Essential Vehicle Maintenance: Tires

If you want to upkeep anything in your vehicle, the objects that keep your car rolling, and off the ground, should be at the top of that list. Tires are often overlooked because a car with bald tires can still drive, and replacing all four tires can be expensive. When your fuel pump or fuel pump assembly goes out, you have no choice whether or not you want to replace it because your car will not drive - bald tires can get you down the street and back, and the dangers always occur when it's too late. Nevertheless, keeping track of the condition of your tires, and keeping them properly inflated, can mean literally life or death for the people in the vehicle. Here are a few tips to make sure your tires will keep you and your passengers safe on the road.

The main cause of tire failure (when your tire goes flat or blows out) is the friction caused from moving contact with the road. This causes the tread on the tires to wear away. When the tread becomes too shallow, the tire is worn out and should be replaced. Bald tires give you little traction on the road, especially when the road is wet or icy. This means the difference in you maintaining control of your vehicle, and not maintaining control, is dependent on proper tread on your tires. One trick to check if you have proper tire tread is to place a penny, with Lincoln’s head down, between the tread of your tires. If Lincoln’s head isn’t completely covered by the treads on your tires, they need to be replaced.

 

 Underinflation is very detrimental to your tires, and your fuel economy. Not having enough tire pressure causes excessive wear on the tires, and gives you less control of your vehicle on paved roads. You should check your tire pressure regularly. To check your tire pressure, make sure your tires are cool (so when the vehicle has been sitting for awhile.) If you need to go somewhere else to fill up your tires with air, check the tire pressure before you leave and fill up appropriately. You can find out the appropriate tire pressure for your vehicle by looking in your owner’s manual, the driver’s side door panel, the glove box door, or the fuel door.  Remove the cap from the valve on one tire. Firmly press the tire guage onto the valve. Add air to achieve the recommended tire pressure. If you overfill a tire, release air by pushing on the metal stem in the center of the valve with a fingernail or the tip of a pen. Recheck the tire pressure, and then replace the valve cap. Repeat for your other tires, including the spare.

 Another important factor in maintaining your tires is your vehicles alignment. When you are driving, does your car pull to one side, or shake? A bad jolt from hitting a curb or pothole can throw off your alignment. Have a tire dealer check your alignment regularly to make sure your vehicle is aligned properly. If the alignment is off it will cause your tire to wear irregularly, which can lead to tire blowouts.

You should also rotate your tires periodically, typically every 5,000 miles. Naturally your front and back, left and right tires wear differently on the road. By rotating your tires from front to back, left to right, you can ensure your tires wear evenly and lengthen the life of your tires.

I find inspecting the tires while filling up at the gas station is convenient. While the vehicle is filling up, you can check your tires for wear, visually check for proper inflation, and inspect for any debris that is caught in your tire tread and can damage your tires. This way you will always be on top of properly maintaining your tires.

Why Should I Lower My Tire Pressure?

So, you’re cruising down the white sand beaches of Mexico in your truck with a Diesel Turbocharger, and all your buddies are flying by.  What’s going on? How come they seem to be floating on the sand while you’re struggling? They have exactly the same vehicle as you, right down to the exact same Diesel Injector.  The answer is probably tire pressure.

You may have heard people say that it is good to lower your tire pressure anytime you go off-roading, but might have never known why. You probably don’t want to ask, because not knowing something about off-roading would make you seem unmanly. Well, no need to wonder anymore, because I am about to tell you. The answer is a simple one word solution, FOOTPRINT. Just think of a camel.  Those things have bigger feet than Shaq, and Mother Nature gave the camel those aircraft carriers for a reason.  The bigger the foot, the larger the area to distribute the weight of the camel, which keeps the camel on top of the sand instead of sinking into it.

When you let air out of you tires it increases the size of your cars footprint.  More of your tire touches the sand.  When you do this you may think that more of the tire touches in width just by looking at it, but it actually increases the length of the footprint.  With this increased length your friends will no longer be leaving you in the dust… or should I say sand?

Driving in the sand is not the only time when lowering your tire pressure optimizes your ride.  Anytime you are off-road it will help, especially bumpy or rocky roads.  When you go over a rock, a fully inflated tire has to climb it. Even a small rock can cause the car to think it’s about to go up a steep hill. Just driving over a 2x4 piece of wood creates the same increase in angle as a hill with a 30 degree incline.   When you lower your tire pressure the tire doesn’t climb the rock or piece of wood, it engulfs it.  Your car stays flat on the road while your tire eats up the rock and spits it out the back.

Remember when you get back on a hard surface to reflate your tires.  Tires with low pressure easily bend and break wheels, and driving too fast could overheat your tires. The lower your pressures are set the lower the speed you should drive.

Can You Guess the Function of a Tire Pressure Monitor Sensor?

You may have never asked yourself what is a tire pressure monitor sensor. These sensors do exactly what you’d expect; they monitor the pressure within your tires. However, because these sensors are battery powered, over time they will fail and you will need to replace or know how to repair tire pressure monitor sensors. Don’t worry too much about this, when the time comes you will be warned via the little TPMS on your dash and it is a fairly cheap fix. A little fact about tire pressure is that if you are driving on tires that are 10% under inflated, you will see a 1% decrease on your gas mileage.

As of 2007, the NHTSA requires the installation of these sensors on all vehicles. There are two types of these sensors, direct and indirect. Direct tire pressure monitoring sensors are located either inside or outside the tire and they physically measure the pressure. After doing so, they report this information to the instrument cluster of the vehicle. Newer vehicles can display real-time pressures of each tire while driving or parked. Indirect sensors on the other hand don’t actually detect the tire pressure, but they “infer” the pressure through various factors. The main factor is the rotational speed of each individual wheel. If a tire has less pressure, the diameter will be slightly smaller and in turn will spin a bit faster.

Regardless of which type of sensor your vehicle uses, if that warning light comes on DON'T just pretend its not there and put off the job. It is important, and cheap, to fix this issue. Not only can they save you a few extra dollars at the pump, but if they are working properly you will have lower emissions, increased handling of your vehicle, and you won't have to worry about failing that state inspection coming up. Also an under inflated tire is the leading cause of tire failure, so having your sensors in working order will increase your tire life.