Tire safety isn't exactly the sexiest topic in the car
universe, but it's National Tire Safety Week. This is a good reminder to those
of us who are generally more concerned with fun stuff like horsepower to spend
a moment thinking about where the rubber meets the road.
“Ten years ago, NHTSA and AAA helped Rubber Manufacturers
Association (RMA) launch National Tire Safety Week,” said Charles Cannon, RMA
president and CEO. “Our partnership and efforts continue today because our job
is not finished. Too many drivers fail to do one simple task every month that
will reduce their safety risk and help our nation conserve valuable natural
resources. Checking tire pressure takes just five minutes, and it's worth every
second.”
There is a lot to be learned about tire safety. An RMA
survey shows that 85 percent of motorists don't know how to properly inflate
their tires, and only 20 percent of drivers check their tire pressure each
month.
AAA anticipates that it will assist 1.2 million stranded
motorists with tire-related issues this summer, many of which could be avoided.
Follow our tire-safety checklist to make sure AAA doesn't have to come to your
rescue.
1. Check tire pressure. Do this at least once a month
and before and after any long trips. Automakers often suggest a cold tire
pressure in the neighborhood of 30 psi, but you should check your owner's
manual to see what your car needs. Be sure to use the automaker's recommended
pressure and not the maximum pressure indicated on the tires. That
number represents the absolute max psi a given tire can hold, not what it
should be rolling on day in and day out.
According to Goodyear, a tire that is underinflated doesn't
roll as easily and the increased rolling resistance requires more energy,
robbing the vehicle of fuel efficiency. Optimal inflation can improve fuel
economy by 3.3 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Keep a gauge in your glovebox, and visit your neighborhood
gas station to get air if your pressure is too low.
2. Rotate your tires. Michelin says this should be
done every 6,000 to 8,000 miles. Every tire will wear differently. On
front-wheel-drive cars, the front wheels wear at almost twice the rate of the
rear wheels. Some specialists say that in left-hand-drive countries, the left
tire may wear faster than the right, so keep an eye out for that. Regularly
rotating tires helps achieve more uniform wear, which means consistent
performance and longer tire life. Have your tires rotated at a shop for about
$15 or buy a hydraulic floor jack and do it yourself.
3. Examine your treads. The old wisdom was that tires
should have at least 2/32 inch of tread depth, and laws agree. But new
information from Tirerack.com shows that greater depth is preferred. In their
tests, a new tire with 10/32 inch of depth took 195.2 feet to stop in the rain,
while tires with 4/32 inch took 290 feet and tires with 2/32 inch depth took 378.8
feet to stop.
To make sure your tires have a tread depth of at least 4/32
inch, stick a quarter, Washington's head facing down, into one of the
tire-tread grooves. If any part of Washington's head is obscured, you have at
least that amount of tread. Prefer to stick with the legal 2/32-inch tread
depth? Perform the same check, but use a penny and, of course, Lincoln's head.
4. Align your wheels. Improperly aligned wheels can
create rapid and uneven wear, says the Rubber Manufacturers Association. Misaligned
wheels can also create steering and tracking problems. Take you car to a
service station for alignment and the technicians will adjust the steering and
suspension components to manufacturer specifications, making sure that the
wheels are perpendicular to the ground and parallel to each other. According to
Midas, a basic four-wheel alignment on an average sedan will cost about $80.
5. Keep the deepest treads in the rear. Though this
may seem counterintuitive, since the front tires do the braking and steering,
if you have two newer tires and two older tires, keep the newer rubber on the
rear wheels. Deeper treads grip the road and channel water better, making the
rear of the car less likely to hydroplane and fishtail. The result is that,
while your shabby front tires may result in understeer, it's easier for a
driver to correct from such a condition than from oversteer resulting from worn
rear tires.
Article Credit: www.autoweek.com
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