For 48,000 to 65,000 miles, your four tires are going to be the only thing between you and the highway. Knowing that you have entrusted the well-being of you and your passengers to good rubber is the first step toward peace of mind. Not all breakdowns are avoidable but some involving your tires are, if you are vigilant.
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Significance
Knowing when to replace tires is essential to safe driving. Driving on a worn or damaged tire can result in anything from a ruined family trip to physical harm.
Tires needing replacement fall into specific classifications by cause: worn due to excessive mileage or a faulty front end part or damaged because of trauma or neglect.
Features
A tire worn so badly that the tread is down to the wear bar must be replaced. A tire damaged because of an unrepairable puncture, being run with little or no air pressure or suffering damage because of an accident or road hazard must be replaced.
Identification
The wear bar is a slightly raised bit of rubber between two rows of tread on a tire. When wear reaches this point, the tire must be replaced. A tire with bubbles, bulges or gouges due to trauma or neglect must be replaced.
Misconceptions
Tires driven with little or no air pressure can be destroyed in just a few revolutions of the wheel. If you hope to have a tire repaired, do not drive with the tire flat.
Warning
Continually filling a tire with air can cause the sidewall of the tire to weaken. When the tire loses air, the sidewall carries all the weight and degrades over time. The result could be a blowout.
Prevention/Solution
Periodically check your tires for pressure, damage and wear. Do not repeatedly fill a tire that you know is leaking; have it repaired.
Bulging Tire
