Tire Maintenance Tips

Your tires are an incredibly important part of your car because they are a significant part of what keeps you traveling safely in your car. Good tires can mean the difference between stopping or sliding and starting or spinning. You want your car to be ready to do what you need it to right when you need it to do it – it can mean the difference between an accident and not. Having good tires can improve your car’s responsiveness and keep you safer. So, there’s no doubt that you’ll want to maintain your tires. But, how exactly do you do that? Here are our tire care tips:

• Rotate your tires. Your front and back tires wear differently. To try to maximize the life of your tire and spread the wear out evenly, it is important to rotate your tires on a regular basis – this is typically outlined in your car’s manual. For most cars, it is recommended that you rotate your tires every 5,000 – 7,000 miles.
• Get your tires balanced. Tire balancing is important because it helps to keep your tires wearing evenly. Tires that wear unevenly can affect how your vehicle handles. The tire balancing process involves attaching small weights to the wheels. This is typically done when new tires are installed and should be done any time the tire is taken off of the wheel.
• Have your wheels aligned. Making sure your tires are properly aligned is an important part of tire maintenance. If your wheels aren’t aligned correctly, then your tires can wear unevenly which is detrimental to the tire, can negatively impact your vehicle’s handling, and can even hurt your fuel economy.
• Don’t overload your tires. Your tires have a load capacity that should not be exceeded. If this capacity is exceeded, then your tires will get heated up more than they should which can lead to blowouts.
• Check your tire pressure. You’ll want to ensure that your tires are filled to the proper air pressure. Make sure you use the tire pressure noted on the inside of your car’s door and not the pressure listed on the tire because the pressure located on the tire is the maximum for the tire. Both overinflation and underinflation of your tire can be detrimental to the health of your tire. Overinflation can wear the center of your tire down while underinflation can wear down the edges.
• Track your tread. To ensure that your tires perform at peak levels, you’ll want to inspect the depth of your tread periodically. If your tread falls below 2/32” depth, then it is essential for you to get new tires. Once your tread falls beneath 4/32”, you should start looking for new tires. A good way to check your tires is take a quarter and insert it into the tread with Washington’s head downwards. If your tread falls below the top of his head, then it’s time to start looking for new tires.
• Inspect your tires. Take some time to look at your tires. If one seems less full than the others or if you are seeing strange wear patterns, you may need to have your tires checked out or you may need to check the tire pressure and fill your tires accordingly.

To keep your tires performing well and keep your vehicle operating safely, you’ll want to make sure that your tires are well taken care of. We’ve prepared our top tire maintenance tips for keeping your tires in tip-top shape. If you need help with your tires, our tire and suspension repair services can get your rolling.