Tires are an important aspect to your vehicle and buying them can be confusing thanks to the wide variety and numerous ratings, you should know what you are doing before you go to buy any new tires. You should always consider the kind of tires you actually need as well, how do you often drive, is it off road, in bad weather, how fast etc.? The following has been written to help you understand what you are doing when you delve deeply into the world of tires.
Are you in need of new tires?
Anybody who drops by the service shop for things like oil changes will be able to ask the people working there if they need new tires or not, that is if the mechanics don't tell them anyway. However you should still be able to tell when you need new tires on your own, it is a good idea to know a little about the upkeep of your vehicle. You can perform a couple of simple tests to decide if you need new tires or not, these are the wear bar and the penny test.
- The Penny Test To do this you simply need to find a penny and place it between your tire treads. If you find that the tread covers up some of Lincoln's head then the tires still have some life left in them. However if you can easily see his full head, your tires are worn and you need some fresh ones. Check each tread in this way, not just the inner ones.
- The Wear Bars Test There are some tires that come with wear bars designed to show you if they are too worn to be safely used. As soon as you see the wear bars you need to get a fresh set.
A few different things you should look out for. If you look at your tires and can see any dry rot located in the sidewall, or the tires have cuts, slashes, tears, damage or are punctured beyond repair then it is time for a change. You can also tell if you have other car issues such as broken shocks or improper balancing if the tires are worn unevenly.