Good tires are essential for safe driving. We all know that worn out tires increase the risk of accidents. So what’s the best time to replace your car tires? How do you know your tires are dangerously worn out? What can you do to make your tires last longer? We’ll try to answer these questions but first of all, let’s quickly look at how tires work.
Tires come with treads, which are patterned grooves and ridges designed to increase the car’s grip on the road and clear water underneath the tire when driving in wet conditions. Over time, the treads wear out and the tires become less effective and unsafe to drive with. This is the point you should think about finding a replacement.
How often you change tires depends on a number of factors including the type of car you drive, conditions of the car, where and how you drive it, and your tire maintenance routine. Drivers should be aware of the basic care for tires, how to test for tire wear and know when to go for a tire replacement.
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The Lifespan of a Tire
For tires that come with any new vehicle, we would normally expect a life of close to 50,000 miles before they need to be replaced. However, many tires tend to have a life of just over 25,000 miles depending on the usage. Remember these figures are just averages. Some manufacturers go one better by including manuals that provide specific recommendations about how often and the manner of replacement for the particular models of the car.
Some of the factors leading to a shorter lifespan of your tire are:
- Bad driving habits – fast cornering, heavy braking, driving on damaged roads and failure to notice changes in handling, vibration, and noise.
- Aging of the tires.
- Extreme climate that speeds up the wear.
- Improper usages – re-inflating flat tires, mixing tire types, driving on damaged wheels and using incompatible wheel and rim sizes.
- Driving a car whose wheels are out of alignment and driving for long below recommended pressure.
- Tires also degrade when they are not put to use for a long time.
Though it quite difficult to pinpoint exactly how long a tire will last, we can rely on a few useful milestones and tips to ensure we are on the safe side and do a replacement.
- Always keep five years in mind. After this period, the tires should always be thoroughly inspected at least every year by a professional.
- Put ten years as the maximum for your tires. 10 years have gone by since the day of manufacture and you haven’t replaced your tire? It is time you did that. Even if they appear to be in usable conditions, many manufacturers recommend for a replacement – even for spare tires.
- It’s recommended that tires should be replaced every 6 years irrespective of the number of miles driven.
- For improved lifespan, we recommend regular tire rotations, vehicle maintenance and maintaining the right air pressure.
Know When Your Tires Are Worn Out
The best way to determine this is to visit an auto repairs shop and let a professional mechanic do the check-up for you and determine the amount of tread remaining. They will inspect the tires for any damage and measure the depth of the tread using a tire tread depth gauge. Occasionally, you are at home and need to just check on your tire. There is a simple hack. The trick is to use a quarter placed upside down in the groove. If the head is covered by the tread, you have more tread material left but if not covered, you need to find replacements soon.
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