Warning Signs That You Need New Tires

Just like your feet feel a bit sore after you have been walking for a long time, your tires take a beating each time you drive your car. This is not a sign that your driving is bad in most cases – it is simply how things work. Tires grow old and worn out. Since a failure of your tires, while you are driving, can have serious consequences like leaving you in the middle of the road far away from home with no means of moving forward or causing your car to become uncontrollable, you should always know what the condition of your tires is and whether you need to get a new set of tires before your next drive. Of course, if a mechanic examines your car on a regular basis they will inform you if your car is due for a tire replacement. However, there are also some things you can do on your own in order to know whether your tires need to be replaced.

1. Depth of the tread of the tires

The depth of the tread of your car’s tires should not be less than 1.6 mm or 1/16 inch at all times. In case you often have to drive in rainy weather, you will be better off in case your tread depth is at least twice as much. You can get yourself a gauge that measures tread depth like the professional ones but you can also rely on the old trick, which shows you approximately how much remaining tread depth you have. Moreover, this trick does not cost more than one penny. In fact, you need a penny in order to perform the test. Take a penny with Lincoln’s head on it and put it with Lincoln’s head pointing down in the tread of a tire. If you are able to see the whole head of Lincoln this means that your tread is worn out and your tires need to be replaced.

2. Tread wear indicator bar

Newer tires are more convenient because of something older tires did not have. They have tread wear bars for indication built in the tires. These bars can barely be seen or cannot be seen at all when the tires are brand new but they will become visible once the tread starts wearing down. These are flat rubber bars that are perpendicular to the direction of the tread. In case you can see more than one such bar on the tread of a single tire this means that the tread is getting too low and you need new tires. This can be seen easily in the wet tracks left by your car after it has gone through a puddle. You can still check the tread depth with the penny test described above but in case you can see a lot of these tread depth indicators then it is time to think about new tires.

"Don't play games with the weather conditions" always remind the car mechanics. Make sure you don't mix the season when you need piggdekk and when you can put a set of R-dekk (that is how their Norwegian colleagues say studded tires and racing tires).