Equipment Needed To Change A Tire

Author:Jon Prunty

Changing a tire is easy if you have the right equipment. Flat tires can occur for many reasons and at any time while you are driving. Sharp rocks, pot holes, pressure, or old tires can cause leaks to occur. Many times, you will be able to get the car home, but sometimes you may have to change the tire in a parking lot or on the side of the road. You should always be prepared when this happens. You should have a smaller tire called a donut that will get you to the tire repair shop so that a new tire can be put on the car. You should also have a tire jack and lug wrench that will loosen the lugs that keep the tire on the car.

Depending on the type of car that you have, you may be able to buy discount ties. Smaller cars can usually be fit with smaller, less expensive tires because they are standard issue from the manufacturer. Unless you own a sports car or other type of speciality car, you will be able to save money by purchasing discount wheels. After changing the tire, you will have to make an appointment with a tire repair service that will change your tire. Unless you have tires at home, you will have to take the car to one of these places.

If the tire repair shop has the tire in stock, then it can be changed in an hour or less depending on the number of people that are in front of you. If the tire is not in stock, you will be sent to another repair shop. Many times, repair shops that have a few stores also have computerized inventories that can be accessed by employees. Discount tire stores will be able to refer to other stores within their network. They will be able to look up tires online to see which stores have the ones for your car in stock.

Custom wheels cost more and may be more difficult to find depending on which tire the repair shop has in stock and how it will take for them to find a speciality tire. If you want to save money, you can purchase discount rims from online stores and junk yards. Car rims and truck rims can be found at a discount if you know where to look. While this may mean that your car cannot be driven for a few days, you will be able to save a lot of money and still keep your car looking the way you want it to. For many people, having a car that looks good is very important. Details such as rims and tires mean a lot to those who love their car.

About Jon Prunty

Jerry Timms is a freelance editor for Tire Discounts Online. Read more and find great deals and discounts on tires at http://www.TireDiscountsOnline.com.

Tire Safety: How Old Is Too Old?

Author: Bob Martin

When thinking about tire safety, it is important to consider two things: age and use. Vehicles driven daily are typically driven 15,000 miles a year. But there are situations where cars put on even fewer miles. This includes: being driven only on the weekends, never driving in the rain, “show” cars, and cars that are stored for extended periods of time. So, some tires on these types of cars put on less than 100,000. But it doesn’t mean that they are safe tires. Tires deteriorate over time and can “age out” wear out before they wear out.

In a statement from the British Rubber Manufacturers Association (BRMA) issued on June 5, 2001 regarding the age of tires they state, "BRMA members strongly recommend that unused tires should not be put into service if they are over 6 years old and that all tires should be replaced 10 years from the date of their manufacture." Tire age can be accelerated by a variety of environmental factors, such as sunlight exposure and coastal climates. Poor storage and infrequent use of your vehicle are other things that can accelerate tire age.

If you keep your tires in ideal conditions, the tire age can go as high as 10 years from its manufacture date. But ideal conditions are the exception rather than the rule. And the worst part is that you cannot tell the safety of an old tire just by looking at it since there are no conclusive tests for the safety of tires without destroying the tire itself!

Due to this, some European car manufacturers of high performance sports cars, coupes and sedans have hedged their bets, stating in their owners manuals that the tire age should reach no higher than 6 years.

How Better Rubber Makes Tires That Are Safe

There have been a lot of changes in rubber compounds since Charles Goodyear discovered how to cure rubber when he baked a combination of natural rubber and sulfur on his family’s kitchen stove. Thus, he would convert an unappreciated raw material into many useful products. Goodyear cross-linked sulfur with polymers that, when exposed to heat, would help make rubber durable and at the same time maintain its elasticity. The main focus of new research has been finding tire age inhibitors. Sulfur molecules are one such tire age inhibitor that is reactivated every time they are exposed to heat, making the rubber harder.

Nowadays, rubber in tires has oil in it that tends to migrate into the tires’ under tread/casing and evaporate into the air. In the process of this, the tire compound releases oil and gets harder. If you can’t quite visualize this, go into any tire store and take a big whiff. You’ll smell the oil there.

