GWM Tank 300 Tyre Pressure Guide: Cold Checks, Off-Road Deflation and TPMS
Tyre pressure on the GWM Tank 300 should be measured cold, meaning the vehicle has been parked for more than three hours or driven no more than 1.5 km. A hot reading sits 30 to 40 kPa above the cold figure, and you should never bleed air to reach the cold target while the tyres are warm. Before off-road driving you may lower pressures to suit the terrain, but the manual is explicit that tyres must be reinflated to standard pressure afterwards, because insufficient inflation is the main cause of tyre cracking and blowouts. Your vehicle's recommended cold pressure is listed on the tyre placard fitted to your own vehicle.
Why we are not quoting a psi number here
This matters for trust, so it is worth being direct about it.
The Tank 300 owner's manual does not publish a single universal pressure figure in its maintenance chapter. Recommended cold pressure varies by market, wheel and tyre size, and load condition, which is why it is printed on the placard attached to your vehicle rather than buried in a book.
Any article that confidently gives you one psi number for every Tank 300 is guessing. Read your placard, then use the rules below to apply it correctly.
Cold measurement: the rule most owners get wrong
Pressure readings are only meaningful under defined conditions.
- Parked more than three hours, or driven no more than 1.5 km, gives the most accurate cold data.
- After a few kilometres of driving, the reading will be 30 to 40 kPa higher than cold. That rise is normal.
- Do not let air out to bring a hot tyre down to the cold target. You will end up genuinely under-inflated once it cools.
- Check the spare as well, if one is fitted.
There is also a slow leak that is not a fault. Even healthy tyres lose roughly 10 to 20 kPa per month, which is why a monthly check beats an annual one.
Comparison table: cold, hot, off-road and storage states
| Attribute | Cold check | Hot check | Off-road | Long storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Condition | Parked over 3 hours or driven under 1.5 km | Driven a few kilometres | Before entering terrain | Vehicle parked long term |
| Measurement (pressure offset) | Placard value, the reference point | 30 to 40 kPa above cold | Lowered to suit terrain | Raised by about 300 kPa |
| Reading is valid for setting pressure | Yes | No | Not a road setting | Not a driving setting |
| Action required after | None | Recheck when cold | Reinflate to standard before road use | Restore to recommended pressure before driving |
| Risk if ignored | None | Chronic under-inflation | Cracking and blowout | Driving on dangerously over-inflated tyres |
Under-inflation and over-inflation do different damage
Both are problems, but they fail in different ways.
Under-inflated tyres:
- Wear unevenly across the tread
- Degrade vehicle handling
- Increase fuel consumption
- Overheat and leak air as a result
Over-inflated tyres:
- Produce an uncomfortable, harsh ride
- Are more easily damaged by uneven road surfaces
- Also wear unevenly
The manual is blunt on the safety side: do not use tyres that are excessively worn, damaged, under-inflated or over-inflated.
Off-road deflation, done properly
Lowering pressure before off-road driving is sanctioned by the manual. Lower pressure lengthens the contact patch, which improves flotation in sand and grip on rock.
The discipline is in what comes next.
- Reinflate to standard pressure as soon as you finish the off-road section and before you return to sealed roads.
- Inspect wheels and tyres for damage after the trip. Off-road driving can damage wheels and tyres, and that damage leads to tyre failure, loss of control and injury.
- Look for bulges, tread and sidewall damage, foreign objects and excessive wear. Any of these means replacement, not monitoring.
This single reinflation step is where most trail damage is actually prevented, and it is the step most often skipped on the drive home.
TPMS: what it does and what it cannot do
The tyre pressure monitoring system tracks pressure and temperature in real time and alerts you when something is abnormal.
To view live data, press the menu button on the steering wheel, use the left or right buttons to reach the driving data interface, then use the up or down buttons to open the tyre pressure monitoring screen. It shows pressure and temperature for all four in-use tyres.
Things worth knowing:
- Normal fluctuation is around 30 kPa due to heat, ambient conditions and journey length.
- TPMS does not monitor the spare tyre.
- TPMS is not a substitute for manual checks. Check tyres frequently even with no alarm showing.
- The sensor lives inside the tyre near the valve. Have repairs and replacements done by an authorised service centre so the sensor is not damaged.
- Tyre repair liquid, carburettor cleaning agent and careless inflation can destroy the sensor, apart from repair liquid supplied by an authorised service centre.
- Tyre chains, wheel covers and radio interference can all stop TPMS working correctly.
- A non-standard spare tyre may disrupt normal TPMS operation.
Relearning after a rotation or tyre change
The adaptive learning function updates positions automatically. After parking for more than 16 minutes, start the vehicle and drive for about nine minutes at a speed above 30 km/h, and the system completes pressure learning and positioning on its own. If learning fails, the system needs a reset at an authorised service centre.
If the alarm appears while driving
Avoid sudden or sharp turns and emergency braking. Reduce speed, move to a safe area, stop as soon as practical, then arrange inspection.
Common mistakes Tank 300 owners make
- Bleeding hot tyres down to the placard number. You have just under-inflated all four.
- Treating TPMS as the check. It is an alert system, not a maintenance schedule.
- Driving home from the trail still aired down. Insufficient inflation is the main cause of cracking and blowouts.
- Ignoring the spare. It is invisible to TPMS and it is the one tyre you will need under pressure.
- Using non-approved tyre repair liquid. It can kill the sensor and the monitoring system with it.
- Running mismatched tyres. All four should be the same brand and model. If that cannot be guaranteed, including with a non-full-size spare fitted, drive in 2H and replace the tyre within 50 km.
- Leaving the vehicle parked for months. Move it at least every 30 days, ideally every 15, and rotate the original load bearing point by at least 90 degrees.
- Forgetting storage inflation is not a driving pressure. Tyres inflated by around 300 kPa for storage must be brought back to recommended pressure before the vehicle moves.
- Skipping dynamic balancing on new tyres. Balance affects both comfort and tyre life.
- Ignoring uneven wear or a persistent vibration. Both warrant inspection rather than another month of watching.
Get the pressure workflow right and the tyres last
Airing down and airing back up is a routine, and routines need tools. A reliable gauge, a deflator you can set and forget, and a compressor that can bring four tyres back to road pressure at the trailhead turn the correct procedure into the easy one.
At GWM Accessories we supply aftermarket tyre pressure gear and protection built around how Tank 300 owners drive, including deflators, portable compressors, gauges and valve hardware. Browse the full range at gwmaccessories.store.