Tire Maintenence and Tire Care

     Tire Maintenence and Tire Care

Tires are the second most cost-effective component of your vehicle, except fuel. Therefore you have to care for them on a regular basis. Inspection of the tire is a matter of a couple of minutes, but its saving is huge. You can simply identify and troubleshoot most of the problems accompanied by tires in use.

Let us discuss, what are the areas you have to pay attention to get maximum from your vehicle tires. 

There are six factors you have to consider when proper maintenance of vehicle tires

1. Maintain correct inflation air pressure of tires

If you are not maintaining recommended air pressure in tires, it causes the physical damage to tires as well as to lives

Most accidents are caused by under-inflated tires

Therefore you have to check your vehicle's tire's air pressure at regular time intervals, recommended once a month.

If your vehicle run in a cold climate, drives long-distance regularly and drives in poor road conditions, your inspection procedure must narrow to every two weeks

How to check the air pressure of your vehicle's tire

• It is recommended that measurement of tire air pressure should carry out in cold conditions of the tire
• The air pressure that you have to maintain in your tires is mentioned on the sidewall of the tire
• Accordingly, compare the reading of the pressure gauge and adjust it to the required level
• The tire air pressure is measured in Pounds per Square Inch or PSI
• There are various types of pressure gauges available on the market. For example Pen, Digital, Analog(dial), stick, or blue tooth

Over Inflation

This means more air in your tires. This causes bulging in the middle of the crown of your tire and more wear and tear on the shoulder or edges of your tire.

Under Inflation

Not sufficient air pressure inside the tire. As a result of this, the sides will sag and the shoulders wear and tear much faster than the center of the tire

Vehicle running under inflation air pressure  is one of the most common reasons for premature tire wear

In over-inflation conditions, tires will wear irregularly, and in under-inflation tires wear rapidly.

So in this both instances, you will happen to replace your worn out tires with new ones

Proper maintenance of tire air pressure will protect the anatomy of your tires 

With properly inflated tires enjoy a more comfortable ride

2. Tread depth of the tire

The grooves which are cut on the tire surface are called tread

These treads ensure the proper gripping action between the road surface and tire

With the continuous use of the tire, the depth of tread becomes less and the slippery action takes place between the road surface and the tire

In other words, the coefficient of friction becomes less

In general, the tread depth of the brand new car or passenger tire is around 8.0-9.0mm

A tire with tread below 1.5mm, it loses the gripping action with the road surface

At this stage, you must replace your worn-out tires with new ones

Tread Wear Indicators(TWI)

Treadwear indicators or wear bars are spaced evenly through the main grooves in the tire tread

When TWI are flushed with the level of tread, then the tire must be replaced with brand new or retread tire

3.Retorque the wheels 

It is recommended when you have new wheels and tires fitted to your car, essential to have lug nuts retorqued after the first 50 kilometers

when you fix new tires to your vehicle, each of the wheels comes off and then is reinstalled

Since the mechanic must try to gauge the correct tightness of the lug nuts they can sometimes be off by little

After driving for a few kilometers, the lug nuts may come to start to loosen or tighten

Both instances can be harmful 

Therefore approximately 50 km have been driven on new tires, the lug nuts must be checked out and if necessary retorqued to the same value as previous

4. Balancing of tires

The primary objective of the tire balancing is to distribute weight uniformly around the circumference of the tire

If the wheels are out of balance it can be observed by the uncomfortable vibration while driving

Except that,

• Uneven wear of the tread
• Increase in fuel consumption
• Issues with suspension are the other symptoms of the imbalance of tire

If you notice one or more of these symptoms, although the tires are relatively new then its possible your car has an imbalance of tire/tires

5. Wheel Alignment

Alignment of the wheel must be done after driving every 20000km or when you feel your vehicle is pulling to one side or the other

A wheel alignment will prevent unsafe steering and uneven wear of tires

6. Storing of tires

If you are using seasonal tires, as the season change, you are switching to winter tires or to summer tires

After taken off from your vehicle the tires must be stored in such a way that as not to change their characteristics

Following are the recommendation for the proper storage of tires for the offseason

• Clean them with water and detergent and dry
• Insert the tire into an airtight plastic bag and make sure that there is no moisture in it
• Use a vacuum cleaner to absorb air inside the bag as much as possible
• This airtight environment prevents the migration of oils from rubber compound
• Store the tires as not direct contact with sunlight
• The UV rays in sunlight will degrade the rubber compound
• Avoid exposing your tires to the chemicals
• When you are storing your tires, you can stand, stack, or hang them
• The most recommended way is standing the tires because it put less stress on the tires