How to Make Your Car’s Tires Last as Long as Possible
How to Make Your Tires Last Longer
When you buy a vehicle, you know that you’ll have to replace its tires at some point in the future. Tires face normal wear and tear over time due to their constant contact with the road. Sometimes, other factors can create abnormal or uneven wear and tear on your tires. By staying up to date on your vehicle’s routine tire maintenance, you can protect your tires and make them last as long as possible. Here at Burlington Volkswagen, we offer quality vehicle service for drivers around Philadelphia and Levittown. We also want to help drivers extend the life of their tires through maintenance and expert tire advice. If you want to make a service appointment in our service department, give us a call or schedule online today.
What Causes Uneven Tire Wear?
The best way to extend the life of your tires is by making sure they wear evenly. If they aren’t wearing evenly, you can find the cause of their uneven wear by looking at the wear patterns on the tires’ tread.
- Patchy Wear: If you notice patches of excessive wear on your tires, your tires may not be balanced.
- Wear on the Center: When your tires are overinflated, they’re more likely to wear excessively on their center.
- Wear on the Edges: This can be caused by underinflation. Your owner’s manual should tell you the correct PSI for your tires.
- Cupping Wear: If you notice diagonal scalloping of your tires, your vehicle may have a suspension problem and you’ll want to get it checked out by a professional.
- Inner and Outer Tread Wear: Misalignment can cause inner and outer tire wear, which is also referred to as camber wear or toe wear.
Follow These Steps to Extend the Life of Your Tires
Tires can’t last forever, but you can make them last longer by following a few simple steps.
- Tire Rotations: By rotating your tires every 5,000 miles, you can give them a better chance at wearing evenly. Ask one of our technicians how often your specific vehicle needs its tires rotated.
- Check the Alignment: Wheel alignment service is another key part of routine tire maintenance that’ll help your tires wear evenly. It’s recommended to go in for wheel alignment service twice a year.
- Check Your Tire Pressure: Maintaining the correct tire pressure is more important than you may think. Your Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) will help you know when it’s time to inflate your tires. It’s a good idea to check your tire pressure at least once a month.
- Balance Your Tires: You can ask to have your tires balanced when you go in for your routine tire rotations. This is important because uneven wear can be a result of weight being distributed to one of your wheels more than the others.
If your vehicle needs some routine maintenance or tire care, check out our service and parts specials at Burlington Volkswagen. Give us a call or come by our service department in Burlington, NJ, to learn more.