But the pen-shaped tire pressure gauges you see in mechanics' pockets aren't much better, offering only a rough guess of pressure. At home I use a precision gauge with a dual-foot chuck, and I keep a digital gauge in the glove box.
All of the above is assuming you can even find a station with an air dispenser. It's worth buying a 12-volt compressor and keeping it in your car for emergencies. You can pick one up for about $30.
Consumers' trouble maintaining proper tire pressure -- affecting not only fuel economy but tread life, handling and safety -- has not escaped the attention of your benevolent federal government. Tire pressure monitoring systems are now mandatory on all new cars, making the Obama tire gauge flap something of a debate in the rearview mirror.
It's worth considering why this was a story at all. No one would argue that proper tire inflation is not a good thing, though some people nonetheless managed (McCain's camp eventually backtracked a bit on the tire gauge critique). Further, no serious person believes offshore drilling will significantly affect either supply or price: Offshore drilling on the outer continental shelf "would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030," according to the government's Energy Information Administration.
The tire gauge vs. offshore drilling debate frames a competition of world views. On one side are those who believe in conservation as a practical matter and, perhaps, a matter of "personal virtue," per Vice President Dick Cheney. On the other are those who find the tire inflation message an insufficiently grand and inspiring idea, weak-wristed, retreatist. Offshore drilling has the romance of heavy industry, with hard-hatted men named "Deke" going after what America needs. What, after all, is more macho: an oil derrick or a tire gauge?
The offshore drilling position also enjoys the stupendous advantage of asking nothing from consumers.
Americans have never been sold on the collective power of numbers, the notion that small, relatively painless gestures of conservation can add up. And so Jimmy Carter will be immortalized as a feckless thermostat-watcher in a cardigan.
I've been standing in the AutoZone for about an hour now. I've bought a dent puller and some vinyl-restoring compound for my wife's Jeep Cherokee. Then Ken Trenkelbach of Houston comes in to buy -- aha! -- a tire gauge. I ask him if his consciousness has been raised by Obama.
"I just want to make sure I have air in my tires," he says.
Trenkelbach, who says he'll probably vote for Obama, doesn't have much sympathy for the oil and gas industry, even though he's from Houston. But he also thinks Obama's advice will go unheeded. People have known for years that they need to inflate their tires, he says. "What, now they'll listen?"
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dan.neil@latimes.com
