When it comes to preventative maintenance for your automobile, it’s important not to forget about the tires and wheels. Your vehicle’s safety and handling are dependent upon tires with plenty of tread that are balanced and aligned. Even something as little as air pressure can affect your car, truck, or utility vehicle’s safety and handling. Journey Auto Repair wants to talk about tire and wheel services that are designed to ensure your tires always keep their grips on the roads.
Air Pressure Check
Low tire pressure can make steering more difficult and wear down the edges of your tire tread. Too much tire pressure can create blowout dangers and wear down the center of your tire tread. Check the air pressure in each tire about every two weeks to make sure they are inflated to the proper pounds-per-square-inch or PSI. If you need to add air, only add enough to get your tires to the correct PSI.
Tire Rotation
One easy way to remember when your tires need to be rotated is every other oil change. Tire rotations every 6,000 miles give the tire tread a chance to wear down more evenly because the pressure on the tires is balanced. Many people don’t think about tire rotations until it’s too late and they have uneven tire tread wear that reduces the lifespan of the tires on their automobiles. Rotations are quick and easy.
Wheel Balance
If your vehicle begins to vibrate as you pick up speed and you hear your tires on the road, your wheels need to be balanced. Balancing the wheels is a good idea after each tire rotation to make sure the wheel weight is balanced across the vehicle’s axles. You might also need to get your wheels balanced if they have been knocked out of balance by an automobile accident, road debris, or another driving hazard.
Wheel Alignment
Finally, it’s easy to knock your wheels out of alignment, too, if you have a bad habit of slamming into curbs when you turn around them, driving over them, hitting cement parking space markers, or driving over speed bumps and potholes too fast. If you’re good on all of that, you should have your wheels alignment annually or every two years if you don’t do too much driving throughout each year.
Call or stop by Journey Auto Repair in New Hope, MN, for a quick tire check. We’ll measure the tread and inspect it to make sure it is wearing down evenly. We will also check your wheel balance and alignment.