Before curing, most tires are coated with a mold release agent that is makes it easier to remove from their mold after curing. If it’s a little hard to visualize, think about spraying “Pam” on a fry pan before pouring on the batter for pancakes.

This increases the safety of tires because some of the mold release agent gets “cooked” onto the surface of the cured tire, which prevents all the oil from evaporating.

What Is The Right Tire Age?

In most cases, most street tires are good for 6-8 years if maintained properly. Don’t forget though that this includes the time the tires spent from the manufacturer’s plant to the dealer to you. So, keep this in mind when you are determining tire age.

Most tires get to you anywhere between 3-6 months. Some stay longer with the tire manufacturer, but generally all tires that go on your car are less than a year old. So, you should not get an old tire from any tire manufacturer.

Which Tires Last Longest?

If you want to buy a tire based on how long it will last, you have to consider thread compound. The more aggressive its compound … the shorter tire life. Below is a list of tires from longest-lasting to shortest-lasting:

* Max Performance
* Ultra High Performance tires
* DOT-legal competition tires

Bottom line: if you want to avoid safe tire issues go with tires that last long and properly maintain them.

This article is a copyrighted work and does not come with reprint or resale rights and may not be altered or changed in any way including the resource box. The site owner acknowledges that by using this article they accept this condition. The only exception being to bold the appropriate copy i.e. headlines and subhead text.

About Bob Martin

Bob Martin says “Don’t buy any new tires until you take a serious look at this today http://www.discount-tires-online.com/TireRatings/tire-rating-guide.htm”

Tire Maintenance Tips

Author: Joe Stanton

Periodically checking your tires is strongly recommended to ensure full safety to you and your own car. Tires are fundamental for our safety but if you ask someone how does he care of his tires he'll probably won't know what to answer if not "I just replace them when they're worn out".

This is not the best you can do for your safety: paying attention to your tires is just a matter of habits and doesn't cost you a single buck, you should really be doing it.

This is what you should do:

Tire Pressure

Tires should always be inflated as suggested on the service book of your car. This will also make your tires last longer: driving with underinflated tires reduces the contact area between the thread and the ground because the central part of the thread is pushed upwards so the edges will wear faster, moreover an underinflated tire causes high fuel consumption and produces vibrations and noise. Keeping your tires overinflated will cause the central part of the thread to wear faster. A correct inflation grants you and your passengers the best safety in any standard driving condition. Tire pressure should be checked each 2-4 weeks and before any long trip.

Tire Wall Damages

You should often check if your tires have damages on the walls. These damages happen hitting the pavement with a tire while parking. This can cause the tire wall to present bubbles and cuts. If your car has been exposed to hot and cold weather you could also find cracks: you might find cracks even if your tires are old; old tires should be replaced as a safety measure even if they have enough thread left.

Tire Wear

Make sure that your tires wear regularly: rotate the steering wheel to the extreme right or left and check if both the edges are equally worn. In case you notice tires are more worn on the inside or outside go to a garage and let them know, they'll fix your tires alignment.

Tires have wear bars: when the tread lugs are worn to the point that the wear bars connect across the lugs, your tires are fully worn and you should take them out of service.

Tire Rotation

Most tires have a rotation direction shown on the tire wall, make sure your mechanic mounted them correctly.

Tires are made to rotate in that direction, opposed rotation could be dangerous in case of rain or high speed.

Rotate Front and Rear Tires

Front tires wear quicker than rear ones due to steering while parking and braking weight effect. This happens even more on front traction cars. Rotating them will make them last longer and in better shape, otherwise you'll have your front tires fully worn and your rear ones still in good shape. You can to this yourself or go at your usual garage and have them do it for you.

Tires Storage

If you own several tire sets you'll always have some tires to store somewhere. Wrong storage can damage your tires. Store your tires in horizontal stacks. If you store them vertical they will tend to get oval shape.

As you can see there are few things to care of regarding tire maintenance, I hope you understand the importance of tires in good conditions: imagine if one of your tires exploded while you're driving on the highway and think that you can do something to prevent it.

