The Importance Of Tires and Their Maintenance

Tires are indeed the most overlooked component in your car.  They can determine how quietly your car rides at highway speeds and how well the vehicle tracks in a curve.  They have a significant impact on how quickly your car will stop in emergency braking and can impact your ability to hold the road in poor weather.  Alderman Automotive wants you never to overlook your tires again. 

The fact is, we get it. For the most part, all tires look the same.  Even high-performance tires don’t make your car look cooler, at least to the casual eye.  They aren’t things you can turn on to watch them work.  They won’t impress your riders, get you on the freeway faster, or make your car sound cool (they can make it quieter, though).  Yet, for all the fancy suspension components, braking systems, safety technologies, warning systems, etc. included in modern cars, they will only be so effective if your tires are bad.  They are the only thing that physically connects your car to the rest of the world.  It is like a $30,000 home audio system that still sounds awful when it runs through weak, tinny speakers.  Tires impact your car’s performance in the same way.  Good tires can increase your fun on a curvy road and your confidence in poor conditions.  Most importantly, they can be the difference between an accident and a close call.  

The other cool thing about tires is that they are very easy to replace. While changing your car’s engine performance or suspension setup can be very complicated, changing to a better set of tires can happen in an hour or two. 

But before we talk about replacing tires, let’s discuss taking care of the ones you have.  The three best ways to take care of your tires and make them last are:  

• Maintain proper pressure 
• Keep your suspension aligned 
• Rotate the tires regularly

Maintain Proper Pressure 

This is the one with which you are likely the most familiar. We had to do it with our bicycle tires.  If they got soft, you felt it immediately because you had to pedal harder to achieve the same speed.  The same can happen with your car; only the engine works harder while you simply press a little more on the pedal.  So, as an immediate consequence, a lower-pressure tire will lower your fuel economy.  Because an underinflated tire’s tread can bow inward, removing the tread from the road surface handling is impacted, and the tire’s life is reduced because now the outer treads have a greater load.  Since your tires are only as good as your worst treadwear, you can quickly accelerate a tire’s demise with poor pressure.  An overinflated tire has its own problems, including diminished traction and a harsher ride. 

Fortunately, checking a tire’s pressure is easy and inexpensive. A hand tire pressure gauge costs just a few dollars, fits easily in your glove box, and is easy to use. Simply remove a tire’s valve cap, press the gauge firmly, and read the tire’s pressure.   

Most modern cars have a tire pressure gauge monitoring system.  Some will simply indicate when one tire has a significantly different pressure than the rest, and fancier ones can give you a pressure reading for each tire.  These are useful, and if you get a tire pressure warning, you should address it immediately.  It could indicate a tire just a pound or two beyond the system’s threshold (often about 4 pounds (per square inch or PSI), or it could indicate a tire significantly under pressure that could impact your handling or damage your wheel when hitting a pothole.  Also, temperature changes, which are not at all uncommon in central Indiana, can affect the pressure of all your tires.  Generally, tire pressure changes about 1-2% for every 10° Fahrenheit change in temperature. Since such temperature changes can occur frequently in Indiana, it is good to check your pressure after the onset of a warm or cold front.  

Keep Your Suspension Aligned 

First, your tires and then your suspension take the brunt of the impact from severe road bumps and potholes. Sometimes, a significant impact or series of smaller ones can send a tire out of alignment.  This means a tire is not pointed in precisely the same direction as its opposite.  This is the fastest way to shorten your tires’ life as now tread is being excessively scrubbed with every rotation.  The out-of-alignment tire gets the worst of it, but the opposite will also experience excessive side wear from acting as a counter to its wayward counterpart.   

The signs of a suspension out of alignment can often be felt from behind the wheel.  The car pulling to one side or the other is a sure sign.  Excessive bouncing on one side could indicate the suspension encountering abnormal stresses.  Even if you feel nothing (sometimes we just adapt and get used to the vehicle changes), excessive wear on one side of the tire is a sure indication.  Testing and realigning your car requires a trip to a service center like that at Alderman Automotive, which has the correct tools for the procedure. 

Rotate Your Tires Regularly 

Your car likely has the same kind of tires at every corner, but the tires don’t all wear in the same way. Front tires experience more lateral loads than rear tires.  The weight distribution of your tire can also create wear differences.  Ideally, you want your tires to wear as evenly as possible, and the best way to do that is to rotate them regularly.  Your car’s manufacturer will recommend how often the tires should be rotated in the owner’s manual, but generally, the recommended interval is about 5,000 – 7,500 miles.  An easy way to remember is simply to have it done at every other oil change.  Tire rotation is best done with the car on a lift; thus, it is best performed by a service center. 

Again, it is difficult to overstate the importance of your car’s tires.  Take these steps to preserve your existing tires, and don’t go bargain hunting with the replacements.  If you have specific questions, please don’t hesitate to call the Alderman Automotive Service Department.  Our experienced service staff should have an accurate answer for you.