Travel, Tires, and a Recommendation

When was the last time you gave a thought to your car tires?

These days, many of the mechanical systems on cars have “idiot” lights and warnings which, in my opinion, are not really a good thing. When I first started driving you had a oil warning light and that was about it. But you also had gas stations with real mechanics. You took your car in for a oil change and chances were they had a look at your antifreeze, your wiper blades, your brake pads, and your tires. If something needed attention, you heard about it.

Many car styles are now “low profile” which in my terminology means larger tires sitting in smaller wheel wells – meaning you never even see much of the tire. I got lucky recently and since we are coming up on the busiest road travel months of the year, wanted to share my little story.

I happened to park my Mini Cooper in a store parking lot with the tires pointing fairly hard to the right. When I came back to the car which was (thankfully) in full sun, I saw what looked like a long rub or gouge in the inner side of the driver-side tire. I also saw what looked like metal showing through.

Now Mini Coopers have a “low tire” and rather annoying warning bell and light. I hadn’t received any warning. I also have “run flat” tires – and no message from them either. The car also passed inspection in November 2013 – no mention of any unusual tire wear – and it hasn’t been driven that much since. Since in early February the tires are exposing their steel belts – this should have been seen, and I should have been notified in November.

I took the car to a tire business nearby and after putting it up on the rack they informed me I was running on TWO what they call “may pop” tires – meaning they may “pop” at any moment. I was appalled since I am near religious about taking care of my car. I had also not noticed any handling or alignment issues but this vehicle was about to potentially cause me some major troubles.

On to my recommendation…

I now had to decide about two new tires and quick. And I had to get them to the installer – fast. Oh goody – I know little about tires and don’t have a week to do research. My installer recommended Tirerack.com – and I’m glad they did!

You can either start searching by vehicle or by tire size, run comparisons of various manufacturer’s prices and offerings, select your tires, pay for them, and have them shipped to your installer. If you select one of the installers already working with Tirerack.com, you just select your installer and off they ship! There is nothing else for you to do but wait for a call that your tires are in and go have them installed. In my experience, since the tires were in stock, they arrived at the installer the NEXT DAY. I AM impressed!!!

Many of you will be planning long road trips this spring and summer. Hopefully, you’ll have a mechanic do a once-over on your vehicle before you go. But don’t forget the tires. A cursory inspection is NOT good enough. Particularly if you are running a sporty, low-to-the-ground model car. What looks fine for tread on the outside inch you can see may have major issues on the inside track.

I keep getting this picture in my head of a car with a family and children, stuck on the side of some unfamiliar road in summer heat – with a blown tire. Or worse, a “popped” tire that happens at high speed on a interstate highway. If I can keep that from happening to one person, then this blog post was worth writing.

And a little piece of info I learned? You’ll see a little UTQG rating listed with most tires offered:

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Uniform Tire Quality Grade Standards (UTQG) were originated to provide consumers with useful information to help them purchase tires based on their relative treadwear, traction and temperature capabilities.

The higher the better…