Tire pressure temperature calculator
Pressure falls about 1 PSI per 10°F — so the first cold morning of the season can contribute to a TPMS warning. Estimate the effect of temperature, then check actual pressures with a gauge — this tool cannot tell whether a tire is leaking.
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Recommended pressure (driver's door sticker)
On the driver's door jamb — not the "max" molded on the tire sidewall.
Temperature when tires were last set
Temperature now
Above the ~26 PSI point where most TPMS lights trigger. Actual trigger points vary by vehicle, and this estimate cannot diagnose a warning light. Check every tire with a gauge. When the tires are cold (not driven for at least three hours), adjust the measured pressure to 35 PSI — the sticker value, not the estimate above. Cold refers to time since driving, not the weather. Don't bleed air from tires that are hot from driving; recheck and adjust after they cool. If a tire is visibly flat or damaged, fit a spare safely or call roadside assistance.
Rule of thumb: pressure moves about 1 PSI per 10°F. This calculator uses the ideal gas law to estimate temperature's effect, assuming the tires were set to the sticker pressure and have not lost air. A gauge reading always takes priority.
Cold weather tire pressure chart
Expected gauge readings for tires set to their door-sticker pressure at 70°F (21°C) and then checked on colder mornings, assuming no air was lost. Estimates from the same calculation as the tool above.
| Outside temp | Door-sticker pressure | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 32 PSI | 35 PSI | 38 PSI | 42 PSI | |
| 70°F (21°C) | 32.0 | 35.0 | 38.0 | 42.0 |
| 60°F (16°C) | 31.1 | 34.1 | 37.0 | 40.9 |
| 50°F (10°C) | 30.2 | 33.1 | 36.0 | 39.9 |
| 40°F (4°C) | 29.4 | 32.2 | 35.0 | 38.8 |
| 32°F (0°C) | 28.6 | 31.4 | 34.2 | 37.9 |
| 20°F (-7°C) | 27.6 | 30.3 | 33.0 | 36.6 |
| 10°F (-12°C) | 26.7 | 29.4 | 32.0 | 35.6 |
| 0°F (-18°C) | 25.8 | 28.4 | 31.0 | 34.5 |
| -10°F (-23°C) | 24.9 | 27.5 | 30.0 | 33.4 |
From 70°F down to -10°F, a tire set to 35 PSI loses about 8 PSI, yet no reading in the chart reaches the point 25% below the sticker where a TPMS warning must be on. Some systems warn earlier than that limit, but if your light comes on in a cold snap, assume at least one tire may have been low already. Check every tire with a gauge before you add air, and inflate to the sticker pressure — not to a number from this chart.
What “cold tire pressure” means
The pressure on your door sticker is a cold inflation pressure: the reading taken before the car has been driven, or after it has been parked for at least three hours. “Cold” describes the tire, not the weather: a tire that hasn't been driven yet on a summer morning is cold, and one that has just done a highway run in freezing weather is hot.
Driving warms the air inside, so a tire reads higher after a trip than it did before it. That rise is normal. Don't let air out of a hot tire to bring it down to the sticker number; check again once the tires have cooled and adjust then.
Frequently asked questions
Sources
Where the figures on this page come from. Your owner's manual still wins for your specific vehicle.
- 49 CFR § 571.138 — Standard No. 138; Tire pressure monitoring systemsU.S. Code of Federal Regulations, via Cornell Law School LII. Cited for: S4.2 requires the low tire pressure telltale to light at 25% below the vehicle manufacturer's recommended cold inflation pressure, or the tire-type minimum in Table 1, whichever is higher. Checked .
- Keeping Your Vehicle in ShapeU.S. Department of Energy and U.S. EPA (fueleconomy.gov). Cited for: the proper pressure for a vehicle is the one on the driver's-side door-jamb sticker, the glove box, or the owner's manual — not a figure read off the tire. Checked .
- Tire Safety Ratings and Awareness (TireWise)National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Cited for: Cold tires have not been driven for at least three hours. Check all tires, including the spare, with a gauge and adjust measured pressure to the vehicle manufacturer's recommended inflation pressure. Checked .