The humble tire is, perhaps, the most often-overlooked part of your car – which is a shame. It’s where the rubber meets the road – literally – and high-quality, well-maintained tires can help you improve your fuel economy, avoid potentially dangerous blowouts, and ensure that your car performs to the top of its ability.
So in this article, we’ll take a look at 5 simple ways that you can help your car tires last longer, ensuring a maximum lifespan and return-on-investment whether you’re driving on new tires, or have put a couple thousand miles on your current set.
Keep Your Car Tires Pumped!
You should be checking your car’s tire pressure at least once a week. This allows you to ensure that the tires are properly inflated. Proper inflation is critical to a long lifespan of your tire – if your tires are not properly inflated, they will suffer excess wear, as more rubber will be in contact with the road when you drive.
It’s important to note that overinflation can be just as harmful as underinflation – and beyond reducing fuel economy, overinflation increases the risk of a catastrophic tire blowout. Consult your owner’s manual or look at the Loading Information Label, located on the inside of the driver’s side door, to determine the correct PSI for your tires and your car.
Inspect Your Tires Regularly
You don’t have to be an expert to perform a tire inspection. Every two weeks or so, perform a basic visual inspection of your tires. Do you see any rocks or debris lodged in the tread? Remove them. Do you see any visible marks or punctures, or any sharp objects such as nails or screws that have punctured the tire?
You should also use your hands when inspecting your tires – run them over the surface of your tires. If there are hidden leaks, you’ll feel the air rushing through the tire and onto your hands, alerting you to smaller leaks that you may not otherwise notice.
Rotate Your Tires
You can rotate your tires yourself if you have the required equipment, but most service stations and mechanics will do it for you for a small fee when you get your oil changed. This is convenient – because as a rule, you should rotate your tires about every 10,000km , and most conventional oils last 6,500-10,000km.
Rotating your tires is important because it reduces wear and tear by evenly distributing the wear on your tires. Your rear tires and front tires don’t wear out at the same rate, and by switching them, you can ensure that they all remain at about the same level of wear and tear.
Align Your Wheels
Wheel alignment is another critical aspect of tire maintenance. Incorrectly aligned wheels can put excessive, unnatural strain on your tires. Because your tires aren’t designed to be driven on while incorrectly aligned, they will wear out very quickly.
A sure sign of misaligned wheels is drift. Next time you’re on a (safe!) road that’s completely straight, lift your hands off of your wheel for a moment. Is your car leaning towards a particular side of the road? Is it handling poorly? Is the wheel turning by itself?
These are all signs that your car has misaligned wheels – you should take it into a repair shop as soon as possible, so that you can realign your wheels, and ensure a long lifespan for your tires.
Clean Your Tires – Seriously!
This may sound silly – after all, tires are always in contact with the dirty road – but there’s no reason not to do it when you wash your car.
Over time, deposits of rock, sand, dirt, and other debris can build up in the treads of your tires, and have an abrasive effect. Think about sandpaper – it’s the same concept. Because these small particles rub on your tires constantly, they have an abrasive effect, which removes some of your tire material and shortens the lifespan of your tires.
You can wash the outside of your tires with just a simple sponge or rag, as you would the rest of your car. A bristled brush or a toothbrush is the ideal method by which you can get into the cracks and crevices of your tire, and remove debris that may be lodged in the deep treads.
Need New Tires? Come To Ride Time Today!
Ride Time just opened a new facility in Winnipeg, expanding our service facilities to 8 service bays and 4 detailing bays. If you need new tires, are curious about the health of your current set, or are in need of a wheel alignment or tire rotation, come in today!
We’ll take a look at your tires and give you our expert analysis of their lifespan – and whether or not you should be thinking about replacing them. And with proper care, your next set of tires could last you nearly a decade. Just follow the above steps we laid out, and protect your new investment.
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