Auto Article Submitter

Maintaining Your Vehicle Tires

Maintaining Your Vehicle Tires

By Andrew Tucker

Proper maintenance of your vehicle's tires, watching air pressure for instance, will not only help keep your tires in good condition, but your vehicle itself, too.

You should inspect your tires' air pressure every month.

Deflation can occur even during regular use of your personal automobile's tires at a rate of about 1 psi (pounds per square inch) every month (as per Michelinman.com), and should be re-inflated to 35 psi (for most standard passenger car tires) each month. It's best to inspect you tires prior to driving your car or truck, while they are still cold. A tire not fully inflated can significantly effect how you vehicle will handle, according to Edmunds.com, decreasing safety and performance. Don't forget to check the spare, too. Understanding the right psi is essential.

Your auto has a standard psi that each tire should be inflated to. Your tires are not the place to look for the psi. Check the owner's manual of you vehicle, inside the fuel door, on the door jamb, or inside the glove box to see what tire psi is recommended. Good valve caps are important.

Having valve caps in good working order will help maintain psi. Rubber will deteriorate with the passage of time, causing slow leaks, so be certain to change valve caps every time you get new tires.

Tire rotation is important.

Michelinman.com suggests rotating your tires every six to eight thousand miles, preferably by a tire store or professional automotive garage. Proper rotating means changing the tires to alternate between each set of wheels to ensure longer life. This helps tire tread wear more evenly for a longer period of time, saving cash and time. Align your vehicle.

When on a flat surface, if your vehicle tends to pull to one side, and you seem to have to "fight" to keep it going straight, then you should take it to a garage to get it aligned as soon as possible. The balance of your tires is important, too.

#A tire is considered out of balance when one part of a tire that has been put on the wheel assembly is heavier than the others. When you balance your tires, this unevenness is adjusted, ensuring that your tire treads wear normally.