Taking care of your car is one of the most important aspects of your own personal safety and transportation that helps you get where you need to go. The manufacturer of your vehicle has a recommended maintenance schedule for you to follow and you should do so in order to keep your car working properly. Because items such as oil changes come around more often than most of the other maintenance items you’ll have this need at the front of your mind. Unfortunately one of the items that will be at the back of your mind is your tires.
Your tires do need regular maintenance and care. You don’t want to find out you’ve run your tires down to racing slicks when you suddenly run into a rainstorm and wet roads. It’s a good idea to check your tires at least on a monthly basis and there are three ways you can do this and know that your tires are still ready to drive. You want to make sure your tire tread is at 4/32” or deeper, but there are easy ways to check this without a high tech device.
Penny Test – The penny test is one of the oldest and most popular ways to check and see if your tires need to be replaces. Insert a penny with Lincoln’s head pointed down into the tread of your tire and see if the tread covers the top of the head. If it doesn’t even reach his head, your tires are at less than 2/32 of an inch and your tires need to be replaces as soon as you possibly can.
Quarter Test – Another coin that can give you the same test is a quarter. With this test you’re going to see a full 4/32” of possible depth. If the tread reaches Washington’s head you have this much depth left on your tires. If the tread doesn’t reach this level, pull out a penny and make sure at least Lincoln’s head is still covered.
Tread Wear Indicator – Even if you don’t have a coin on you it’s possible to check the depth of the tread on your tires. You have an indicator built into the tread and it is located that the bottom of the tread grooves to give you a great way to check your tires. If you can see this bar flush with your tire tread, you only have 2/32” of tread left and need to replace your tires right away.
Make sure you keep your tires properly inflated and when you do check your tires for the wear on them you should make sure the wear is even as well. If you see uneven wear in your tread or notice you need to replace you tires because the tread is too low, take your vehicle to a local service location and let them help you have your vehicle taken care of and give you the right new tires to keep you driving on the road. Often we don’t think about our tires because they last so long, but you should take a look at them on a monthly basis.
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