Essential Vehicle Maintenance: Tires

If you want to upkeep anything in your vehicle, the objectsthat keep your car rolling, and off the ground, should be at the top of thatlist. 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 ofthe condition of your tires, and keeping them properly inflated, can meanliterally life or death for the people in the vehicle. Here are a few tips tomake sure your tires will keep you and your passengers safe on the road.

The main cause of tire failure (when your tire goes flat orblows out) is the friction caused from moving contact with the road. Thiscauses 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 littletraction on the road, especially when the road is wet or icy. This means thedifference in you maintaining control of your vehicle, and not maintainingcontrol, is dependent on proper tread on your tires. One trick to check if youhave proper tire tread is to place a penny, with Lincoln’s head down, betweenthe tread of your tires. If Lincoln’s head isn’t completely covered by thetreads on your tires, they need to be replaced.

 

 Underinflation is very detrimental to your tires, and yourfuel economy. Not having enough tire pressure causes excessive wear on thetires, and gives you less control of your vehicle on paved roads. You shouldcheck your tire pressure regularly. To check your tire pressure, make sure yourtires are cool (so when the vehicle has been sitting for awhile.) If you needto go somewhere else to fill up your tires with air, check the tire pressurebefore you leave and fill up appropriately. You can find out the appropriatetire pressure for your vehicle by looking in your owner’s manual, the driver’sside 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 recommendedtire pressure. If you overfill a tire, release air by pushing on the metal stemin the center of the valve with a fingernail or the tip of a pen. Recheck thetire pressure, and then replace the valve cap. Repeat for your other tires,including the spare.

 Another important factor in maintaining your tires is yourvehicles alignment. When you are driving, does your car pull to one side, orshake? 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 isaligned properly. If the alignment is off it will cause your tire to wearirregularly, which can lead to tire blowouts.

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

I find inspecting the tires while filling up at the gas stationis convenient. While the vehicle is filling up, you can check your tires forwear, visually check for proper inflation, and inspect for any debris that iscaught in your tire tread and can damage your tires. This way you will alwaysbe 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 inyour truck with a Diesel Turbocharger, and all your buddies are flying by.  What’s going on? How come they seem to befloating on the sand while you’re struggling? They have exactly the samevehicle 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 yourtire pressure anytime you go off-roading, but might have never known why. Youprobably don’t want to ask, because not knowing something about off-roadingwould make you seem unmanly. Well, no need to wonder anymore, because I amabout to tell you. The answer is a simple one word solution, FOOTPRINT. Justthink of a camel.  Those things havebigger feet than Shaq, and Mother Nature gave the camel those aircraft carriersfor a reason.  The bigger the foot, thelarger the area to distribute the weight of the camel, which keeps the camel ontop of the sand instead of sinking into it.

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

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

Remember when you get back on a hard surface to reflate yourtires.  Tires with low pressure easilybend and break wheels, and driving too fast could overheat your tires. Thelower 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 thepressure 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 timecomes you will be warned via the little TPMS on your dash and it is a fairlycheap fix. A little fact about tire pressure is that if you are driving ontires that are 10% under inflated, you will see a 1% decrease on your gas mileage.

As of 2007, the NHTSA requires the installation of thesesensors on all vehicles. There are two types of these sensors, direct and indirect.Direct tire pressure monitoring sensors are located either inside or outsidethe tire and they physically measure the pressure. After doing so, they reportthis information to the instrument cluster of the vehicle. Newer vehicles can displayreal-time pressures of each tire while driving or parked. Indirect sensors onthe other hand don’t actually detect the tire pressure, but they “infer” thepressure through various factors. The main factor is the rotational speed of each individual wheel. If a tire has less pressure, the diameter will be slightlysmaller 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 isimportant, and cheap, to fix this issue. Not only can theysave 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 underinflated tire is the leading cause of tire failure, so having your sensors inworking order will increase your tire life.