Urgent: Can I drive to the vet on low tire pressure?

August 3, 2021 6:47 AM

I have to leave for the vet by car or by cab in fifteen minutes. I have borrowed a car. The "low tire pressure" light is on. The vet is 2 miles away. Can I drive?
posted by Frowner to Travel & Transportation (22 answers total)

Yes, it's fine. That's a very short distance, you'd likely drive as far to a gas station to add air!
posted by DarlingBri at 6:50 AM on August 3, 2021 [19 favorites]

I'm no expert, but: assuming none of the tires are visibly flat and road conditions are good, I'd do it without too much concern. After all, I've driven farther than that to get to a gas station with a working air machine when my tire pressure is low.
posted by mosst at 6:51 AM on August 3, 2021 [8 favorites]

If none of the tires are visibly flat, it’s probably fine. Do you have a tire gauge? (If not, buy one.)
posted by zamboni at 6:52 AM on August 3, 2021 [3 favorites]

Also, since it's a borrowed car, there may be some sort of issue with the tire pressure monitoring system anyways that they may have forgotten to mention. I've had experience with more than one car where at least one of the sensors sensors has crapped out (or been thrown off by different-brand tires) and so it's not always reliable anyways.
posted by mosst at 6:53 AM on August 3, 2021 [9 favorites]

As long as the tires aren’t visibly flat, you’re fine. A flat tire is very obvious - the rim would be essentially on the ground except for flattened, uninflated rubber
posted by glaucon at 6:53 AM on August 3, 2021 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: The notification said to check a specific tire - it might feel a little softer in the sidewall than the others but I can't really tell. It's not my car so I have no tire gauge and I haven't put air in a car's tires in fifteen years and do not remember how. I am afraid that I would just deflate the tire if I tried.
posted by Frowner at 6:54 AM on August 3, 2021

So long as the car does not drive weird or make weird noises, you're fine for 2 miles. Sometimes it is hard to tell just how flat a tire is by looking at it, so I would go off the driving feel/noise more than how it looks. But 2 miles is short and probably OK, especially if you are not going on a highway.
posted by Mid at 6:55 AM on August 3, 2021 [1 favorite]

You might text the owner and ask them if this is a "known issue." Our low pressure light is on permanently because someone stole our spare tire and the little pressure sensor with it.
posted by Mid at 6:56 AM on August 3, 2021

Since you are probably not familiar with the car; I know with mine that I can re-calibrate the tire pressure check by pushing some buttons on my display...may not be necessary, but the re-calibration often gets rid of the message and brings peace of mind. If the tire pressure message still shows up, no big deal for your drive; but at least validates it.
posted by BozoBurgerBonanza at 6:59 AM on August 3, 2021

Response by poster: Just got a text from the car owner saying that it is not a thing, so I guess we're all set. Whew! None the less, thank you very much, everyone - if the car owner had not seen the text/been awake (works odd hours) I would really have needed all this advice.

Now I just have to go to the vet! (Insert sad cat emoji)
posted by Frowner at 7:05 AM on August 3, 2021 [19 favorites]

For anyone who may come across this in the future, it’s also pretty normal that the tire pressure decreases overnight as temperature lower and then is at a normal pressure again during the day. This is most common in the spring/fall when you see those temperature swings.
posted by raccoon409 at 7:07 AM on August 3, 2021 [5 favorites]

Not sure where you are, but my previous car would light up the low pressure light when there was a change in the weather -- and almost always in the spring, right about the time temps are warming up. I've had this happen on rentals, too, after driving from a cool area to a warm one.

My response is to check the air pressure and fill it a little if it's genuinely down--couldn't hurt.
posted by gimonca at 7:10 AM on August 3, 2021 [3 favorites]

Now that that is solved, can we get a picture (tax) of the cute animal that went to the vet?
posted by AugustWest at 8:10 AM on August 3, 2021 [4 favorites]

Another response for posterity: the TPMS light can also indicate a malfunction, such as an inability to contact one or more sensors for some reason or another (they're broken or missing). I've definitely run across wheels that were simply without a sensor, a little device that sits beneath the valve inside rach the tire/wheel assembly, often because it broke and was replaced with a "normal" valve either due to cost or availability. I'm not sure if there's a standard, but the "can't contact the sensor" indication is often different than the "low pressure" indication--it might blink, for instance.

