Stranded.
Alone on a two land highway somewhere in in Arkansas and Oklahoma, standing in the pouring rain trying to dig out the spare tire, you finally admit to yourself that you had better call your parents. First, you will have to admit that you left hours later than you said you would. Second, you will have to admit that you did not take the newer four lane highway that was 30 miles out of the way. Third, you will have to confess to your dad that you did have too much left in your dorm room to move yourself home. You successfully crammed everything into your car, but all of those items are not soaking wet and sitting along side the dark and rainy road as you try to remember the steps you are to follow to get out the spare tire. A donut spare that is limited in both the speed and the distance that it should be driven.
You know that they first thing your dad is going to ask you is if you bothered to take the time to stop by the campus security office where they offered a free “Check Your Ride” inspection before heading home for the summer. After admitting to the other things carelessly did for this move home, your father will not be surprised that you skipped the safety check you wish you would have made time for.
Hot.
One of the last Sundays of the summer, the heat would not really be a problem if you were at the pool with your friends like you planned. Unfortunately, on this hot last Sunday of July you find yourself sitting on the bank of a grassy slope waiting for a tow truck. Your car and its blown tire and wrecked wheel is sandwiched between two other cars. One the car that hit you from behind when your tire blew out and you could not get off to the side of the road fast enough; a car in front of you that apparently slammed on its breaks when the driver heard the tire explode. One police car has arrived to take the accident reports, but it will take a tow truck or two before everything is sorted out.
How Do You Know When to Get New Tires?
Knowing when to get your tire repaired and when to buy a replacement is sometimes a judgement call. If you later find yourself stranded or hot on a roadside as a result of a tire blow out, however, the answer of when to get new tires should have been last week!
Quality tire repair can make many tires with small nail holes or other minor problems last for hundreds more miles. Trusting the tire repair shop to honestly tell you when you need to have a tire replaced, however, is also important. And while getting a tire to last for one or two more trips back home from college may be tempting, neglecting proper tire maintenance and other car care tasks costs the economy over $2 billion every single year.
Families who are sending their children off a long distance to college or to a job, for instance, many realize that a new set of tires with a reliable spare are worth the extra investment. Instead of leaving the decision of when to get new tires up to a broke college student, many families realize that it is better to be safe than sorry. Even college graduates who are starting their first full time jobs can likely find themselves financially strapped replacing an expensive wheel because they tried o get a few miles more out of an old tire.
Knowing when to get new tires is easier to monitor on a car that receives regular maintenance. For instance, automobile experts recommend tire alignment be checked every 6,000 miles, or whenever the car’s oil is changed. Following the manufacturer’s suggestion for tire rotation also extends the life of car tires. In addition, checking tire pressure on a regular basis also helps. Tires that are not properly inflated results in unnecessary tire stress, irregular wear, loss of control, and, in some cases, accidents. Even after losing 50% of its inflation pressure some tires do not visually appear to be flat.
