I think most of them already have the compressors. It's a matter of education and access.

They have the compressors, but as you note, there's usually one, off in a corner, away from the pumps. Having them at the pump, as you suggest, would force stations to have more than one.

It's kind of like running without insurance. It's a great way to save money - provided I don't have an accident.

Yeah, but the non-peak oil aware won't really care about that. They just want to know if it will work. (And note they are in favor of maintaining a certain minimum level in the SPR, so we'd never be entirely without insurance.)

And we'd be able to fill up again, once oil drops below $40/barrel!

I think that we need the SPR. Remember New Orleans after the flood. A major city without gasoline will look the same in a few days.

Remember, people have been calling for the SPR to be tapped since oil hit $20. Imagine the situation we would be in now - $120 oil and an empty SPR - if those calls had been heeded.

That's really the perfect comeback for people like us to use. Of course, the government can't use it lest it cause panic. This administration probably even has reason to think oil could soon spike, and they can't say that either.

It's the strategic reserve, not the "cheapskate" reserve anyhow.

Like when we invade Iran?

The DOE wants to do this with the SPR:

/

To decrease the cost of filling the reserve and improve its efficiency, GAO recommended in previous work that DOE should include at least 10 percent heavy crude oils in the SPR. If DOE bought 100 million barrels of heavy crude oil during its expansion of the SPR it could save over $1 billion in nominal terms, assuming a price differential of $12 between the price of light crude oil and the lower price of heavy crude oil, the average differential over the last five years. Having heavy crude oil in the SPR would also make the SPR more compatible with many U.S. refineries, helping these refineries run more efficiently in the event that a supply disruption triggers use of the SPR.

Why don't we just use handpumps? I have a $7.50 pump I bought a few years back, and a nice round airpressure gauge. You should always have both in your car at all times, anyway! It ain't THAT hard!

At least in California, state law now requires gas stations to provide free air to customers. If they have a pay machine you can ask the clerk and he'll give you a token or a quarter. The law was passed a year or two ago to encourage energy efficiency and safety.

And yes, I've heard government officials talking about tire pressure. They even passed a law about it.

That's a new one on me. Can someone confirm that the 2008s have these sensors?

Leanan -

The effect of these day-to-day temperature fluctuations on tire pressure tend to average out, but on the whole I think it is safe to conclude that most cars have underinflated tires - simply because there are inherent very slow leaks coupled with the fact that most motorists tend to ignore tire pressure. Also, remember that it is the differences in absolute temperature that determines pressure differences, so the difference in pressure resulting from a drop in temperature from 90F to 30F is not as great as it would at first appear.

If you check you tire pressure once a month, you should be pretty close to maintaining the proper pressure most of the time. It is very important to be extra diligent about this at the onset of Winter.

I personally find using a service station air hose both inconvenient and slightly dangerous (almost got run over by a car pulling out while bending over putting air in a tire), so I bought a nice little air pump ($49 at Peb Boys) and do it myself. It's probably already paid for itself.

I became a little compulsive about tire pressure as the result of having owned two rear-engined cars, a '66 Corvair and a '68 Beetle. The handling of a rear-engined car is extremely sensitive to front-to-rear relative tire pressure, so neglecting tire pressure with such cars is at one's peril.

Following on to Ammond, the tire pressure listed on the sidewall of the tire is the maximum pressure that the tire is designed to withstand. My experience is that the best-handling pressure (on a typical public road) and best tire-wear pressure is significantly below this level.

There is also a manufacture's recommended pressure, and in the case of my car at least, a (higher) recommended pressure for when traveling with maximum weight or at high speed. Of course the manufacturer's recommendations assume you are running the exact same tire and suspension setup that came with the car... hard to do when 10-year-old tire designs and shock designs that are no longer available for purchase.

So, I have a hard time believing 80 out of 81 sampled cars were truly under-inflated.

When I rode a BMW, the mechanic that worked on my bike (also a superbike national champion) suggested that tire pressure should change 10% from cold (unridden) to warm (ridden a good distance, such as 10 miles). Admittedly, these were motorcycle tires, but if the change was more or less, then the tire was over/under inflated.

If I was King of Saudi Arabia and my oil production was declining I would be interested in claiming that I was reducing output in order to save it for future generations.