Knowing when to change the tires on your vehicle is very important. Your tires are the only contact between your vehicle and the road. When they are in need of replacement It should be done as soon as possible to avoid serious complications.

Worn tires will not give you the traction that you need to safely negotiate turns. Will provide less traction during sudden stops or starts. They will no longer have the ability to dissipate water to the oustide edges increasing the chance for hydro-planing. The outer layers of rubber will also be prone to heat build-up and will cause them to separate from the inner layers of rubber, steel, and vinyl cording. In turn causing bubbles of air to form beetween the layers which can lead to failure.

It is very easy to inspect your tires for wear and is something you should do on occasion by either performing the inspection yourself or by taking it to your local tire store or mechanic.

First look at the inner and outer edges of the tire. You should see a consistant color from the sidewall to where the tread starts. If you notice a line where the color changes right as the sidewall meets the tread. The tire is ready to be replaced. What is happening is that the outer layers of rubber are being worn off and the inner layers which are made from a different shade(secondary rubber)is showing through. The sidewall is the thinnest part of tire and when the secondary rubber is showing it is getting extremely thin. Usually this kind of wear is associated with low tire pressure. I would recommend checking your tire pressure more frequently if you are experiencing this type of wear. If you see more wear on either the outside or inside edges as opposed to both edges. You are more than likely experiencing an alignment issue.

Next look at the middle of the tread. You are looking for a raised bar of rubber that runs between the tread blocks. It should be between 1/8"th and 1/4" of an inch wide and 1/16"th of an inch high. This is called a wear indicator. If the wear indicator is level with the tread blocks the tire is ready to be replaced. If you cannot find the wear indicator what you can do is take a penny. You hold the penny between your thumb and forefinger with Lincolns head exposed. Place the penny between the tread blocks and look across the surface of the tread. Lincolns head should be below the tread. If his head is fully exposed the tire is ready to be replaced. They do make a tool for checking tread depth (Tread depth gauge). You can find them in any auto parts store. Minimum Tread depth is 2/32"nds of an inch. You should check in different places around the tire and use the lowest reading as your tread measurement.

Last of all look at the tread blocks to see if they are wearing normally. They should be wearing flat and evenly. If you see one side of the blocks are wearing more and that the tread is looking jagged or choppy. Or if the tires make a whirring noise when being driven. This would indicate some type of a suspension issue. Unfortunatly these tires are ready for replacement. Even if the problem that caused it is repaired the tires will continue to wear in this pattern.

Replacement tire size, inflation pressures and details specific to your vehicles tire needs can be found in either the owners manual. Or on the printed sticker on the driver\passenger side door jamb.

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