Pressure and Heat

Correct pressure (the figure lives in the manual and door pillar, not the tyre — the sidewall figure is a maximum) is load-bearing geometry: the tyre carries weight on its air, at a specific shape.

• Under-inflation flexes the sidewall every rotation; flexing is friction, friction is heat — and heat is what destroys tyres. Under-inflated + loaded + fast + a 30-degree afternoon is the standard recipe for the highway blowout.
• Over-inflation crowns the tread, shrinking the contact patch — less grip, uneven central wear, harsher pothole impacts (a Kenyan tyre's routine diet).

Check pressures cold — driving heats the air and raises the reading, flattering a low tyre. Before a long hot run (Nairobi–Mombasa the archetype): pressures cold at the manufacturer's loaded figure; tread and indicators checked; sidewalls scanned for bulges or cuts; wedged stones picked out (they work inward — a sourced handbook item); and the spare checked too — it's the tyre everyone forgets until the roadside.