How to Safely Inspect Used Tires

People on very tight budgets due to career changes, layoffs or other financial hardships may find themselves in the situation to consider buying used tires to get them by for a year or so, or until they can afford new tires. Unfortunately, used tire dealers, like used car dealers, have a less than reputable reputation in general. And some used tire dealers, like some used car dealers, have earned that reputation. But if you're educated about how to inspect a used tire, you will be properly armed to reasonably choose a great used tire without relying on the sometimes questionable say-so of the used tire dealer.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• An Unmounted Used Tire
• Several Minutes to Inspect Each Tire
• A U.S. Penny or Quarter

1. Locate a used tire. These can be found at a used tire dealer in your local Yellow Pages, or in this day and age on the Internet. You may also find used tires at garage sales, flea markets, salvage yards and swap meets. If you can call ahead, call the business and make sure they have a tire or several tires in your size before making a useless trip and wasting your time and gas as well. When you have found someone that has used tires in your size, you will then need to go to their location to inspect and select a used tire, or as many used tires as you may need. It is common to need two used tires at a time on the front of your car or truck, for example.

2. When you finally have a used tire in your hands, you should be reasonably sure that it has been inspected before you have it installed. Some used tire dealers are very professional and know exactly how to inspect a used tire. You should ask questions, and if their answers are honest and complete, their tires may have been inspected well before you even saw it. Other tire dealers, however, may not inspect their tires very well and their buyers must beware. If you don't trust a dealer's answers to your questions, be sure to inspect the tire yourself.

3. Even if you have developed some trust in the used tire dealer, it never hurts to be able to inspect the tire yourself. It is important to know right off what you are looking for when inspecting a used tire. You want a used tire that is going to last you as long as there is tread on the tire, and you don't want a premature flat tire that may leave you stranded in the rain or severe winter weather. So you will be inspecting a used tire for 7 things: 1) Uneven tire wear; 2) Excessive edge wear and/or insufficient tread depth; 3) Severe weathering, deep cracks, and uninterrupted cracks around the bead and where the tread and sidewall meet; 4) Damaged beads; 5) Improper repairs; 6) Cracks, splits or existing injuries that will cause flats; 7) the tire's Age.

4. First, inspect the used tire for uneven tire wear that occurs on the edges of tires, and across the tread area. Often, you can visually look at a tire as you spin it in your hands and see uneven tire wear, or high and low spots on the edges and across the tire. Some light uneven wear on the edges is nothing to be too concerned about, as this can be caused by several particular vehicles, failure to rotate tires as often as recommended, or weak suspension components. Severe cupping, as this uneven wear is often called at the edges of tires, can cause road noise and some vibration. You may also run the palm of your hand flat around the tread of the tire to feel for uneven wear across the tread area of the tire. This uneven wear is harder to see if it is light, but it will always cause vibration and road noise. If you feel high and low spots, or shifting, across the tread of the tire, bring it to the attention of the tire dealer and choose another tire. While this tire is likely not unsafe, it will cause vibration and howling as you drive.

5. Second, you should also inspect your tire for sufficient tread depth and excessive edge wear. No part of the tire tread or edge should be bald, or showing steel wire or nylon thread of any kind. Legal tread depth limit in most states (if not all 50) in the United States is 2/32nds. You can check for 2/32nds tread depth by using a U.S. penny. Insert the penny into a tread groove upside down, with Lincoln's head in the groove. Check the tread depth on both edges of the tire and in the middle of the tread. If you can see the top of Lincoln's head, the tire has less than 2/32nds tread and should not be purchased. Alternatively, you can use a quarter, but a quarter will show all of Washington's head in the tread groove if there is less than 4/32nds tread remaining on the tire. So if you can barely see all of Washington's head, the tread depth is about 4/32nds, above the legal limit mentioned above.

6. Next, look for severe weathering, or dry rotting. All tires will begin to show weathering, especially if they sit a lot, like on trailers for example. A tire that is driven daily will not weather as quickly as those that are not driven because the rubber is "exercised". Slight weathering will appear like spider webs on the sidewalls of the tire, and some may only be seen by pressure to the outside of the sidewall. Slight weathering is not unsafe and nothing to worry about. Severe weathering, however, will result in deep cracks in the tire sidewalls, and sometimes in the tread, too. And when these deep cracks open to reveal tire components, such as nylon cord or steel belts, the tire will fail in the near future because the tire components have themselves been exposed to the weather and begun to deteriorate like the rubber on the outside of the tire. You can best check for weathering by grabbing the bead of the used tire and pulling it outward. Perform this at 6 or 8 points around the bead for both sides of the tire. If you see any deep cracking, or cracks that follow the bead of the tire where it seals against the wheel or around the crown of the tire where the tread and sidewall meet, the tire is likely to cause problems and/or fail in the near future. You should bring this to the used tire dealer's attention and choose another tire.

