Tire Talk: Subtle Signs Can Tell You a Lot

By Marc Stern

Marc Stern

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Although it's tough finding a talking tire one did appear somewhere recently your car's tires can tell you a great deal about how they are feeling, just by looking at them.

You've likely read your owner's manual which tells you the exact pressure to keep in your tires and it tells you how to rotate them (front to back on same side, if they are radials). For those of you with really cheap bias-ply tires there are still those who buy them because they aren't all that expensive and they still work, albeit not as well as radials (when you're saving pennies, it can matter a great deal the pattern is front to rear and cross in the middle with rears to the front and if you have a full-sized spare, it's best to work it into the pattern).

If you're like most drivers this is pretty much where it all stops. Now, you take your car to the dealer for only for recommended services or if another problem has arisen.

Be honest, you're really not interested in having a long chat with your tires, are you? It's getting cold out there and, truth be told, you are not really thinking about about your car's tires at all. As long as they are round and rolling, you're happy.

So, any time you take your car in for service, you just want to shop to do its magic so you can get back on the road. With that said, you call the dealer's service department (or your service shop) set up the appointment and you let the shop do its work, while you wait. If you are using your dealer's service shop, it's likely your car will disappear and reappear cleaner with paper on the floor and a new shine from the complementary wash/wax (yes, there's competition everywhere in the auto industry today).

However, you are still going to have that chat with your tires, whether you want to or not; getting them to open up is rather tough because tires tend to be very closed-rimmed.

So, if your tires are going to be so close-rimmed, you are going to have to talk or work with them in more subtle ways. For example, here's a little trick that will indicate how much tread is left on your tire. It's the Lincoln penny trick and it works like this if you can see the top of Lincoln's head when you insert a penny into the tread, it's time to change the tire.

Of course, your tire will tell you this, if you bother asking rather looking and it's easier. Built into every tire made today, there is a device called the the treadwear bar. It is a bar that appears across the tread when your car's tires hit the wall and have to be replaced. This wall is 2/32nds of an inch (it's easier to say 1/16th , but people tend to believe they sound more expert if they say that tire has only 2/32nds left, you'd better replace it).

So, when the treadwear bare appears your tire is shouting at you replace me, replace me! It's a good idea to heed this call.