Getting More Miles from your Tires

by Admin November 2, 2015

Every auto shop, car dealership, tire store and website that sells tires offers sales all the time like buy three tires, get the 4th one free. Some may think it’s a good deal, but in reality no one is going to buy just three tires, so they spread the total cost over the three instead of the four. Sale or no sale, tires are not a cheap necessity that seem to need replacing sooner and sooner for most auto owners. Especially if replacing tires comes as a surprise. The object of this article is to address some simple tips that could extend the life of your tires and keep more money in your pocket.

Rotate and balance tires every other oil change

A good rule of thumb would be to have your tires rotated and balance every other oil change or roughly every 7,000 miles (largely dependent upon your vehicle). Rotating your tires is very important because front tires wear down faster and balancing your tires can reduce the vibrations cause from driving that cause faster tire wear. This service is usually free if done by the shop that the tires were purchased from.

Clean and protect

These other tips might be more common knowledge for car owners but many are unaware of the damaging effects of sunlight and ozone. While these effects used to be much more common, preventative measures have been taken in the tire making process to address these issues. Regardless, no process is perfect so cleaning with tire protectant in hash weather and sunlight and removing weight from the tires while storing for long periods of time can only help improve the number of miles you are able to drive on your tires.

Check your tread wear often

Monitoring your tires tread wear patterns can indicate if the tires are out of alignment. Unequal wear patterns caused by misalignment need to be corrected as soon as possible as this can greatly shorten the lifespan of your tires. Either self inspect the tires for noticeable patterns and if anything seems out of the ordinary, have them checked by a trained professional as soon as possible. Another good habit while checking the wear pattern is to check the tread depth to ensure proper traction while driving.

Properly Inflated

By checking each tire’s pressure on a consistent basis, say once a week, can be one of the most important tire saving habits. Performing a visual check is the first step, looking for bulging side walls can point to underinflated tires and spotting any new, noticeable damages can prevent serious mishaps. The crucial times to check is when the seasons start to change either increasingly cold stretches or increasingly hot stretches can put extra stress on your tires do to the change in temperature and how it affects the air volume inside. Not only will properly inflated tires help increase their lifespan, it will also help driving traction and a small benefit to gas mileage.

Do your best to avoid potholes

Finally, how you drive can have an impact on the lifespan of your tires. Some states are notoriously known for having subpar roads and highways either due to harsh weather or lack of funding, but either way potholes can severely impact not only your car as a whole but also your tires. Hitting potholes with depths over a certain threshold can seriously impact the integrity of the tires sidewalls and that is irreplaceable. If a pothole is unavoidable, slowly down as much as possible is always better than swerving or hitting it fast. Although, if the tires are properly inflated, they are much less likely to sustain irreplaceable damage caused by hazards on the road.