How to Know if Your Tires Need to be Replaced
Taking good care of your tires is one of the most important things you can do when owning a car. While all issues are important, a tire blowing while driving is extremely dangerous and therefore knowing how to check the health of your tires is a must.
Tires get worn down quite easily and a tire failure can cause your car to go out of control or it could lead to you being stuck far from home in an uncomfortable situation requiring emergency roadside assistance.
Luckly, there are a few things that you can do to always keep an eye on the health of your tires. Here are some tips that will take little to no time.
Check the Depth of Your Tread
You don’t want to drive on wheels that have no grip on the asphalt or that might cause hydroplaning. This is dangerous.
You need to make sure that the depth of your tire tread is deep enough to drive safely. Luckily, that’s very easy to do with the quarter test. Just take a quarter and insert it in the tread head down. If the head is fully visible you need to go see your mechanic to install a new set of tires.
Use Tread Wear Indicators to Know When It is Time to Change Tires
New tires have developed a system of built-in indicators that displays when the tire is too old to be used. The system consists of barely visible bars that begin to appear as your tire wears down.
If two or more bars are visible, you then need a new tire as they won’t be fit to drive, particularly on wet surfaces.
The only issue with this method is that older tires or tires in old cars don’t have this system and therefore, you won’t be able to tell unless you use the method we previously discussed.
Look for Cracks on the Tire Sidewalls
This is one of the easiest issues to identify as it only requires a quick look at the tire. Try to spot cracks on the sidewall of a tire and intervene before you might require emergency roadside assistance.
A crack in a tire might indicate a leak or an imminent risk to experience a tire blowing while driving.
Even a small crack should be checked by an expert to determine how safe it would be to keep driving your vehicle.