The Importance Of Tire And Its Maintenance Practice 1

Whether what you have on your vehicle is used (tokunbo) or brand new tires, adequate inspection/proper maintenance of your tire is very important because it is the only part of the automobile that has direct contact with the road. 

Tires affect your vehicle handling, ride, braking, and safety. For optimum performance, tires must have the correct air pressure, tread depth, balance and the wheels of the vehicle must be properly aligned.

Checking your tires on a regular basis is an important step in protecting your safety and your automotive investment. Ideally, tire inspections should be performed monthly especially in a situation where you drive over potholes and debris in the road, live in an area with bad road network, or drive long distances regularly, then you should inspect your tires more often.

Always ensure your tires are inspected before a long trip. The more often these inspections are performed, the easier it will be to find a small problem, such as a nail in your tire, and fix it before it becomes a more expensive and time-consuming issue.

Poor maintenance of tires can lead to premature tire wear, a flat tire or even a blowout. Also there are other factors apart from tire that can affect tire wear i.e. worn suspension parts and wheel alignment can intensify tire wear and performance rate.

Types of Tire Problems

Under Inflation: Too little air pressure causes mostly the tire’s outer edges to contact the road. This creates wear primarily on both edges of the tire tread, with less wear in the centre.

Over Inflation: Too much air pressure causes mostly the tire’s middle section to contact the road. This creates wear primarily in the centre of the tread, with less wear at the tire’s edges.

Alignment Problem: This typically occurs when the wheels are out of alignment, the thread wear on one edge of the tire, it usually cause a rapid wear / damage to the tire under a short period of time.

Erratic Tread Wear: This is often called cupping, and may mean the wheel is out of balance, or that the shock absorbers or other suspension components need to be replaced.

Bulge Sidewall: This is a raised portion of the tread. It may indicate that one of the belts in the tire carcass has separated from those next to it.

Possible Tire Problems While Driving

Unusual vibration or thumping noise: Vibration or thumping noises can indicate an out-of-balance tire, one with tread that has a flat spot due to locking the wheels in a panic stop, or a tire with a separated belt.

A pull to one side: While driving at a steady speed, pulling to one side may indicate an under-inflated or damaged tire on the side of the car to which the vehicle pulls. If this is not the case, a brake problem or poor wheel alignment may be causing the pull.

How To Inspect Tire Tread

The essence of tire tread inspection is to ensure that its depth can maintain a good traction when the brake is applied especially on wet roads. The tread should be checked at least once a month for excessive and uneven wear. 

The most accurate tread depth measurements are made with a simple tread depth gauge available at any parts store or at any standard vulcanizing workshop. 

Also, tire treads can be checked manually using the coin for quarter test.

This can be done by inserting a coin head into a treaded groove of your tire to ascertain the depth. 

For a very good tire tread, the tread depth should be at least 8/32’’ (6.35 mm) when the coin is inserted. If the depth of tread is 4/32’’ (3.125 mm) when the coin is inserted, it shows that your tire is worn and need to be inspected every month. But if the depth of tread is 2/32’’ (1.588 mm) after the coin insertion, it shows that the tire has reached its tread permissible limit and needs to be changed or replaced with a new one.

Tools For Inspecting or Gauging The Tire Pressure

Keeping your tires properly inflated regularly is one of the easiest ways to help maintain good gas mileage and extend the life of your tires. Check your car’s tire pressure at least once a month with a quality gauge that measures pressure in pounds-per square inch (psi) or Kilo Pascal (Kpa). 

There are three types of tire pressure gauges that can be used for proper and adequate inspection of tire inflation - digital, dials and pen/stick types and it can be sourced at most auto parts stores: 

digital pressure gauge

dials pressure gauge

 

The digital and dial designs tend to be more accurate, easier to read and mostly used in a standard vulcanizing workshops, while pen/stick gauge is commonly used by roadside vulcanizers. 

pen or stick pressure gauge

Recommended tire pressures are usually for cold tires and it is advisable the pressure be checked at ambient temperature before the vehicle is been driven. Checking tire pressure on a car that has warm tires can result in a pressure reading of up to 5 psi higher than the recommended pressure. 

The recommended inflation pressures for your car tires can be found in the vehicle’s owner’s manual or on the tire information decal attached to the driver’s door frame and sometimes it is placed inside the fuel filler door of some older cars.

How to Check Tire Air Pressure

1. Remove the tire’s valve cap.
2. Place the gauge over the tire’s valve stem and press firmly so that no air is escaped. The tire gauge will indicate how much pressure is in the tire.
3. Adjust the tire’s air pressure as needed. When adding air, push the air hose into the valve firmly, until the air stops escaping. Check the pressure every few seconds to help judge the amount of air going into the tire, until you reach the recommended air pressure. If the tire’s pressure is greater than it should be, release the excess air by pressing inward the centre of tire valve stem on the tire.
4. Replace the valve cap.
5. Repeat the process for the other tires. Do not forget to do the same for your spare tire.

Maintenance of Tires

There are several maintenance procedures that automotive repair professionals can adopt to prolong the service life of a tire, most of the procedures require the use of special tools and knowledge while some does not. However, understanding these procedures will help you feel more confident in dealing with a repair provider.

Tire Rotation

This is the maintenance practice of moving the wheels and tires of a vehicle from one position to another so as to  help prevent uneven tire wear, which can lead to poor performance and decreased in gas mileage. Tires on the front and the rear of vehicles operate at different loads and perform different steering and braking functions, resulting in unequal wear patterns and to gain maximum life and performance from tires, maintenance method of tire rotation is essential. 

Usually tire rotation is performed between 7,000 and 10,000 km and even more frequently when you do most of driving around town. But I will advice a lesser mileage - tire rotation for  the nature of our roads in Nigeria. 

Tires are designed to rotate in a specific direction; these can only be rotated front-to-rear, meanwhile rotation will not be possible if different tire sizes are used on the front and rear axles. See below picture for better understanding.

Tire Balancing

Tire balancing is also known as wheel balancing, it is the process of equalizing the weight of the combined tire and wheel assembly so that it spins smoothly at high speed. Balancing involves putting the wheel/tire assembly on a balancer, which centers the wheel and spins it to determine where the weights should go.

computerized wheel balancer

portable hub wheel  balancer
   


Properly balanced tires help minimize uneven wear and extend their life. When tires are balanced, small weights are attached to the wheels to limit vibration of the tire and wheels as they turn. Newly installed tires should be balanced, and thereafter whenever a vibration is noticed. Balancing is also called for whenever a tire is removed from the wheel for repair.

Wheel Alignment

Wheel alignment is the measurement of the position of the wheels compared to specifications that the vehicle manufacturers recommend. Each vehicle has specific wheel alignment settings. If any alignment measurement falls outside the specified range, uneven tire wear can result, vehicle handling may be affected and fuel economy can be diminished.

 

You should have the wheel alignment checked and adjusted when new tires are installed, and thereafter any time when unusual steering characteristics are observed. A vehicle’s wheels are properly aligned when the car will drive down the road in a straight line without drifting or pulling to either side. A drift or pull can be caused by problems other than just alignment, so a thorough inspection should be performed by a qualified shop to determine the exact nature of the problem before an alignment is performed.

Spending a few minutes with your tires every month can help protect your family, improve your vehicle’s performance, and lengthen the life of your tires.