They're the last things on your mind until they let you down.
If there's anything drivers hate more than spending money on fuel, it's spending money on tires.
We'll happily shell out for snake-oil fuel additives that do nothing, chasing better fuel-economy or performance.
We'll check our oil religiously and never pull out a tread-depth gauge. We'll polish that ride until it shines, then drive off down to the car show with an under-inflated left front tire.
Let's face it: tires are deeply boring and you don't want to think about them unless you're the president of Goodyear or a member of a NASCAR pit crew. But you should. Almost nothing is as important to the safety and functionality of your vehicle as the four little black doughnuts holding you to the road.
Each has a contact patch no bigger than the palm of an NFL quarterback. Each is potentially costing you money every day. Each could save your life or put it in danger. Here are a few things to check on when you're seeing how the rubber meets the road.
Tire pressure
Probably the single largest crime against fuel economy most drivers commit is under-inflated tires. Part of the problem is that stiff modern sidewalls make it so you can't really see a tire that's down by 5psi or so.
On the driver's side doorjamb of your car (usually, there are other places), there's an inflation guide to show you what your tires should measure when cold. Remember that last part: if you've been driving all day and pull in to check your tires at the gas station, you'll get a falsely high reading thanks to heat. Check them in the morning before you've moved the car.
Like the helium balloons from your last office party, tires will slowly lose air over the course of weeks, so it's not a check-it-and-forget-it situation. Once a week would be ideal, but at the very least it should be the kind of thing you're checking when it's time to check your oil, halfway before it's due for a change.
Low tire pressure kills fuel economy quickly. Even 5psi low can make a difference as your car is trying to force forward an under-inflated balloon. Buy a decent digital instant-read, and know where the gas stations are that have free air. It'll save you money.
Unequal tread wear
Not all tires experience the same pressures and wear. For instance, your right-most tires are much more likely to pick up a puncture, as nails, screws, and bolts tend to roll down the crown of the road towards the gutter.
But the tire that takes the biggest beating in your car? The driver's side front. That's because most right turns are taken at speed (highway off-ramps, etc.), while most left turns tend to be slower (turning at an intersection).
Two things are important to watch for here. First, as already discussed, tire pressure is an important issue. Taking more load than the other three tires causes the front left to lose pressure a little faster, so an extra vigilant eye should be kept on it.
Secondly, it'll also wear faster. Rotating your tires is an important way to even out your tire wear across all four tires. Ideally, if your tires aren't the unidirectional kind, you should be swapping them in an X-pattern at least once a year: the right rear tire ends up on the front left-hand side, and so on.
If you still see excessive wear on the inside or outside of the tires, you could need an alignment. This isn't a repair to be performed regularly, just something to watch for. Over time, your car's suspension will sag and settle, and this can change the way your wheels line up.
Run-flats and winters
The summer months are finally here, but still you might occasionally hear the whirr of winter tires on the street. That's just plain wasting money. Winter tires are made of a softer compound than all-seasons, and a car will burn through them as the temperature rises.
Notice how I say "winter" not "snow" tires. While it's still some time away, B.C.'s temperate winter often makes consumers feel like they can get away with all-seasons. Heck, it says all-seasons right on the sidewall, right?
Consider them "three-seasons" instead. Once that temperature drops below 7 C, the tire compound starts firming up. Even though it's still hot out, it's never a bad idea to start keeping an eye out for deals during the off-season.
If you're looking at a new car, perhaps you've heard the benefits of run-flat tires touted. This also sounds like a great idea, but has some pretty big drawbacks.
To get around space considerations required for packing a spare tire into a design, plenty of manufacturers (especially luxury) are turning to the extra-stiff sidewalls of run-flat tires. You don't need to stop, they claim, just keep on driving until you get to where we can fix it up for you.
The problem is, run-flat tires are expensive, not always in stock, rough-riding, and driving on them can make a repair impossible. Usually the recommendation is an entire replacement after a flat, and that can be expensive. Make sure you've considered the potential extra outlay.
Spares
It's not just run-flat equipped cars that come without a spare tire. In the subcompact segment, a doughnut spare can be an optional extra, so make sure you've checked that box.
Spare tires are thought of even less than regular tires, right up until the point when you pop open your trunk and find that what you need most is in shoddy condition. If you're going to be cleaning out your trunk this summer and heading out on a road trip, make sure you've checked pressures on your backup tire too. Hopefully you won't need your spare, but Murphy's Law says that if you're not prepared, you surely will.
Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and automotive enthusiast. His regular column appears every Friday in the North Shore News auto section. Contact: [email protected].
