Vehicle maintenance can be challenging for teen drivers, or anyone who has never worked on their own vehicle. While you might not be changing your commuter vehicle’s engine anytime soon, you should be maintaining your carโs tires. Maintaining your tires is so important, it is literally where the rubber meets the road. To avoid increased wear and tear on your vehicle, and to avoid a flat tire, you should regularly check your car tires depth, rotate your tires, and check your tire pressure. Or, have your local mechanic and garage maintain your vehicle’s tires.
How To Check Your Tire Depth
There are many different ways people recommend you check your vehicles tire depth. There is the infamous penny test, or good old dadโs finger nail. What we are actually looking for when measuring our tires depth? We want our tires tread to be 4/32 inch or 1/8th inch or deeper. When you start getting below that depth you should replace your tires soon.
A large number of tires actually have a tread where bar indicator. These were bars are inside of the tread grooves. If the tread bar indicator is flush with your tires tread depth you should change your tires. The best way to check a tire trend where bar indicator is by turning your wheel at a hard angle so you can see your tire tread clearly.
Upon turning your wheel and reviewing your entire tire, you might see that your tread depth is uneven. The outside of your tire is more worn down while the inside looks like itโs barely touching the road. This can be an indicator of two things. Your car is out of alignment and will wear down a certain tire faster than others, or you need to rotate your tires.
How To Rotate Your Tires
Most mechanic shops will rotate your tires if you request it. When you rotate your tires it is done to make sure the tires wear out evenly. If you want to try to do this on your own you will need some means of lifting your car off the ground. There are two ways you can rotate your tires. You can switch the two back ones in the two front ones or you can switch the front right with the back left and the back right with the front left. Glass is the method I prefer when rotating my tires. After you take the time to rotate your tires you should check your tires air pressure.
Why Should You Maintain Your Car’s Tire Pressure?
Maintaining your vehicle’s tire pressure is so important. Tire pressure impacts your vehicleโs gas mileage, your likelihood of getting a flat tire or a blowout, and it helps maintain your vehicle.
How To Check Your Vehicles Tire Pressure
You use an air pressure gauge, a cheap tool you can get at gas stations or auto parts stores, to check your air pressure. To check your vehicles tire pressure, remove the From from the tires valve stem. Pay attention to where you place that Cap, they are extremely easy to lose and you do not want to leave your valve stem without a cap. If your valve stem doesnโt have a cap it is easy for a bluestone to get into the valve stem into slowly release air from your tires.
To use the air pressure gauge, press the top nozzle onto the valve stem. You will hear a release of air and the bottom of the pressure gauge will extend. The number the air pressure gauge extends to is your tires current air pressure. On the wall of your tire it will indicate what your air pressure should be. Many vehicles are around 40 psi. Make sure you check your vehicles air pressure requirements. Using an air compressor add air as needed. If you do not have an air compressor many gas stations have an air tank you can use.
The Benefits Of Maintaining Your Vehicle
Maintaining your vehicle will help you from financial costs, flat tires, and simply avoiding the unexpected. But when the unexpected does occur do you want to make sure your vehicle is properly insured. Contact Strickler insurance for your car insurance needs. We are located in Lebanon Pennsylvania and serve our community and neighboring states.