Tire Service You Can Trust

#1 tire service: wheel alignment

If your wheels aren’t properly aligned, the life of your tires will diminish significantly. Since your tires are worn unevenly, you’ll also have to buy new tires at different times, upping the cost of your tire service. On top of that, you’ll probably experience handling problems like pulling or abnormal vibrations (specifically in your steering wheel). I drove a misaligned vehicle for a few months and the steering wheel would vibrate every time I went above 50 miles per hour. Extremely annoying.

When you purchase your car, it comes with the wheels already aligned and balanced courtesy of the factory, so you only need to worry about alignment if there’s unusual tire wear or the vehicle is pulling to one side. If you continue to ignore unbalanced wheels, your tires will suffer from bearings, shock and other suspension components.

We test the alignment of your vehicle by checking out the camber. The camber is the tilting of the wheels from the vertical when viewed from the front of the vehicle. If the wheels tilt outward toward the top, they have a positive camber. However, if the wheel tilts inward at the top, it has a negative camber. Tilt is measured in degrees from the vertical, and camber settings can affect the directional control and tire wear. If you have too much positive camber, it will cause premature tire wear on the outside of the tire and create excessive wear on the suspension parts. Too much negative camber and you should worry about tire wear on the inside of the tire and excessive wear on the suspension parts. Even more dangerous, unequal side-to-side camber of 1 degree or more will cause the vehicle to pull or lead to the side with the most positive camber.

In addition to camber, you also need to look out for caster. This is the tilting of the uppermost point of the steering axis either forward or backward when viewed from the side of the vehicle. If you have a backward tilt, that’s positive. A forward tilt is negative. Even though caster doesn’t influence tire wear, it does affect the directional control of the steering. Vehicle height can affect the caster, so you need to make sure the body stays at its designated height. If you add on to a weak rear spring or overload your vehicle, your caster is going to be affected. If your caster’s off, you can expect touchy steering at high speeds and slow wheel rotation return when coming out of a turn. If one wheel has more positive caster, the wheel will pull toward the center of the vehicle.

#2 tire service: tire pressure

Tire pressure is the one that people always remember to check, because a flat tire is a clearly visible sign that something’s off. Low tire pressure is something that happens to everyone, so gas stations offer air pumps to get your car back in shape. This video offers a tutorial on how to do it yourself (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gfo5dKgQQYw), or you can have a professional take a look at it. Tire pressure changes are really beyond your control—the temperature is what causes the changes. Since air is a gas, is expands when heated and contracts when chilled. Fall and early winter are the best times to check your tire pressure since temperature drops result in pressure drops. In fact, with every 10-degree Fahrenheit change, the tire pressure changes 1 psi (up as temperature goes up, down as temperature goes down).

Tire pressure may not seem like a big deal, but an underinflated tire can result in several long-term problems, including premature or irregular wear, poor handling, reduced fuel economy, and overheating. If a tire is overinflated, you can expect unusual wear, a rough ride, and greater risk of damage from road hazards.

You can easily check your own tire pressure by referencing the tire information label located on the inside of your doorframe. It has the recommended cold tire pressure of your vehicle, so you should check your tires at least once a month when the weather is cold. Use a gauge, and go ahead and check your spare tire while you’re at it. To make things easier, a tire pressure monitoring system warns the driver when low-tire-pressure conditions exist. The sensor keeps tabs on tire pressure and temperature, transmitting data to the tire-pressure monitor. According to the GMC.com: “if the pressure in one or more of your tires is 25 percent or more below the vehicle manufacturer's recommended cold inflation pressure for tires, a warning indication will alert the driver”. The TPMS battery is meant to last up to 10 years with normal use, so the sensor will need to be replaced when the battery fails.

If you want to go for something that’s a little better for your tires, consider nitrogen over air during your next tire service visit. If you use nitrogen gas, you can expect a reduction in the loss of tire pressure, less variance in tire pressure with temperature changes, and a slower degradation of rubber. For these changes to take place, the nitrogen gas must be relatively pure. Having properly inflated tires will help with comfort, fuel economy, stopping distance, traction and tread wear.