7. Next, you will need to inspect the bead of the tire for damage. A bead can be torn, or bent, or even broken. A torn bead, if not severe and only on the inside of the bead, and does not cross around to the outside of the bead, will still seal on a wheel and provide many miles of service. However, a bead that is severely torn, and the tear wraps around from the inside to the outside of the bead where the tire and wheel meet, may seal for a short time but will inevitably leak in the near future. A bent bead can also leak if it is bent more than the slightest amount. A broken bead will flex easily in your hand and will be unsafe to even mount on a wheel, much less drive on your vehicle. If you find any severe tears or tears that cross over from the inside to the outside of the bead, or a bent or broken bead, bring it to the attention of the used tire dealer and select another used tire.

8. Next, you will need to look for improper or unsafe flat repairs. These are best found looking inside the tire itself as you roll it across the floor. If you see patches that are loose, don't hesitate to reach inside and pull on it, pulling it completely off if you can. The patch wouldn't hold air anyway. You should also make sure that each patch you see has the area under and around properly buffed to be smooth and even without visible ridges where it has not been buffed enough or visible exposed cord material where it has been buffed too deeply. Both conditions indicate a repair that has not been done properly. You should also look for rope or rubber plugs. These are not safe tire repairs and are likely to leak after even a short time as they themselves begin to dry out and get dirty from the streets. If you see any of these improper repairs or plugs, bring them to the attention of the used tire dealer and ask them to repair them properly (this will be the topic of another article) before you buy the tire, or simply choose another tire without an improper repair.

9. Next, as you are checking for improper or unsafe flat repairs inside the tire, you also need to look for damage to the inner lining or existing punctures and injuries that have not yet been repaired. As you roll the tire across the floor, press down on it and apply pressure to the tread to try to make any cracks or splits gape open. Tilt the tire to one side and roll it once across the floor to inspect one sidewall, then tilt the tire the other direction and roll it across the floor to inspect the other inner sidewall for cracks and splits. If you see any cracks or splits anywhere in the tire, bring it to the attention of the used tire dealer and choose another used tire.

10. The last thing you'll want to check is the tire's age, though this is less important than the 6 steps above. If a tire is properly stored, indoors, out of direct sunlight, in a cool, dry location, it will age slower than if it were left outside lying in someone's muddy yard. You can check a tire's age by checking the DOT code. Every tire manufactured for street use must have a DOT code stamped onto one side by law. So find the DOT code on the sidewall of a tire around the bead. It will look something like this: DOT AB CD 000 (or DOT AB CD 000). The last 3 or 4 characters in the DOT code represents the date of manufacture. Tires made before 2000 are stamped with a 3-digit date for week and year of manufacture. Tires made after 2000 are stamped with a 4-digit date for week and year of manufacture. If you have a tire marked with a 3-digit date like 013 (for example), the tire was manufactured either the first week of 1983 or 1993. If your tire has a 4-digit date, a date of manufacture like 3604, your tires were manufactured the 36th week of 2004. If you suspect a used tire's date to be more than 12 years old, you may wish to bring its age to the attention of the tire dealer and purchase a tire that's less than 10 years old or less.

11. Once you have learned this procedure for inspecting used tires, you will be able to inspect each used tire in only a couple of minutes per tire, and also be reasonably assured that you're likely getting a great tire that will perform as well as any tire on your vehicle with similar tread depth, perhaps giving you several years of service, if the tire has a lot of remaining tread depth.

Tips & Warnings

• You can also inspect the tires on your car in much the same way by following the steps in my article "How to Tell when It's Time to Buy New Tires"
• Be sure to have your tires properly inflated at the tire dealer before leaving, and then checking your pressures every month
• Ask your tire dealer what the proper inflation pressure should be for your car, and then ask them where you can find it on your car (a tire placard can be found on most cars) or in the dealer's reference book
• Be sure to balance and rotate your tires every 5000-7000 miles for best wear and life out of your tires, even if you have bought used tires
• If you're unsure about any used tire you're about to purchase, bring it to your used tire dealer's attention and ask questions
• Don't settle for a tire that you feel will be unsafe.

[femwriter]

on 10/9/2009 These are very good tips on how to Inspect Used Tires. Thanks for sharing, 5* plus recommendation!