Why is it important to maintain your tires? Keeping your tires in good condition will not only provide safety but it will also improve riding quality and handling of your car. Neglecting tire care, however, will increase your risk for accidents.
Surely, you wouldn’t want to put yourself and your family in harm’s way. That is why every driver should learn how to take care of new tires (or even old tires) to make sure they’re safe to use.
Fact: Tires don’t come cheap. And although your tires need to be replaced at some point, a premature replacement can be avoided when they are properly cared for.
You might be wondering, “What does tire maintenance include?” Read until the end of this article where we discuss proper tire care practices so you can save money, increase safety, and improve driving quality.
7 Tire Care Tips for Longer Wear
How can you maintain tires for longer wear? Take note of these seven tire care tips to save yourself from needlessly replacing your tires every now and then while having peace of mind no matter where you’re driving.
1. Maintain proper air tire pressure
Every tire should be aired to its proper pounds per square inch (PSI) depending on your automaker’s recommendation. Having underinflated tires significantly increases your likelihood of losing control of your car during sudden evasive maneuvers or an emergency stop. Low tire pressure also wears out more rapidly, which makes an early tire replacement necessary.
Overinflating your tires provides a less compliant ride, wears them out sooner than expected, and increases their risk of exploding.
2. Check your tires for signs of damage
Your tires are prone to damage as they come in contact with many elements down the road.
Try to check for any cuts, bulges, cracks, or any objects that may have punctured your tires. Driving your car with damaged or punctured tires compromises your safety and shortens tire life.
3. Schedule a tire alignment regularly
You should maintain proper tire alignment to avoid unnecessary wear on your tires. It also keeps your steering, suspension, and brakes intact.
If you want optimum driving stability, maximum tire life, and improvement in your vehicle’s overall handling performance, make sure to schedule a tire alignment from a qualified maintenance facility. How often this should be done will depend on your type of vehicle and other factors.
Better yet, check the owner’s manual or get your car checked at your service center.
4. Assess the need for a wheel balance
Wheel balancing is essential for allowing your tires to spin without causing vibrations. To know if your tires require balancing, try driving on a freeway and feel for any vibrations as you increase and decrease your speed.
If you feel the vibrations as you speed up and disappear as you slow down, it means a wheel balancing is necessary. You will need help from a tire technician and a wheel-balancing device for this procedure.
5. Rotate your tire regularly
Your front tires wear out faster than those at the back due to acceleration and constant cornering. That said, make sure to rotate your tires to even out the wear and further extend tire life. This also provides the perfect opportunity to see to it that all four of your tires are in good running condition. Ideally, tires should be rotated every 6 months.
6. Drive in a manner that’s friendly to your tires
Think of your tires as your feet and drive in a manner where you don’t hurt them. Driving at high speed heats your tires and increases friction — meaning, the faster you drive, the sooner they wear out.
Try slowing down when driving over bumps and potholes on the road to prevent cracks and punctures to your tires, and decrease the likelihood of them blowing up. Lastly, avoid braking suddenly and unnecessarily as it quickly wears out your tires, which leads to an early tire replacement, or worse, an accident.
7. Avoid overloading your vehicle
Overloading your vehicle is unsafe and increases your risk of an accident. When your vehicle is overloaded, the braking distance is increased and emergency handling capability is reduced, meaning, the vehicle is less stable, difficult to steer, and takes longer to stop.
Additionally, the excess weight of the vehicle can increase wear on your tires leading to premature replacement and expensive maintenance costs.
Conclusion
As the only point of contact that your car has on the road, tires need to be in good running condition at all times to ensure safety. Taking care of your tires is rather simple but you need discipline to do it.
Don’t take your tires for granted because it is not only expensive to replace them, but it may also cost you your life. And you wouldn’t want that! The above-mentioned tire care tips will help minimize your risks for accidents as well as your maintenance expenses by extending the life of your tires so you won’t have to buy as often.
Last but not least, know which tire care products can help increase the lifespan of your tires and prevent breakdown during severe weather. These include but are not limited to acid-free tire cleaners and rubber protectants.
We hope you learned from this guide!
