edited by King Herald on Monday 31st August 03:00

[King Herald]

Chucklehead said:

Have you worked in the industry then?

The threat of death due to negligence and repercussions for lapses in duty of care (in the UK anyway) are so serious that each car rental company has pretty rigorous checks before each rental.

The car felt really twitchy and noisy as hell on the M40, I should have stopped and checked them properly, I know, but I'd been traveling two days already, from a ship in Mexico... Dog tired and fed up of traveling.....

Max tyre pressure I can find for this tyre 145/16 is 33psi ' fully loaded', and that is the rear.

[King Herald]

227bhp said:

The chap who over inflated the tyre was probably more preoccupied with writing a dull and pointless thread on some internet forum to take any notice of what he was doing.

Or maybe he was writing tedious and totally useless answers to some thread...

[King Herald]

Just a thought, but what is the legal penalty for incorrectly inflated types? I assume too hard is as illegal as too soft?

[King Herald]

Just a thought, but what is the legal penalty for incorrectly inflated types? I assume too hard is as illegal as too soft?

[King Herald]

GC8 said:

Too hard is dictated by the writing on the sidewall. Too soft is equally difficult - if it doesnt look flat then it is inflated. I see your point, but the more you think about it the less clear it becomes...

Nothing on the tyre wall about pressure. Maximum weight, all sorts of other drivel, where it was made etc, but I could see no pressure limits.

[King Herald]

Mr2Mike said:

Tyre pressures should be checked cold, not after a long drive to the Midlands which could explain why they are all high.

Tyres were checked after the car had been sat outside in the rain for about four hours.

I spoke to the guy who receives the cars when you drop them off in the early am, he started talking about pressure dropping from 3 bar to 2 bar sets the tyre alarm off....

3 bar is 45psi. Maybe I should have dropped the rear seats down to make it go even faster. (if anybody remembers that particular thread here a few years ago?)