How Temperature Affects Tire Pressure..

Keeping your tires in proper condition helps save money and, of course, avoid accidents. Understanding how temperature affects tires and their pressure is imperative for car maintenance.

Tire pressure is the amount of air in your tires. This is measured in pounds per square inch, or psi. The recommended pressure level is usually listed in the owner's manual.

Changes in the air temperature affect your tire pressure. For every 10-degree fluctuation in temperature, your tires gain or lose one pound of pressure. This makes it important to consistently check your levels because changes in the season will affect your pressure. A tire that is inflated just right at the start of August may become underinflated as the winter months begin.

The heat from friction created by the contact between your tires and the road will increase tire pressure. As the temperature of your tires rise, so will the pressure levels. This increase can cause overinflated tires to blow or underinflated tires to appear acceptable. Check your tire pressure often and stay with all regularly scheduled maintenance with your QuickTrick™ Alignment Product.   Stay safe, have better performance & save some money!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!                                See you next week!!!  

Final Segment - Tire Rotation

Portions of this post are compliments of our friends at Tirerack.

Four (4) Tire Rotation

What tire rotation pattern should be followed? The Tire & Rim Association has identified three traditional rotation patterns covering most vehicles (equipped with non-directional tires and wheels which are the same size and offset). The first being the "Rearward Cross" (Figure A); the second being the "Forward Cross" (Figure C); and the third is the "X-Pattern" (Figure B). The X-Pattern can be used as an alternative to A or C.

Today’s performance tire and wheel trends have provided the need for two additional tire rotation patterns.

• The "Front-to-Rear" (Figure D) pattern may be used for vehicles equipped with the same size directional wheels and/or directional tires.
• A "Side-to-Side" (Figure E) pattern may be used for vehicles equipped with different sized non-directional tires and wheels on the front axle compared to the rear axle.

If the last two rotation patterns do not provide even wear, dismounting, mounting and rebalancing will be necessary to rotate the tires.

Vehicles that use different sized directional wheels and tires, and/or wheels with different front and rear offsets with directional tires will require dismounting, mounting and rebalancing to rotate tires.

Five (5) Tire Rotation

While many vehicles are equipped with temporary spares that cannot be included in a tire rotation program, if the vehicle’s four wheels and tires on the ground match the spare wheel and tire (if non-directional and not branded "for temporary use"), they should be included in the tire rotation pattern. Follow the vehicle manufacturer’s recommended tire rotation procedures, or if not available, insert the spare in the right rear position at every rotation. Place the tire that would have gone to the right rear in the trunk as the spare until the next tire rotation.

• On front-wheel drive cars with full-size matching spare, rotate the tires in a forward cross pattern (Figure F)
• On rear-wheel or four-wheel drive cars with full-size matching spare, rotate the tires in a rearward cross pattern (Figure G)

Five tire rotation results in equally distributed use that will help maintain equivalent tread depths on all five tires throughout their life. When applied to many four-wheel drive and all-wheel drive vehicles, this is required to prevent driveline damage if a flat tire forces a new spare to be put into service with partially worn tires on the other three wheel positions.

Once again, any time you make adjustmnents to tie rods, suspension, wheels, rims and tires, please use your QuickTrick™ alignment product to check your measurements and adjust if needed!

Be safe, Be fast & Be careful!

See you next week!

Mr QuickTrick™

Tire Rotation.. Just the Facts to save on the Jacks!

Tire rotation is beneficial in many ways. Rotation at recommended times can preserve balanced handling and traction and even out tire wear. Tire rotation will also provide performance enhancements.
Most tire mileage warranties require tire rotation in order to keep a valid warranty.

So…When should tires be rotated?
We recommend that tires be rotated every 3,000 to 5,000 miles.  Tire rotation can be done with oil change intervals while the vehicle is off the ground or in your own driveway for you DIYer’s. This is also a good time to have your tires rebalanced and use your QuickTrick™ Alignment Product to check your alignment measurements against your specs.
Tire rotation helps even out tire wear by allowing each tire to serve in as many of the vehicle’s wheel positions as possible. Tire rotation does not correct wear problems due to worn mechanical parts or incorrect inflation pressures and this makes it critical that you establish the proper timeline along with routine maintenance on your QuickTrick™ measurements to address potential issues before they become a costly fact!
It is best when all four tires wear evenly because as wear reduces a tire’s tread depth, it allows all four tires to respond to the driver’s input more quickly, maintains the handling and helps increase the tire’s cornering traction.
When your tires wear out together, you can get a new set of tires without being forced to buy pairs. If you replace tires in sets, you will enjoy the original handling balance.
We will cover rotation patterns next week.  Until then..
Have a great week!
Mr. QuickTrick