Your tires are an integral part of your car. Tires that have developed a leak, have worn down their treads, or otherwise are suffering from some sort of functional issue can affect the overall performance and fuel efficiency of your entire vehicle. Such damage is a normal occurrence over time due to the extensive friction with the road that your tires experience. Fortunately, there are several things that can be done to extend the lifespan of your tires and ensure that your vehicle performs at its best for as long as possible.

Check the Air Pressure

One of the simplest, yet also one of the most important, ways that you can extend the overall lifespan of your tires is to check to make sure that their air pressure is at an appropriate level. As a general rule of thumb, you should check the air pressure in your tires at least once a month—you can use air pumps found at most gas stations to see the air pressure, and inflate or deflate as needed. Tires will have their recommended air pressure printed on their sidewall.

Check the Alignment

While not something that you can do yourself, you should make a regular inspection of your tires' alignment part of your regular vehicle maintenance. Tires that are out of alignment will pull in different directions from one another, leading to increased stress on certain areas of the tire tread. Further, tires that are not in alignment can increase the amount of physical wear that your suspension and axles are exposed to, which can lead to additional mechanical issues that can be expensive to fix.

Tire Rotation

Because they turn constantly, your front tires will experience more wear and tear than the back tires, which means that they will need to be replaced at a faster rate. In order to ensure that all of your tires wear relatively evenly, ensuring that the set lasts as long as possible, you should have your front and rear tires switched, or rotated, every three months or so.

Remove Weight

Another simple thing that you can do to reduce the amount of stress that your tires experience is to remove excess weight from your vehicle. Heavy boxes, bike racks and other add-ons, especially if the weight is concentrated on one side of the vehicle over another, can all increase the rate at which your tires wear away, making leaks and other structural issues more likely.

For more information, reach out to companies like East Bay Tire Co.