It seems that the unwritten rule among vulcanizers is that
any car driven into their workshop or makeshift tent must have its tyres
inflated, no matter the level of pressure in the tyres! In this way, the owner
of the vehicle is made to cough out some money.
The experiences of many motorists in show that most
vulcanizers give different readings of tyre pressure.
For example, after the first vulcanizer has said that your
tyre is over- inflated, another one reads it as under-inflated. Then a third
vulcanizer will commend your decision to check the tyre pressure as any further
delay could have been suicidal.
“What some of these guys do is that they don’t even read the
pressure at all. They fix the gauge and, in a twinkle of an eye, they shout,
‘No air.’
“The truth is that the pressure may be okay. But, they feel
that admitting it may deny them the opportunity to make extra money. So they
will tell you that there is no air.
“They pretend to inflate the pressure and turn around to
reduce it and collect money from you,” Mr. Okoli Udeh, who operates a
commercial vehicle in the city, says.
Experts have warned motorists not to inflate their tyres
beyond 40psi or 280kpa. As if to buttress this, the report posted on
tyresafe.org says, “Don’t inflate your tyres above 40 psi or 280 kpa. By
keeping them at their optimum pressure, your running costs are also reduced.
Under-inflated tyres require a bigger force to make them turn, so your car uses
more fuel. Additionally, tyres that are not set to their correct pressure wear
out more quickly.”
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