Saturday, August 31, 2013

Where The Tire Rubber Meets The Road

By Tom McNaught


Professional mechanics and those in the automotive service trades often state that perhaps no other part or components of vehicles on the roads and highways of the United States and Canada suffer as much non-appreciation as the wheels and tires on our vehicles. Its not unlike taking an old flame on a trip to Cancun Mexico and that person is totally unappreciative and non-caring.

Yet next to the braking system on your automobile little else is as important when it comes to safety and safety devices as the tires which come into contact with the pavement. We may think that with all of our high tech sensors and anti lock high tech ABS braking systems that tires simply do not matter. Yet consider this. The ABS system on most cars is a most primitive simple electronic device. Most use no more than 8 k of computer memory basically less than a millionth of what any computer uses as its electronic memory - its ram. Do you think that this primitive device - ABS electronic braking systems are going to make up for zero contact and friction on the road from used up or plain useless tires which offer zero friction. Never mind that your emergency stopping situation may be occurring during a rain or snow storm or the Canada # 1 highway on the perimeter around Winnipeg - with a collision between your truck and a semi trailer hurtling to its yard ,dead-heading it back to its depot - all in the dead of night time.

It can be said very simply that for most motorists and automobile owners that improperly inflated tires are a major if not the most major cause of premature tire failure and failures. Who needs a blowout while driving? Worse yet this can happen at highway or freeway speeds. It's not only a matter of inconvenience but also one of safety and danger to yourself, your family and passengers and damage to your vehicle and as well the chance of collision with other vehicles on the road as well as property and wildlife.

One tip to automobile owners in this day and age of product recalls is to register your new tires. It used to be that the law required all tire sellers to submit the name of purchasers and owners to the manufacturer for contact from the tire maker or distributor if needed or necessary. However in 2010 this is seldom the case and is no longer required for independent tire dealers.

Lastly as a rule of thumb it is best to check your tire pressures when they are "cold". Those are check and verify your tire pressures before the car has been driven any distance. The recommend tire pressures are usually listed on a sticker on the door jamb of the driver's door. By checking your tire pressures only in this condition you will have a consistent measure of reference for maintaining proper and consistent tire pressures for better handling , safety , tire lifetimes and ultimately better driving and reduced vehicle ownership costs.




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