How To Inspect Your Tires Properly

Your tires are an integral part of your car’s performance and safety, but it’s often something that’s overlooked until it becomes a major problem, at which point the damage may have already been done. Your tires can provide information about your alignment, tire pressure, as well as worn shocks and struts. If a problem goes unaddressed, it can affect your ability to brake properly, as well as loss of control from spinning out or blown tires. Taken alone, any one of these things can be a major problem, but if you don’t regularly inspect your tires, the issues can compound and turn into something very serious, jeopardize your safety when driving, and cause damage that could be very costly to repair. With that in mind, here are the things you should look for when inspecting your tires.

Tire Pressure

Tire pressure affects a lot of things in terms of how your vehicle handles. Lack of proper inflation in all four tires negatively affects the amount of traction you’re able to generate when driving, cause it to take longer when braking, and reduce fuel economy. The process of checking your tire pressure is pretty straightforward. Simply use a tire gauge to make sure that all four tires are inflated to the proper PSI and reduce or increase based on the optimal PSI, which should be listed in the owner’s manual and on the tires themselves.

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Bulges & Punctures

Checking for items that may have caused a hole in your tire is important as well. Even though some items like a nail may only cause a slow leak over time, it’s something that should be addressed in a timely manner. Any thing that causes a puncture is like a ticking time bomb that could easily cause a blow out and create bigger problems than patching or replacing a tire.

Bulges in the tire are also indicative of future trouble and are cause for more serious concern. A bulge in the tire is caused by excess air that gets in between the layers of rubber, which creates a significant hazard when operating a vehicle. It can damage not only your tire, but also your suspension, not to mention the possibility of loss of control from a blown tire while driving.

Tread

Uneven or worn-out tread on your tires can drastically affect the traction and therefore, the handling of your vehicle. This can cause difficulty when both braking and accelerating and can become really difficult to deal with when there is rain, snow, or ice on the road. You can tell visually if there is uneven tire wear, but tread depth is important too. If you put a quarter in the tread of the tires, it should touch George Washington’s head on the coin, or be close to it. If the tread doesn’t come close to the head on the coin, it’s time to replace your tires. When inspecting the tread, you should also look for cracks in the tire, both between the tread and on the sidewalls. Some small level of cracking isn’t a major concern necessarily, but if there is steel or fabric exposed, the tire should be replaced immediately.