Healthy tires are essential for safe driving. If your tires are in good condition, they allow you to stop faster, corner easier, and control your GMC with ease. Tires will age, and they can get damaged. At your GMC dealership, we can replace worn or damaged tires quickly and efficiently. We’d like to tell you some of the signs that you need new tires.
Visible Tread Wear Bars
The tread is the raised sections on your tires that are separated by grooves. Tread allows your tires to securely grip the surface. As time passes, the tread slowly wears down due to friction with the road surface. If your tread becomes too thin, you’ll notice stopping takes longer, your car feels less secure on the surface, and skidding becomes a possibility on wet surfaces.
The tread wear bars are horizontal rubber ridges built into the tire. They’re almost invisible when your tires are new, but they gradually become more prominent as your tread level drops. If you can see these warning bars, it’s time to visit us so we can check your tire condition. If your tires are worn, we can replace them for you while you wait.
Lincoln Penny Test
As we’ve seen, tread depth is important to allow you to drive safely. The minimum safe tread depth is 2/32″. A dread depth that’s lower than this is dangerous, and a tire in that condition needs to be replaced immediately. You can easily test your tread depth with a tread depth gauge, or you can use a Lincoln penny.
Turn the penny upside down and put it into the thickest part of your tread. If you can only see part of Lincoln’s face, your tread is fine. If you can see Lincoln’s face up to his hairline, your tread is thin. If you can see the top of Lincoln’s head, you need to visit us for replacement tires right away.
Cracked Tires
Modern tires are made from high-quality rubber, and the tread area is reinforced with steel and Kevlar or polymer reinforcement. The vulcanization process that melds all these elements into a tire helps to provide additional strength. Rubber, however, will slowly degrade and lose its elasticity over time.
As the rubber becomes less flexible, the heat generated by friction with the surface will cause cracks to form in the tire. These cracks will widen and deepen, and this can cause punctures or a blowout. If your tires are cracked, our technicians can examine them for you. We can also replace any severely cracked tires if necessary.
Worn or damaged tires are dangerous. If you have a tire problem, visit our service department today at Skyway Buick GMC.
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