Well-kept tires make for a smooth and easy ride for your vehicle, and one of the ways to get the most out of your tires is to make sure they are properly rotated.
Tire rotation is the changing of the position of each of the tires on your vehicle so that each receives equal wear.
Cordarro Woods, a service technician at Southern Tire Mart on U.S. 82 in Greenwood, said that over the last five years with the company, he has seen the damage created when tires are not rotated properly and advocates for tire rotation to extend the life of treads.
This means doing it “every other oil change or basically every 3,000 miles,” Woods said while working on a car in the garage the other day.
“It keeps the wearing of your tires even. If you never rotate them, you will have two tires on the back that are worn but the front two are pretty good,” Woods said. “See, if they lack the rotation needed that means you will always have a rough ride.”
According to Bridgestone tires, regularly rotating your tires gives the driver and mechanic a good opportunity to inspect the tires for damage, check their air pressure, rebalance them if there’s any noticeable vibration and check the tread depth.
Aside from rotation, a common misconception is that a vehicle must frequently be aligned, but Woods said this is not the case.
“The only time you need an alignment is if it is pulling,” he said. “Most folks think you need alignment just because their steering wheel is shaking or something like that, but most of the time that’s a bad tire.”
Overall, Woods said his best tip is this: “Rotate them right, and when you wear them down ... get some more.”
• Contact Adam Bakst at 581-7233 or abakst@gwcommonwealth.com. On Twitter at @AdamBakst_GWCW.
