Regular car maintenance can prevent unexpected breakdowns in your vehicle while keeping you safe on the road, and looking after the vehicle’s tires is as important, according to experts.
Hassan Al-Khairalla, automotive services at the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA), told CTV Morning Live Thursday there are two things to look for when it comes to tires. The first thing is making sure you have the right tires on.
For example, you have to make sure you have summer tires or all-season tires on in the summer and winter tires for the snowy season.
All-season or summer tires are built with a harder rubber, which makes them better for the smooth roads, Al-Khairalla notes.
“So, summer (and) all-season tires, because they are made of harder rubber, they last a bit longer,” he said.
Using winter tires in the summer is not recommended, as the warmer temperatures will make them wear out faster, he says.
Winter tires, on the other hand, are made with a softer rubber, making them safer in snowy winter conditions.
Al-Khairalla says all-season and summer tires are less safe during the wintertime because the harder rubber becomes stiffer when the temperatures drop below -7 C.
“I would say swap it out at the right time,” he said.
Another important thing to pay attention to, Al-Khairalla says, is know the right time to get new tires. This can be done through checking the threading of the tires.
“The thread is basically just the rubber on the surface of the tire that makes contact with the road. And there’s a couple of ways of checking it,” Al-Khairalla said.
Every tire has a little marker, and you can tell that your tires are totally done when “the edge of rubber touches this marker,” the CAA expert explains.
He recommends buying a tire thread gage either online or from a retailer store to read the tire thread before hitting the roads.
“We see that the number we’re getting is four millimetres, so this tire is actually pretty close to being done. Three is where you absolutely should change it. Four is where you have a little life left, but you should consider getting new tires,” Al-Khairalla explained while showing how to use the thread gauge.
A set of tires is supposed to last around three years, he said, depending on the tires themselves and how much you drive.
Vehicle performance and fuel economy are affected by the tire pressure, he says.
“The air pressure in your tires accounts for about 95 per cent of your vehicle’s weight,” Al-Khairalla added.
Underinflated tires make the engine work harder than it should, resulting in wasting more gas.
The tires become prone to a blowout when they are overinflated tires, Al-Khairalla adds.
One way to know the correct tire pressure is to check the vehicle’s manual, or to look beside the driver door, as there’s a little sticker showing the recommended pressure, he says.