Hey, guess what, girls!  It’s National Tire Safety Week!!  Know what that means?  It means it’s time to get off your tushes and put all of this knowledge you’ve been gaining from reading my Roll-N-Blog to use!  Are your tires safe?  How do you know?  Are you getting the most out of your tires?  The RMA (Rubber Manufacturer’s Association)  sponsors this annual event to raise awareness about tire safety, and RNR loves to be a part of it.  Tires and wheels are what we do, so teaching people how to make sure they’re riding on safe tires is right up our alley!

Here’s how to get started on National Tire Safety Week: Check your tires out!  Wondering what a tire inspection looks like?  Here are my top 5 things you should be checking:

1.  Check Tire Inflation:  We’ve talked before about having the proper tire pressure and how important that is (and how important it is to check it!), but let’s go over it again, briefly. It’s important to have the right tire pressure because if it’s too high, you’ll have a bumpy ride and reduced traction and stopping distances; too low and your tires will wear out faster than you want them to.  You want your tires to last and keep you and your family as safe as possible, right?  Check your tire pressure.

2.  Out of alignment?  Feeling unbalanced?  When your alignment is spot on, your car will ride better and your tires will last longer and perform better.  Take a look at your tires to see if they’re wearing evenly.  Is the tread on the inside of the tire equal to the tread on the outside?  If things are looking like they lean one way or the other, you might want to have that alignment checked out.  Feel like you and your car are doing a little dance on the highway?  If your car feels like it’s got a shimmy to it, then one (or more) of your tires may be unbalanced.

3.  Check the tire tread depth (on all four tires).  If you read my blog about this, then you already know the Abe Lincoln trick, but if not, here’s the deal:  Take a penny and put old Abe head first between the treads.  If you can still see him looking at you, then you need to replace your tires.  If your tires are down to 1/16^th of an inch, replace your tires now (1/16^th is the minimum!)!  Remember to check the tread depth on the inside and the outside edges of your tires to make sure that they are wearing evenly.  If they are not, refer to number 2 on this list and get the problem checked out.

4.  Check the sidewalls of your tires for nicks, bulges, cracks and cuts.  Most of the time, these problems cannot be repaired and you’ll need to replace the tire, but better safe than sorry, right?

5.  Check your spare?  What’s worse than having a flat tire? Having a flat tire and a flat spare.  Check your spare the same way you would your other tires.  When you need it, you’ll be glad you took the time to keep it properly maintained.

Are you ready for National Tire Safety Week?  Think you can check things out all by yourself?  If you’re new to this (or you’d rather have someone else do it), just print out our coupon and bring it into a participating RNR and we’ll inspect your tires for FREE.

Until next time, keep it on the road (safely!)!

Bree

P.S.  Ever thought about a nitrogen fill for your tires? Ask any RNR representative about the benefits of nitrogen in your tires!