What's the Best Way to Maintain My Tires?

  • Rolebama's Avatar
    Maintain correct pressures. No rapid acceleration or heavy braking. Try to avoid bad road surfaces. Have the balance checked occasionally, as well as tracking. I am not a believer in wheel rotation.
  • hermionegranger's Avatar
    The best way to maintain your tyres is to check tyre pressure regularly, keep an eye on tread depth, and look for any signs of damage like cuts, cracks, or bulges. Correct wheel alignment and balancing help prevent uneven wear and improve handling, while rotating tyres when recommended can extend their lifespan.

    Good driving habits also matter — avoiding harsh braking, overloading, and hitting potholes will help keep tyres in better condition for longer.
  • olduser's Avatar
    Maintain correct pressures. No rapid acceleration or heavy braking. Try to avoid bad road surfaces. Have the balance checked occasionally, as well as tracking. I am not a believer in wheel rotation.

    Over the years, I have found with front wheel drive, following the manufacturers advice to put new tyres on the back and shift the rear tyres to the front improves tyre life, and reduces the pain in the wallet by only changing two tyres each time.

    Some front wheel drive cars tend to wear the front tyres unevenly with nearside wearing more than the offside, these will benefit from changing side to side once a year to even out the wear.

    As far as I can see, changing tyres side to side front to back as is often recommended only serves to get all four tyres needing replacing in one go, and probably shortens their life as the tyres have to bed in, in their new position.

    Manufacturers tyre pressures are at ambient temperature not hot, so pressures are best checked when the car has been stood for several hours.
    Aim at checking pressures monthly but don't forget to adjust pressures if you are carrying an increased load, (see car handbook or look it up on the internet) this relevant for long journeys.
    Of course, don't forget to reset them again after the load is back to normal.
    While checking tyre pressures would be a good time to check for condition, lumps and bumps cuts etc.

    If tyres are run over pressure they will wear in the centre of the tread, if under pressure they wear on the edges of the tread.

    With new tyres it's worth checking for lumps and bumps after around a month, they can delaminate due to trapped moisture as they run in, oh yes tyres do need to be run in - for about the first hour, to dry out moisture and any solvents slowly, so avoid high speeds and violent anything. See note above re front wheel drive, the rear wheels have very little work to do relative to the front wheels so they get a gentle start to life on the road.

    All new tyres need to be balanced after fitting, after that they should be OK unless a balance weight is lost or the tyre is taken off the rim and refitted but having the balance checked at long intervals will do no harm. Personally, if I loose a balance weight I think I can feel the vibration of the wheel so I don't have a check done unless I can feel a vibration.