the condition of your tires has a big effect on your driving safety. if you're driving on worn
tires it's going to take you a longer distance to come to a stop. and you're more likely to
experience hydroplaning and poor handling when you're driving on snowy wet or icy road surfaces.
and you're at far greater risk of having a dangerous blowout or a flat tire. and who
needs any of that. so let's take a look at how you can make sure you're driving on safe tires.
one major factor that can tell you how safe your tires are is how much tread depth there
is left on them. checking the tread depth of your tires is the best way to know when it's
time to replace them. when new your tires might have anywhere from 9/32 to 12/32 of an inch of
tread on them. but as you put more miles on those tires that tread wears down. but if they get down
to 2/32 of an inch then they're considered legally bald and it's time to replace them. you can have
a tire shop an auto store or a mechanic check the tread depth on your tires or you can easily do it
yourself. i'm going to check the tread depth on my front left tire. i turned my tire a little bit to
the left as i was stopping that way i could get to the tread a little easier and see it better.
you'll need to get a tire tread depth gauge like this one. you can normally find them at any auto
parts store, walmart. this one came from amazon, and was only about three dollars.
but a gauge like this will be the most accurate way to judge the tread depth of your tires.
this one is marked in 1/32 of an inch increments and it's also marked in blue yellow and red zones.
if your tread depth is anywhere in that blue zone you're in the safe zone. if you're in the yellow
you're in the caution zone and you should be thinking about replacing your tires pretty soon.
but if your tread depth falls in the red zone then your tires are legally bald and unsafe to be
driving on. to use the gauge you make sure this extension in the middle is pushed out a little
ways. then you find the shallowest groove on your tire which is probably going to be in the middle.
and you push the gauge down into the groove down in the tread until the edges of the
bottom of the gauge stop you. that's going to give you your reading up at the top of
the gauge. so let's see what that is for this tire. to get your reading you look at the mark
that's right above the silver barrel on this gauge. i see a little bit of yellow showing
that's the caution range. i can see the five mark. but right at the very edge here i can see the mark
for 4/32 of an inch. 2/32 is the real danger point. that's close enough that i know i'm going
to need new tires pretty soon. and you need to make that same check on all four of your tires.
i found that all four of my tires had between 4/32 and 5/32 of an inch of tread depth left,
so they're all pretty evenly worn. so when i do get new tires i'm going to need to get four of
them. if you don't have a tire tread depth gauge you should get one. but in the meantime a fairly
accurate tire tread depth gauge is a penny. put the penny in the groove of the tire with lincoln's
head upside down. and if you can't see the top of lincoln's head then you're safe. if you can
see the top of lincoln's head then your tires have 2/32 of an inch of tread or less and they need to
be replaced right away. so a penny is a fairly accurate tire tread depth gauge and one that's
easy to come by. so remember if you see the top of lincoln's head you need new tread. especially
after you've had your tires for a while you need to check your tread depth monthly. that'll give
you a good picture of how your tires are wearing how much tread you have left and how close you're
getting to that caution or danger zone. a quarter can help you out too. if you can just barely see
the top of washington's head that means you have 4/32 of an inch left. that lets you know you're
getting close to needing new tires. if you have to buy new tires historically the cheapest time has
always been on a black friday sale. but if your tires need replaced don't wait for black friday.
the best time to buy tires is now. to increase the life of your tires and to prevent irregular
tread wear you should have your tires rotated. tires should be rotated approximately every five
to eight thousand miles and that first rotation on a new set of tires is the most important. and
wherever you bought your tires they're also going to be able to rotate them for you, as well as any
other tire shop or garage. and finally there's one thing you should stop doing if you want to
extend the life of your tires and that's dry steering. dry steering is when you turn your
tires when your vehicle isn't moving. in other words you're grinding your tread on the pavement.
and each time you do that you wear a slight amount of tread off. and granted it's very little tread
that you're grinding off each time you do this, but if you can in any given situation try not to
turn your steering wheel until your vehicle starts to move. i hope this gave you a better idea of
how to make sure your tires are safe to drive on. thanks for watching and have a great day.