2004 Mercury Mountaineer Owner's Manual - Page 259

Maintenance and Specifications Never spin the tires in excess of the 35 mph (55 km/h) point indicated on the speedometer. Highway hazards No matter how carefully you drive there's always the possibility that you may eventually have a flat tire on the highway. Drive slowly to the closest safe area out of traffic. This may further damage the flat tire, but your safety is more important. If you feel a sudden vibration or ride disturbance while driving, or you suspect your tire or vehicle has been damaged, immediately reduce your speed. Drive with caution until you can safely pull off the road. Stop and inspect the tires for damage. If a tire is under-inflated or damaged, deflate it, remove wheel and replace it with your spare tire and wheel. If you cannot detect a cause, have the vehicle towed to the nearest repair facility or tire dealer to have the vehicle inspected. Tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS)(if equipped) When the tire pressure monitoring system warning light is lit, one or more of your tires is significantly under-inflated. You should stop and check your tires as soon as possible, and inflate them to the proper pressure as indicated on the vehicle's tire information placard (label). Driving on a significantly under-inflated tire causes the tire to overheat and can lead to tire failure. Under-inflation also reduces fuel efficiency and tire tread life, and may affect the vehicle's handling and stopping ability. Even if your vehicle is equipped with a tire pressure monitoring system, it is still important that you manually check the inflation pressure of your tires regularly. Each tire, including the spare, should be checked monthly when cold and set to the recommended inflation pressure as specified on the vehicle placard (label) and in the owner's manual. Note: The Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) monitors tire pressure in each pneumatic tire. The pressure in each tire is dependent upon several factors, one of them being the contained air temperature (temperature of the air inside the tire). As the contained air temperature increases, the tire pressure also increases. While driving in a normal manner, a typical passenger tire inflation pressure may increase approximately 2 to 4 psi (14 to 28 kPa) from a cold start situation. This increase in tire pressure is due to an increase in the contained air 259 REVIEW COPY: 2004 Explorer (exp), Owners Guide (post-2002-fmt) (own2002), Market: USA English (fus)