About Joe Stanton

To learn more about tire maintenance view: http://www.justcardeals.com/tires/tire-maintenance-tips/ J. Stanton is a car enthusiast and one of the authors of http://www.justcardeals.com/, a website with excellent automotive deals selected by car enthusiasts.

Keeping Your Tires As Clean As Your Carpet

Author: Max Rossi

Nothing makes me more up upset than seeing black stains all over my nice clean carpet. I spend hours each week cleaning, dusting, vacuuming, polishing, and scrubbing all over the house to keep my newly renovated home looking good as new. Sometimes I spend more time in my car then I do my home? Why shouldn't the same rules apply?

As much time and as much effort I put into keeping my house clean, it really means nothing if dirty foot prints are tracked all over my floors and carpets. I'm not talking about those west coast dusty prints that can be easily removed from a few pushes of your vacuum. I'm talking about the dirty, slushy boot grime that the harsh New England winters bring us every year. I take pride in my house looking the best on the block, but the minute you see that dirty carpet the house just loses half its appeal.

So what's the solution? I guess you could have every person who enters your house take their shoes and boots off but that's asking a lot. I know.....what if they invented a shoe that was always clean? What if someone invented a shoe that was free from all dust and dirt no matter what you tracked through??? Sounds impossible right? Well not necessarily! Although scientists have not yet invented any shoes for humans that are dust and grime free, there has been a breakthrough for cars.

The solution is ceramic brake pads. The automotive industry now has shoes or brake pads for your car that are completely free from dust, dirt, and grime leaving your tires....unlike your carpet always completely clean! These pads I am referring to are ceramic brake pads and seem to be the newest and preferred part for car owners who are trying to keep their ride looking good as new, and it all starts with the tires!

So what exactly are the benefits of ceramic brake pads?

COOLER: Ceramic brake pads are designed to distribute heat equally or better than metallic pads. Studies have shown ceramic pads to perform up to 350 degrees cooler than semi-metallic pads resulting in consistent braking power on each and every stop.

CLEANER: With each and every stop ceramic pads do not produce the dirty brake dust you typically get with a metallic pad leaving your car's tires and rims virtually clean with less rotor wear.

QUIET: Ceramic brake pads quiet the harsh noises that you typically hear with metallic pads due to far less friction on the rotors.

FCP Groton is one of the leading worldwide ceramic brake pad parts distributor

About the Author

Max Rossi is the senior content editor for FCP Groton, LLC - Worldwide Automotive Parts Distributor. As a former teacher who held all provisional certifications, he now uses his skills in education to assist a rapidly emerging dot com.

Why You Should Get a Tire Rotation With Your Next Speedy Oil Change

Author: Tim LaGanke, Jr.

Even with all the technological advances that the automobile industry has developed to make vehicles safer and more secure, there's one thing that hasn't changed since the days of the Ford Model A: tires are the only parts that touch the road.

That means that tires are still the some of the most important components of your vehicle. And that means that regular tire maintenance during a speedy oil change is one of the best ways to make sure that your automobile is operating in as safe a manner as possible.

But you've probably heard all that before from your speedy oil change technician. And you've probably heard from that speedy oil change technician that rotating your tires regularly is essential to keeping your tires running at the optimal level. Getting regular tire rotations is an easy maintenance procedure that can be done during a speedy oil change and can help a vehicle's fuel efficiency, increase the level of safety, and lengthen the life of your tires.

But what does "tire rotation" actually mean? What does it do? After all, don't tires rotate all the time when the vehicle is in motion?

Yes, they do. But that's not really what "tire rotation," as it is called during a speedy oil change, means. Tire rotation simply means speedy oil change technicians swap your front tires for your back ones. The rims aren't removed, and no new tires are added. Some cars, like certain sports cars and hot rods, have rear tires that are larger and different from the front. So tire rotation at a speedy oil change is unavailable for those vehicles. But if you have a normal car, truck or SUV, then getting a tire rotation at your next auto change service should not be a problem.

