Auto Technology And Car Insurance

Tires are one of the most misunderstood and under-appreciated parts of a vehicle. Although assumed by many just to be a cushion to keep your wheel rim from getting damaged, in reality your tires are only point of contact between a high-speed moving vehicle and the road. Consequently, how much control you have over your car depends greatly on your tires. This article will explain what tires do for your car, the consequences of poorly maintaining your tires, and what you can do to make sure your tries are reliable and safe.

Every aspect of a tire is carefully designed to provide the greatest amount of control over your car. The type of tire rubber is carefully chosen to be soft enough to provide a good grip on the road, but tough enough not to wear down too quickly. As the rubber of the tire rolls over the pavement, it transmits force between the tire and the road via friction to generate traction. This is made possible by friction, which can be described as the stickiness between any 2 surfaces. Friction is what allows traction (the ability of the tire to grip the road), allowing you to speed up, slow down, and steer the vehicle, thus keeping control over your car.

Consequently, it is in your best interest to keep the contact area between your tire and the pavement as broad as possible. Here, tire pressure is important. Over-inflating a tire can cause it to lift too high off the ground, so that only the center of the tire is in contact with the road. This causes less traction (and thus less control over a moving vehicle), and uneven wear in the middle of the tire tread. Under-inflated tires let the tire ride to low, causing excessive wear to the outer ribs of the tire tread, and increasing the chances of a blowout. To maintain proper tire pressure, check your car owner’s manual (or look up the tire specification on the internet) to find the correct tire pressure. Check you tire pressure frequently (once a week or so) to make sure they maintain to correct pressure.

Uneven wear on your tire treads can also slowly decrease the contact area with the pavement over time. Unfortunately, even the position of the four tires on the car and cause uneven wear over time. To avoid this, rotate the tires to different wheel positions around the car periodically (in the USA, every 10,000 miles or so). Not only is the safer, it will make your tires last longer and save you money over time.

Keeping your tires properly balanced is also important. Your wheels should be perfectly perpendicular to the road to provide the greatest contact surface area with the pavement, and thus the best traction and control over your car. If your wheels are at an angle, even a very slight one, it decreases the contact area with the pavement, reduction traction and control, and crates uneven wearing on your tires, increasing the chance of a blowout. A good way to maintain proper balance is to have the balance checked whenever you have your tires rotated.

When your tread wears down, several bad things can happen. First of all, it generates less friction between the tire and the road, providing less grip on the pavement and thus less control over a moving vehicle.

Second, tire treads are specifically designed, when your tires roll through standing water or heavy rain, to channel water up and away for the road and provide a drier surface for your tires to grip the road. When tires treads wear down, these water channels shrink, creating a smaller channel to lift and push water away for the pavement. This increases the chances of losing control of your car when driving through water or heavy rain, especially at high speeds.

Finally, the older and more worn the tires are, the greater the chance that one of them will burst while the car is moving. Although merely an annoyance at low speeds, the danger caused by a blowout increases dramatically at higher speeds, and at highway speeds can be lethal. In extreme cases, the tire tread can separate from the tire wall and wrap around the axle, causing you to lose all steering control, collide with another car, go off the road, or even roll over.

Proper tire maintenance is an enormously broad topic, and this short article has provided just the very basics of maintenance and safety. If you think you have any questions about whether or not you need to have your tires rotated or replaced, take your car to an auto mechanic or garage.

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