Seasonal Tire Management: Ensuring Top Performance In All Climates
Tire management is incredibly important for a smooth and safe driving experience. One thing that people don’t realize is that tires need different maintenance tactics in different seasons. You would be surprised at how different seasons affect your tires. We have written this article to help you understand this and know better when it comes to maintaining your tires.
So let’s look at how you can take care of your car’s tires in different seasons.
Summer Tire Management
During summer, our tires undergo tough conditions and extreme temperatures. The heat and constant friction against the asphalt puts a lot of stress on the tires.
Keeping an eye on your tires during summer is, therefore, imperative. Below are major factors to consider when maintaining your tires during the summer season.
Tire Pressure: Tire air pressure is one of the most critical things to manage when it comes to tire maintenance. Air pressure determines how well your tires will perform, how long those tires will last, and how safe your driving experience will be.
Regardless of the kind of tires you have, be it regular tires or the best off road tires, tire pressure is important.
In summer, the air in your tires will expand and contract according to the rise and drop in temperature. Due to this reason, it is important to check the pressure regularly.
Keep a constant eye on the tire pressure; checking the pressure every week should be good enough. Remember that every car has different tire pressure requirements. You can find these requirements in your car manual.
Tire Tread: Your tire treads will start to separate due to high temperatures and the heat produced while driving.
As the tire treads separate, the tires will not be able to grip the road well. This can potentially lead to skidding and cause accidents.
To check whether your tire treads are balding or not, you can insert a coin in between the treads. If one-fourth of the coin can be inserted into the tread, you need to change your tires.
Clean your tires: Washing your tires will keep them from drying out too quickly in the summer, and waxing will prevent extra wear on the tires.
Clean tires will also make identifying bulges, splits, and punctures easy.
Tire Valves: Tire valves are something most people take for granted. They are easily missed during the inspection, but worn-out tire valves can be a major cause of air leakage. So check your valves and make sure the valve’s cap is tightly placed on top.
If you see the valve has cracks on it or if you can feel air leaking from it, then it may be time to change the valves.
Inspection: Inspect your tires regularly in the summer; look for cracks, bulges, and balding on the tire’s surface. Whenever you go to the mechanic for an oil change or any other work, get your tires aligned to prevent uneven wear on the tires.
Winter Tire Management
Winter tire management is just as important as summer tire management. Below you will find some winter-specific tire management instructions to follow.
Regular Cleaning: Regular cleanings are important for your tires, all year, but especially in winter. Your tires will be traveling over salt, mud, dirt, and snow during this ‘magical’ time. A mixture of all this will be stuck on the surface of the tires. This will make it very difficult for you to identify problems with the tires. For this reason, you should clean your tires once every week in winter.
Tread Depth: Wintertime is a difficult time to drive. Roads have snow or ice on them, making them slippery. If your tries are balding, then this could pose a problem. Check the tread depth; you can do this by placing a coin between the treads and seeing if it goes in one-quarter of its length. If it does, then it is time to change the tires.
Also, we recommend opting for a 3mm tread depth in winters rather than the recommended 1.6mm; this is only because roads in winters will be extra slippery.
Tire Inspection: In winter, tire inspection must be part of your daily routine. After every drive, you should check your tires for bulges, punctures or splits. Tire inspection in winter is important because you are driving on snowy roads. You may be driving over stones or some sharp object and never really know since they’re covered with snow.
We recommend that at the end of the day, you should inspect your tires and do this daily.
Tire Pressure: Cold weather will cause the air pressure in your tires to drop. It is said that 1psi in tire pressure is lost for every drop of 10 degrees Fahrenheit in the temperature. This means that as it gets colder, your tire pressure will drop.
Checking the pressure every 2-3 days is wise, and filling the air accordingly will ensure smooth and safe driving. Uneven pressure will also cause uneven wear on the tires.
Buy Winter Tires: The best solution for winter is to buy winter-ready tires. These tires have been made specifically to be driven on snow and ice. They will provide exceptional handling and make your driving experience a lot safer.
Winter tires have special grooves and sipes. The sipes are tiny slits that provide added grip on a slippery road. And the grooves in winter tires are designed specifically to be filled by snow, so it provides a good grip on an icy road.
Winter tires are expensive, and if you buy the whole set, that’s a big expense to incur, but they will last longer, and in the long term, you will get a good return on the tires.
Final Thoughts
Tires maintenance is key to safe driving. Maintaining your tires may seem to be a cumbersome task, but it can be the reason your life is saved from an accident. So spend that extra time on your tires; you will be thankful that you did.
