It’s important to never skip a tire rotation. This chore can easily be forgotten about, but your trusted mechanic or tire shop should take care of this for you. Here’s why you should stay on top of regular tire rotations, usually done at every other oil change.
What is a Tire Rotation?
While it may be the most neglected of all vehicle maintenance tasks, it’s recommended by all car manufacturers as a way of managing tire tread wear. This encompasses all the grating, scraping and scouring that occurs to your tread while your tires carry your vehicle over rough surfaces and roads. During a standard tire rotation, each tire will be moved to a different position on the axles. It’s this shuffle that will help your tires wear more evenly.
Most manufacturers recommend a tire rotation every 7,500 miles or six months.
Importance of Rotating Tires
When you rotate your tires regularly, you are doing your part to support even tread wear, which improves handling, reduces noise and vibration, extends the life of the tire, and protects your tire warranty. With regular rotation, you won’t need a new set of tires as frequently and you also get a much better driving experience.
What Happens if I Don’t Rotate My Tires?
If you neglect regular rotations, the tire tread will wear down unevenly, which creates a rough and unstable driving surface. This decreases your safety while on the road due to heat buildup, poor traction in ice and snow, hydroplaning, and a higher risk of blowouts and punctures.
Heat Buildup
When your car is driving along, the friction that develops between your tires and the road will generate heat. Sure, tires are built to withstand high heat, but if the treads don’t get the space they need to enable cool airflow, temperatures can hit unsafe levels. Too much heat results in tire failures, such as tread separation and blowouts.
Hydroplaning
Those deep grooves in a healthy-treaded tire work to channel water away from the road surface, enabling the tire to keep a firm grip on the road. Without enough tread depth, tires tend to skim across the water’s top, which compromises your steering, control and handling.
Poor Traction
With deeper, sharper, wider and more irregular treads, snow tires will improve traction because they grip into packed snow. When driving in winter conditions fraught with insufficient tread depths, this increases your risk of sliding or spinning out.
Blowouts and Punctures
If you fail to rotate your tires, certain spots on a particular tire that experience excessive strain may begin to thin out. The thinner that spot gets, the higher the risk that a nail, piece of glass, or sharp rock can poke a hole in the tire.
The advantages of regular tire rotation certainly outweigh the risks of skipping this task!
Contact I&I Tires
Get in touch with us at 678-403-8029 to book your appointment for a tire rotation.