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Are Your Tires Safe Enough?

Jan 12, 2016

Tires are one of the most important parts of your vehicle since they connect you to the road. Whether you have snow tires for the winter, or you are using all-season tires, it is important to know more about them, and to maintain them properly. Tires should always be properly inflated, have plenty of tread, and be free from signs of damage, weather cracking, or uneven wear.

Snow tires are specifically designed to grip the road in cold, icy conditions. Snow tires achieve superior traction through a more aggressive tread pattern and a softer rubber compound. So why have snow tires? Why not just make all tires have better tread and grip? The answer is that the different rubber compounds work better at different temperatures. The softer rubber compound functions best in colder weather (generally below 45 degrees F), and will actually wear more quickly in warmer weather, whereas summer tires are designed to function best in warmer weather. For this reason, it is important to take your snow tires off once warm spring temperatures arrive to help prolong the life of your snow tires. By contrast, all-season tires are made from a harder rubber compound that can handle the warm summer roads, but do not provide as much traction in the ice and snow.

Regardless of whether you use snow tires or all season tires, it is important to note that not rotating tires can cause them to wear out more than three times as quickly. Tires that are not rotated can wear unevenly, becoming “chopped.” At first, chopped tires will be only a minor nuisance; they will be noisier and less fuel-efficient than tires with even wear. Over time, however, the chop will become so severe that the tires will no longer pass a state safety inspection, even as early as 20,000 miles!

Keeping your tires properly inflated and having them rotated every 5,000 miles or so will help them last longer. In fact, keeping your tires properly inflated has the added benefit of improving your fuel economy. As far as rotating your tires, we offer free tire rotations for the life of every tire we sell.