Tips for Increasing the Longevity of Your Tires

Tires are a significant expense for vehicle owners, so it’s always in the driver’s best interest to get the most use out of them as possible. Below, we offer simple tips for increasing the longevity of your tires that could add years to the lifespan of your vehicle’s tires.

Avoid Non-Paved Roads

It’s always best to stick to the paved, flat, and comfortable roads with regular tires than to venture onto gravel or dirt roads. While a neglected and beat-up paved road riddled with potholes isn’t ideal either, it’s still typically better for tire health than a dirt or gravel road.

If you must leave smooth surfaces, you should clean and repair tires after driving on gravel or dirt roads to ensure that rocks, dust, and dirt don’t stick to the tires and gradually wear down the tread. This is especially true if you have performance tires that are more sensitive to non-paved roads. If you plan to use your vehicle for off-roading, get heavy-duty all-terrain or mud tires.

Check Tire Pressure Frequently

Proper tire pressure is integral to the safety and longevity of your vehicle’s tires. Use, climate, and many other factors can lower or increase the PSI of tires. When you have underinflated, overinflated, or imbalanced tires, they wear down faster and are less safe to drive on.

Even if you have an electronic tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) for your car, it may not always be reliable, and you should manually check the tires with a PSI gauge at least every month. A good habit is to check the tire pressure on the same day each month or do it while filling up with gas.

Rotate Tires Regularly

Another simple tip for increasing the longevity of your tires is to get them rotated on schedule. Many drivers don’t understand that the tire’s position on the vehicle affects how quickly it wears down. After all, we make way more right turns than left turns while driving.

Rotating tires ensures they stay balanced throughout their lifespan, and equally balanced tires last longer. You should rotate your tires every 5,000 miles or so. Check your owner’s manual for instructions specific to your vehicle.

Drive Conservatively

One simple change many drivers can make without any investment is to drive more conservatively and cautiously. Accelerating or braking too aggressively or taking corners too fast wears down tires much faster than those who drive more cautiously.

Accelerating, braking, and cornering at high speeds require the tires to use more grip, which means they lose their tread faster. Bring your speed up gradually, brake earlier than usual, and take corners slowly to keep the tread on your tires for longer.

logicalpositionpublishing2