6 Easy Steps To Follow When Buying Tires

One of the more expensive actions required for car maintenance is buying tires. This is why only a few people actually like buying them. Not only is it expensive but the process of choosing the right ones for your vehicle can be confusing and it also takes a long time to get them installed.

Although it is time-consuming and can be a drag, you have to do it. You have to because your safety on the road is at stake and it’ll take more time from you if you don’t replace those worn-out tires that you still insist on using.

Don’t fret, because you can make your tire purchase as hassle-free as possible. Set your plan to go to a tire shop and ready your budget. To help with your important purchase, here are 6 easy steps that you can follow when buying tires.

Determine the need for new tires

Before going to a relatively nearby tire shop in your area, you have to figure out if you do need to replace your current tires. Here are questions whose answers will help you in doing so:

Do they have enough tread remaining?

There’s a simple test that you can do to know if your current tires still have enough tread. It’s called the penny test. Some tire experts suggest that you use a quarter for this test.

Take a quarter and insert it with Abe Lincoln’s image head first to the most worn part of your tire. If you can see the top of George Washington’s head, then you should buy new tires.

Are my current tires old?

Tires can only be considered safe for a finite number of years. There’s a number on the sidewall of every tire that indicates its production date. Some tire experts say that although tires don’t expire, there’s a good chance its compound has changed enough after ten years, which merits for a replacement.

Pick the right tire type

The right tire type for your vehicle has to meet the minimum requirements such as how you drive, your expectations for tire life, the weather where you do most of your driving, and the surfaces you travel on.

The minimum tire requirements of your vehicle are mostly found on the driver’s manual or the placard on the door pillar behind the driver’s seat. Other requirements aside from those are subjective and is totally up to you to decide on which attributes you think are important.

Find a place to shop

You have lots of options to choose from for buying new tires. Each comes with a positive and a negative.

If you’re looking to get new tires fast and cheap, you might have to give up on specific types or brands. If you prefer something unique, then you might have to wait a little longer and possibly pay more than the usual price. You can choose to buy tires from either a warehouse club, car dealerships, local tire shops, or online sellers.

Watch out for extra costs

Some extras can add up when buying tires. Some are necessary, while others are not. You may have to pay for installation charges, disposal fees for your old tires, taxes, and cost of new tire stems.

Different tire retailers have different payment schemes depending on their services. Some include a separate charge for filling your tires with nitrogen, road hazard warranties, or for rebuilding or resetting the Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS).

Get your new tires installed

This is the easiest part. You just have to wait a while before you can have your new tires installed. It’s good practice that before you leave the shop after your new tires are installed, to take a look at each of your wheels and new tires, for they might be damages that they incurred during the installation.

Make sure that your wheels are properly aligned. Wheel misalignment is a common cause of improper tire wear.

Maintain your tires

Now that you are ready to get back to driving, you must now take good care of your new tires. This means watching your tire pressures and the occasional inspection for uneven wear, punctures, or sidewall damage.

Summary

Now that you’ve learned about these steps, you now know what to look for in tires, where to look for them, and what to do before and after buying tires . Each step is important so you can buy the best tire that you can use to ensure your safety on the road and that your money is well spent.