I suspect this is especially common in older cars, as TPMS has been around for a while. If one goes to the corner tire shop to get a patch or buy a single used tire and the TPMS is a problem they'll definitely just sub in a "dumb" valve (Ask me how I know! This is in general not a best practice but if you don't have the money for a set it's definitely better than not having a car to drive). If in doubt, fall back to checking tire pressure with the pencil gauge in the glove box. Every car should have one.
posted by pullayup at 8:14 AM on August 3, 2021

I once had to drive my car to the nearest car place (a few miles away) with a completely flat tire. It was noisy AF and everyone stared at me driving down the street, but technically I could do it...and had to!

I have also driven around with low tire pressure because I'm incompetent at filling my own tires with air. It probably won't kill you to drive around the town if you have to, just don't hit the freeway.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:51 AM on August 3, 2021

Yes, it's fine. That's a very short distance, you'd likely drive as far to a gas station to add air!

For fullness of reply, if the tyre is visibly flat or deflated noticeably, this is absolutely NOT fine even for a distance as short as 2 miles. If the tyre doesn't look normally inflated it damages it to drive on as the sidewall doesn't have enough support and this can permanently damage the tyre, leading to a blow out later on, often at highway speeds. DO NOT DRIVE ON A FLAT LOOKING TYRE.

Having said that, I am happy to ignore tyre pressure warning lights as long as I kick the tyre or otherwise check that it is at least close to how the others look/act and drive to an air machine to check the pressure.
posted by Brockles at 8:52 AM on August 3, 2021 [12 favorites]

As everyone has already explained...

If the tires look okay, and are not visibly low on one or more of the tires, then it should be fine to drive.

TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system) will light up if it's not getting a proper signal from one or more of the four tires. It doesn't necessarily mean a low pressure in one of the tires. ALWAYS backup with visual observations.
posted by kschang at 9:17 AM on August 3, 2021

Good day for me to see this thread. I just had the TPMS light go on in my newly acquired used car. Newly acquired because the rear axle on my previous car broke in half while I was driving it, sending a rear wheel flying off and scaring me half to death. I turned around and went to the mechanic for a "physical" for the new car, because I just can't have anything scary happen again for a while--but I do suspect it's just a sensor thing, because the tires looked and felt fine and it also messed slightly with the digital odometer display. I'm glad to see this many choruses of "sensor!"
posted by dlugoczaj at 10:47 AM on August 3, 2021

In my neck of the woods, many service stations have auto-filling air pumps where you set a desired tire pressure and the pump will automatically fill the tire to that level. So if you don't have a gauge, you could look around for such a device.
posted by Johnny Assay at 10:53 AM on August 3, 2021 [1 favorite]

Many chain tire shops will check your tires for pressure and top off the ones that need it, as well as offer any observations about your tires, all for free. I did this once, and the one thing they didn't do is reset the TPMS light, which actually involved a hidden button in the glove compartment on my car. Check the car manual or google the info on resetting TPMS light. Then drive it around, and if it comes back on, then you know it's a current issue that's still tripping the light.
posted by Sunburnt at 11:40 AM on August 3, 2021 [1 favorite]

One of the "cheapish, but life-enhancing" products I bought myself is a portable air compressor designed to plug into a car's cigarette lighter. It means I can check and fix the tire pressure on my car at home easily.
posted by idb at 5:31 PM on August 3, 2021 [1 favorite]

One day I saw a guy pumping his car tire with a bike pump - quite a lightbulb moment! — so if you own a bike with Schrader valves, you’re likely already set! Harder than an automated one obviously, but gas stations now all seem to charge for air, so I was grateful to that guy.
posted by mahorn at 8:23 PM on August 3, 2021 [2 favorites]