But why should do you this? Why does the simple swapping of tires during a speedy oil change help those tires last longer? And why is it safer? Aren't you just using the same old tires?

Yes you are. But keep in mind that most vehicles are either front-wheel drive or rear-wheel drive. A car that features a front-wheel drive will demand more from the front tires because things like acceleration and braking all fall on the front tires. Since they do all the work, they'll get more wear and tear than the tires in back, which are allowed to take it easy. Rear-wheel drives, of course, experience the opposite situation, where the back pair takes the brunt of abuse.

And tire rotation during a speedy oil change can even benefit four-wheel drive vehicles. Even though there's a more even division of labor between the wheels on a four-wheel drive, there are still significant differences in the way front tires operate when compared to the back tires. And it's a good idea to swap sides as well, as tires can experience wear depending on which side of the vehicle they're on. That's why most speedy oil change technicians will swap sides when they move the back tires to the front.

Most speedy oil change centers also offer low-cost or free tire rotation services for the entire life of your vehicle's tires. These programs are usually a good idea. Speedy oil change and tire dealers want your business, so they'll often give you breaks on things like tire rotation service. You might have to pay more if you're still using the original tires that came with your vehicle, but those should be able to be rotated with a speedy oil change.

So how often should you have your vehicle's tires rotated? The consensus from speedy oil change technicians seems to be that if you are using synthetic oil, which requires less frequent changes, then a tire rotation at every speedy oil change will keep your tires healthy and your car safe. If you're using regular petroleum-based oil, then every other speedy oil change will do. In other words, you should have your tires rotated anywhere between 6,000 to 10,000 miles.

These standards are usually adhered to when you schedule regular service checks with your speedy oil change center or dealership. Since they may keep track of your mileage and your service schedule, you won't have to worry too much about your tire rotation schedule.

One easy additional automobile service that should be performed with every tire rotation at a speedy oil change is checking the tire pressure. The raising and lowering of surrounding air temperature, like the changes that take place in the summer and winter, will often make the air pressure in the tires increase or decrease. These fluctuations can cause strain on a vehicle's tires and, if left unchecked, can lead to tire failure. But not all tires will lose pressure at the same rate. Again, factors like the tire's placement on the car (on the front as opposed to the rear) and the amount of wear of the tire can also affect the internal pressure of that particular tire. In other words, you may have three tires with an adequate pressure and one that's in need of some air. A tire with less than optimal tire pressure can create a dip in fuel efficiency, thus a greater chance of tire puncture and dangerous situations like insufficient car handling and breaking.

If you think that your car's tires may not have optimal tire pressure, the good news is that checking tire pressure can easily be done at home or at any speedy oil change center. All that is required is a tire gauge that can be bought at most hardware and drug stores for just a couple of bucks.

But new tires aren't cheap. A set of four tires can set you back $250 to $800 depending on your vehicle's specifications, which is why it is important to extend the life of your tires. An average car will have to have its tires changed every 30,000 to 75,000 miles, which usually means getting a new set of tires every two to four years. So how do you know when it is time to get a new set of tires? Most speedy oil change service technicians will recommend a decidedly easy and low-tech test. Take a penny and stick it into one of your tire's treads with Lincoln's head going in first. If you can still see the top of his head, it means less than 2/32" of tread depth is remaining and it is time to get a new set of tires.

When you get your tires rotated, your speedy oil change service technicians get the chance to glimpse inside your car and discover any other important automotive issues such as suspension problems. If your speedy oil change service technician finds uneven tread along your tires, it could mean a vehicle's improper alignment or some other steering problem.

Regular tire rotation and general tire maintenance can result in a healthier car that enjoys a long and efficient life. You'll also have peace of mind, knowing that you are doing all you can to keep your vehicle running safely.

About the Author

President of QuickChange Oil, Tim LaGanke, Jr., offers 10 minute oil changes for all makes and models of cars, trucks and SUVs. QuickChange Oil is a Cleveland oil change franchise with locations throughout the metro area. For your next speedy oil changeand tire rotation, contact your nearest QuickChange Oil franchise or contact Tim at gank@quickchangeoil.com for more information.