Tire Rotation

As the season of snow and ice approaches, many might be wondering if their tires are up to par. How can you ensure that your tires are ready to perform when the weather suddenly takes a turn for the worse? Regular tire rotations help avoid uneven tire wear, which can lead to poor performance as well as bad gas mileage. 

Some may be asking “what is tire rotation?” Rotating your tires means moving them from one side of the vehicle to the other, moving them front to back, or a combination of both. Regular tire rotations will help prevent poor performance, which is important year round but especially when the weather can be unpredictable. 

It is important to rotate your tires for a few reasons. 

1. Tires may wear differently depending on their position on the vehicle, your driving style, and the condition of your suspension. 
2. Regularly rotating your tires helps evenly distribute tire wear which helps you get the most out of your tires while maximizing traction on all four wheels. 
3. On front-wheel-drive vehicles, front tires tend to wear faster than rear tires due to added pressure/resistance from steering. 

Now we know why it’s important to rotate your tires, but how often should they be rotated? 

Most vehicle manufacturers recommend that tires be rotated on the same schedule as oil changes. In most cases that means every 7,500 miles or six months. To be sure, check out your vehicles owner’s manual and see what they recommend. 

Winter vs. All Season Tires

“What is the difference between winter tires and all-season tires?”  This is one of the most commonly asked questions during the transition from fall to winter. It’s important to understand the uses and benefits of both before rushing to the store and buying one over the other.

Winter tires have six main benefits that we’d like to discuss today. 

• Winter tires can provide enhanced braking performance in both snowy and icy conditions
• These tires perform well in snow, ice, sleet, slush wet and even cold dry roads.
• Winter tires feature tread designs made specifically for ice, snow and other severe winter conditions
• They have specially formulated tread rubber that stays flexible at low temperatures for better vehicle control
• The aggressive tread on a winter tire reduces snow build up
• Most drivers find that when they have winter tires they are more confident and feel in control when challenging winter conditions arise. 

While those six reasons sound great, we’re not done yet. It’s important to look at the other option as well; All-Season tires. 

All-season tires have three main benefits we’d like to discuss. 

• All-season tires are designed to help provide traction and grip in both wet and snowy conditions.
• They are made to help provide stable handling and even tread wear in both wet and dry conditions 
• Although all-season tires offer traction in a variety of different weather conditions, winter tires surpass them when it comes to traction in snow and ice.

Each tire brings some competition to the table. Depending on the area you live and how much snow, ice and adverse weather conditions you get will depend on what tires work best for your vehicle.