March 28, 2024

Your Tires Are Telling You Something

tire tread

Posted by Mark’s Automotive
Leading Edge

Southern Maryland just had its first real snowstorm, and more could be on the way.

You may have noticed that your vehicle’s tires were telling you something when you hit the brakes last week. Tires with worn down tread don’t grip the road as well, and, in snowy and icy conditions, this can make the crucial difference between hitting or not hitting the bumper in front of you.

But your tires’ worn tread can tell you other things as well, such as how well you keep them inflated and if your wheels are properly aligned.

Inflationary Measures

tire wear chart

Click to see a larger version of this chart

If you have the kind of car that tells you when your tire pressure is low, then you’re in luck.

For car owners without an electronic monitor, keeping tires properly inflated is a process of constant vigilance. If you aren’t keeping the pressure up in your tire, it will start to tell you, showing wear on the outside edges of the tire, but not in the center. However, if you over-inflate your tires, the pattern will reverse, and you’ll see a worn down tread on the center, but not the sides.

If you don’t know how much air to put into your tires, use an online tire pressure calculator to find the right level. Then buy a simple tire pressure gauge and keep it in your glove compartment. Every now and then, check your pressure while your are waiting for your car to fill up at the gas station, especially after dramatic weather changes.

Out of Alignment

Misaligned wheels can cause the steering wheel to pull and make it difficult to maneuver a vehicle, but it also wears down tires a lot faster.

A slight sloping wear on the outside of a tire can indicated camber wear, caused by the wheels being tilted off their axes.

A more extreme version of this sloping will occur when the the wheels are aligned slightly inward (toe in) or outward (toe out).

If the wheels of a car are tilted too far back on the strut (negative caster) or too far forward (positive caster), the tires can also develop unusual wear patterns.

Quarterwise, Penny Foolish

All tires eventually wear down and have to be replaced. And there’s a nice little trick for figuring out when that time comes for most road tires.

Get an ordinary quarter and insert it into the slots on your tread. The distance between the edge of the coin and the top of George Washington’s head is 1/8 of and inch, the minimum tread depth the Consumer Reports says is safe for tires.. If the top of the tread falls below the tip of Washington’s head, you should start thinking about replacing your tires.

This test was once done with a penny. The distance between the edge of a penny and Abraham Lincoln’s head is 1/16 of an inch, the minimum legal limit for tread depth in Maryland. However, experts say that tread depth does not leave enough room for water to escape, so tires with tread that worn can still hydroplane on a wet road.

If your tires are telling you that it’s time for a replacement or an alignment, give Mark’s Automotive a call at 301-866-1439.

marksautomotivemd.com

Comments
One Response to “Your Tires Are Telling You Something”
  1. Steve says:

    WOW! that little chart in this article is GREAT! super helpful, thanks!

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