When your tires are getting up there in age, they start to become a hazard rather than a help. Cool Green Auto has these tips for you when you’re trying to determine if your tires have had it.
Your Tires Have a Lot of Miles on Them
Tire manufacturers have a lot of information about how many miles or how long in terms of years the tires can last. That’s not always easy to keep track of, but if you’ve kept the paperwork from when you bought your tires you can refer back to that information. If your tires were new when you bought your car, either as a car that was brand new or new to you, then you can gauge the tire age from when you purchased the car.
You’re Feeling Vibrations
How the car handles tells you a lot about what’s going on with it. If you’re feeling vibrations, particularly as you speed up, that is something you need to look at more closely. It’s possible that you’ve got uneven tire wear, unbalanced wheels, or misaligned wheels. Checking the tire tread is going to help you to determine if tire wear is the problem.
The Sidewall Has Issues
There’s more to tire wear than the parts of the tire that connect to the road. You also need to check the sidewalls periodically to see how they’re doing. If there’s a problem, you are more likely to see bulges, blisters, or cracks in the sides of the tires. This happens often on older tires because the rubber is breaking down, but it can happen on any tire that is not in good condition.
You’ve Lost a Lot of Tread
One of the best ways to keep up with how your tires are doing is to regularly check the tire tread depth. This is usually something you can do just by looking at the tires, but you can do the penny test or use a tire tread gauge, too. If you’re noticing that the tire tread is wearing unevenly or is almost worn completely away, you really need to check into getting new tires.
Ready for a new set of tires? Let us help at Cool Green Auto in Shepherdstown, WV. We can make sure you’ve got the right set of tires for your car and for your driving preferences. Afterward, we can also help you to maintain your tires so that they last as long as possible.