Long Live Your Tires

It’s the dreaded phrase you hate...the one that only comes up at the worst possible financial time...it’s the thing you put off as long as possible...you need new tires. We see many tires leave out of here past their recommended change time due to a variety of financial reasons. What if we told you there were ways to monitor and extend the life of your tires, though? Sound interesting?

From the get go, getting the right tire type for what you do is essential to extending the life. While big, meaty mudders may look cool, their tread is designed for gripping softer surfaces to give you more traction, not for running along the highway, just like the straight tread of an all-seasonal tire isn’t ideal for regular off-roading. Getting the wrong type of tire for the majority of your driving not only will make your driving more inconvenient, but it can eat through them very fast, making you replace them far more often. If you do a different style of driving a few times of year (for example, your daily highway driver is also the vehicle you use for Mudfest), then investing in a set of tires on separate rims you can swap out for the rare occasions may be a better investment in the long run.

Once you get those new tires, that’s the time to do any other suspension work. Have your tie rod ends checked, look into ball joints, make sure everything on the car is good and tight. Any bad parts can eat through tires and cause unusual wear. Once everything is looking good, it’s never a bad idea to have the car aligned if you were noticing any pulling or vibrations before that are still around. A bad alignment can do quite a bit of damage to a new tire, making them need to be replaced more often.

After you’ve driven off with your shiny new wheels, the next thing you need to do is keep them rotated. Rotations are usually recommended about every 6,000 miles, or every other (or, if synthetic, every) oil change. Rotating your tires helps extend their life, as the same tires won’t be pulling or pushing the car all the time. Also, if there is a minor misalignment or suspension issue that isn’t severe enough to be addressed yet, rotation can keep you from having one terribly worn tire while the rest are good.

Lastly, when it comes time to replace tires again, if you can’t do a full set, at least replace them in pairs. While many all wheel and four wheel drive vehicles need full sets, most two wheel drive cars can stand to have only two replaced at a time. For your own safety, you want at least two good tires on the vehicle to help with grip and control at all times.

Is it time for new tires on your car? Give us a call! We can get a variety of brands and styles. Our economy line is a crowd pleaser and a popular tire, even among our own staff! We want you to stay safe on the road with only the best.