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How To Read Your Tires
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How To Read Your Tires
Your tires aren’t just full of air, they’re full of information important to know regarding their size, health and capabilities. The trick is to know how to decipher the markings and other hints tires can provide. With assistance from Josh Chalofsky, chief operating officer and co-founder of online tire sales and service site SimpleTire, we’ll break the code for you.To get more news about car tire, you can visit gofortunetire.com official website.
Reading Physical Clues
The best way to determine the health of your tires is by examining its treads and sidewalls for signs of wear or deformities.No penny? There are tread depth gauges available at auto parts stores.
A simple, low-tech but pretty accurate way to check a tire’s tread wear is by placing a penny in the groove between treads with Lincoln’s head facing down. If you can see all of Lincoln’s head the tread is most likely past what Chalofsky calls “its serviceable use” at around 2/32 of an inch deep. Treads on healthy tires are generally 10/32 or 11/32 of an inch deep.No penny or gauge? Just look at the tread. If it seems bald or slick those are signs of extreme tread wear. If your vehicle doesn’t seem to have adequate traction or takes too much distance to stop, those are strong hints it’s time for new rubber.
Tire sidewalls should also be checked periodically for cracks that may develop after use or severely hot or humid weather conditions. That’s another clue it’s time to replace the tire. If you’ve recently bumped into a curb or hit a pothole a bubble can form on the sidewall. A bubble is bad news because it means the sidewall plies may have separated, allowing air to escape. Bubbles don’t appear immediately after an incident so it’s important to check the tire after a few days. If one does appear, replace the tire.
Deciphering Markings
There’s all sorts of information on a tire’s sidewall that lets you know its size, load capacity and proper inflation level.The letters P-metric and LT indicate what type of vehicle the tires were made for. Tires for passenger cars carry a P or P-metric or just numbers. Tires for light trucks, cargo vans or any other non-heavy duty commercial vehicles carrying heavier loads than passenger vehicles are marked with LT.
A series of three numbers indicates elements of a tire’s size. For instance, a tire marked with 205/55/16 is 205 mm wide, 55% of its width tall and with 16-inch rims. Always replace a tire with one that’s the same size and load rating.
Carrying capacity, top speed and load ratings are noted by letters and numbers which can be deciphered on charts available online such as this one from SimpleTire.
Proper Maintenance to Prolong Tire Life
Tires will wear more evenly if they’re rotated about every 5,000 miles, especially if they’re on all-wheel drive or four-wheel drive vehicles. The key, according to SimpleTire’s Chalofsky, is to keep the tires moving around the vehicle.An alignment realigns the vehicle’s axles to run true and straight. You know it’s time for one if you feel your steering wheel shaking, the car veers to one side while driving on a flat road or you notice the tires on one side are balder than those on the other. In any case, an alignment is recommended any time you replace a complete set of tires.