Reduce Tire Wear - an overview

Tire wear is about the same thing as wear on your wallet. More correctly, it's wear on the money inside your wallet.

If you're practicing frugal living, you'll want to keep an eye on the wear on your tires.

You probably know that tires are expensive. A good passenger car tire is about $125. A commercial truck tire is more like $400. A tire for a tractor or backhoe can be nearly $1,000.


With all this money at stake, it pays to monitor and take good care of your tires. Several factors affect wear on our tires:

• Tire inflation (air pressure) either promotes even wear across the tread or uneven wear. It also affects fuel economy and safe handling of the vehicle. I have a suggestion for how to verify proper tire inflation without using a tire gauge.
• Non-conservative driving habits can accelerate wear on your tires, make it more likely that you'll get a blow out, place you in an unsafe situation, and consume more fuel than necessary. Here are several examples about how your driving habits affect wear on your tires.
• A wheel alignment is essential to prevent excessive tire wear and provide safe handling characteristic for your car. They don't need to be done periodically, but it's essential that your alignment be correct and that it holds. If not, you'll wear out your tires faster with a poor wheel alignment than you will with all other wear factors combined.
• Tire rotation promotes even wear across all your tires, even the spare. Wear on your tires is normal, but all tires don't wear in the same places or at the same rate. Tire rotation addresses this issue by normalizing tire wear to help you get the maximum life out of your tires. It also provides uniform road handling characteristics across all your tires.
• Road hazards can require unexpected replacement of a tire, and are safety hazards as well. Learn to avoid road hazards and you'll save yourself some money on early and frequent tire replacements.

Tires, like other things of high value, need to be cared for so they last longer and give us high return on investment. Applying basic tire care concepts can support your approach to frugal living. It can save you money by avoiding unnecessary tire replacements and repairs.

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