# Driving Cross-Country

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-cross-country/89405>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Tags:** hyundai, elantra, maintenance\
**Created:** [March 23, 2015, 8:30pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-cross-country/89405 "2015-03-23T20:30:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 7:48pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-cross-country/89405/21 "2015-03-25T19:48:21Z")

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Changing pressure is OK as long as it’s done first thing in the morning, before any driving.

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**Author:** ![keith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/keith/32/5518_2.png) [@keith](https://community.cartalk.com/u/keith)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 9:07pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/driving-cross-country/89405/22 "2015-03-29T21:07:39Z")

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Seriously, do you guys change your tire pressure everyday based on the lowest expected temperature for that day? Ideally set the pressure when the tires are at 68°F and leave it, that is the standard temperature that engineers use when making these recommendations. I use an IR thermometer on my tires before filling them and I adjust the pressure based on 1 psi rise for every 10°F rise in temperature, and I use a calibrated digital tire gauge that reads in increments of 0.1 psi.

I just completed a cross country (4300 mile trip) and I used my own advice. No tire trouble, in fact I have made a lot of cross country trips, several per year over the last 50 years of driving and have never had a tire issue while on one of these trips. i have had a tire issues from an occasion nail or other foreign object while doing local driving, but I check the tires very carefully before going on a trip. I may forget to check the oil, but I always check the tires.

While on this trip, I only saw one car on the side of the road with the hood up, but I saw about a half dozen changing tires along the side of the road.

A couple years ago, I made a 7000 mile trip on tires that had 92k miles on them and were down to 4/32" tread. The tires were premium tires and only 4 years old so based on the rate of tread wear, I did not see any problems, and they made the trip just fine, and another few thousand miles more when I got back. They still had plenty of life in them when I replaced them, but I saw a really good deal on new tires that I could not pass up.

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