A car’s owner has many responsibilities for their vehicle, including maintenance and repair upkeep of all sorts. This certainly includes mundane work such as visiting tire shops or tire stores to get new tires fitted on, as damaged or worn tires will do a lot more harm than good. New tires may totally transform how a car drives, and the driver may also want to get the wheel rims repaired or cleaned off every so often. At a tire shop, the owner can choose from a variety of brands for new tires, and find these tire shops online if they don’t already know a tire shop to visit. What might go wrong if a car drives around with worn out or damaged tires? And what about car rim maintenance?
All About Tires
All cars and trucks have tires on them, and given the size of the automotive industry, plenty of statistics and surveys show what the American tire industry looks like. Speaking broadly, four types of off-road tires may be found: all-terrain, mud-terrain, snow or winter, and sand types. Other car tires are meant to drive on roads, and have only limited grip on them since roads and parking lots are smooth. A car with on-road tires may suffer it drives off-road for some reason.
What might go wrong with a car’s tires? Simple old age can wear them out, and old tires start to lose their grip and may deflate slowly. Even if the tires are refilled with air, they may slowly deflate again, and driving around with partially deflated tires reduces a car’s fuel efficiency. Besides that, sheer trauma can also damage tires, such as running over sharp objects like rocks, glass shards, tree branches, or pieces of metal. A car’s tire will deflate at once if it gets punctured, and some tires might even explode. The driver may have to fit on a spare, and if they can’t, call for a tow truck to get them to a tire shop nearby.
A responsible car owner will keep track of when they get new tires fitted onto their car, and note the odometer’s reading at the time. Both time and mileage may act as metrics to determine when car tires should be replaced, and a car owner may keep a notebook in their glove compartment. New tires will be sturdy and easily keep their air inside, making them resistant to trauma and allowing for a smooth and efficient ride. When winter comes, the car’s owner may (unless they live in a very warm area) get winter tires fitted onto their car for a better grip on snowy or icy roads. This can help prevent traffic accidents, as snowy conditions often cause cars to slide out of control and hit each other or pedestrians.
What are some good guidelines for tire changes? Some recommendations call for a tire rotation every 3,000 to 6,000 miles, or have the tire rotations coincide with each oil change for the car. Meanwhile, the tires’ lifespan and general performance may be enhanced if they are aligned and balanced every 5,000 to 6,000 miles of travel. Tire and wheel imbalances may be either static (single plane) or dynamic (dual plane).
Car Rims
A car’s wheels will not often be changed or modified, but the tires and rims might. A car owner may track the upkeep of not only their tires, but the rims themselves, or the metal covers that go over the wheel and hold the tire in place. Often made of aluminum, these rims may get muddy or dirty, or even suffer from dents from glancing blows against other hard objects (or if gravel kicked up from another car hits them). Fortunately, aluminum is fairly soft, and when the rims have their dents pounded out, they may look and function like new. Washing them is fairly straightforward, but the washer should take care to not use steel wool or they may scratch the rim’s surface.
As a bonus, car enthusiasts may spray paint their car rims for a new look, or even have lights fitted into them or swap out plain rims for more stylish ones. New rims may help enhance a car’s look at a car meet or during races.