Did you know that rotating your tires makes your tires last longer?
To get the maximum use out of your new tires, regularly rotate and balance your wheels!
Rotating your tires is important. Your front tires wear more on the shoulders than your rear tires because they handle much more cornering force from taking turns. Front-wheel drive vehicles have even more force on the front.
Rotating your tires so each tire has a chance to be in the front of the vehicle helps to prevent your front two tires from wearing out much sooner than your rear tires. That way all four tires wear evenly over their life time and last longer.
For most vehicles’ tires are rotated front to back. Some manufacturers recommend a cross rotation pattern that includes the spare tire, and some high-performance vehicles have different size tires on the front and rear and may even have uni-directional tires that can only be on the left or the right side of the vehicle. Your Service Advisor will be able to advise you on what rotation pattern is best for your vehicle.
Your tire manufacturer will have a recommendation for how often you should rotate your tires. It’s usually somewhere around 5,000 to 8,000 miles.
What is balancing a tire? Over time your tires can develop heavy spots that cause it to wobble.
Balancing adds weights to the wheel to even it out. We’re talking about very, very small weight differences. Variations in the tire and wheel manufacture can cause a slight imbalance. The valve stem, and now the tire pressure monitoring sensors in the tire, also play into the equation.
Even very small differences can cause vibrations especially when you’re driving at higher speeds on the freeway. Your wheel is essentially bouncing a bit, if you’re going freeway speeds with a tire out of balance your tire is essentially bouncing 14 times a second, causing not just an annoying vibration but also excessively wearing out your tire.
If one of your front tires is out of balance, you’ll feel the steering wheel vibrating. When it’s a rear tire you’ll feel a vibration through your seat. If you’re feeling vibrations in your vehicle bring it into Eureka Brake & Automotive, we’ll check to see if your tires are out of balance or if there’s some other issue with your vehicle.
Safe driving from us here at Eureka Brake & Automotive!
(707) 443-2122
www.EurekaBrake.com
Revised from Content Contributed by NAPA Service Assistant