Taking Care of the Wheels of Your Car

The owner of a car or pickup truck should be diligent about taking it to the repair shop and auto shop for regular inspection, maintenance, and repairs, to keep that vehicle in fine shape. This ranges from fixing a busted taillight to changing an old oil filter all the way to the very wheels. A car’s wheels are easy to take for granted, but a car’s tires and rims may suffer from maintenance issues, and will need repair or replacement. A car with faulty wheels, such as floppy old tires or dented rims, will not perform well on the road and might even face heightened odds of an auto accident. But all that can be prevented with regular wheel care, and even fairly cheap tires may be better than old ones that are liable to burst. Gently used tires might help, too, and car enthusiasts may opt for custom wheels and high grade tires for their street racing car.

Taking Care of Tires

A car’s tires are not to be taken for granted. Fresh, new tires are tough and have good grips, but even they will wear out over time. What might go wrong with old tires? For one thing, they may start to slowly but constantly leak air, and even pumping them back up with air only does so much good. Old, leaking tires are too soft and floppy, and this means that they lower the car’s fuel efficiency. Worse yet, these old tires don’t perform correctly and may make the car’s driving erratic. Combine that with the fact that old tires have worn-out grips, and it is easy to see why many auto accidents involve a car with very old tires on it. Old tires are not only fuel inefficient, but they are a hazard. This may be especially true on roads slick with snow, ice, or heavy rain. Lastly, old tires are worn out and more liable to burst if they run over something such as a tree branch, broken glass, or sharp rocks.

So, a car’s owner may keep a log and note the date as well as the car’s odometer reading when they get new tires or a tire rotation done at the shop. This is a great reference for getting another rotation done or replacing old tires, so the car can keep performing at its best. When getting new tires, the car owner may choose from a variety of brands, and some may be very high-end tires with excellent performance. Better yet, some tire models are specialized for certain jobs, such as winter tires designed for driving on roads covered with ice or snow. Such tires have excellent grips. Other tires are designed for off-road travel, as opposed to regular tires, which are meant for use on paved roads. Off-road tires are very tough and have good grips, making them ideal for driving on grassy dirt, sand, loose rocks, and other wild terrain.

If your tires are damaged, but not too badly, it may be possible to repair them. Repair experts will look over the tires and determine the location and extent of the damage, and if possible, they will patch up the tire’s puncture, and the tire is ready for use. But in other cases, the tire may be beyond saving, and need a replacement.

Rims

A car’s wheels will have an aluminum rim on them, and the tires will fit right onto those rims. Such rims may suffer damage or dirt, and if they get dented, auto shop workers can remove them and pound the dents right out. And if the rims get dirty, it is easy to wash them with soapy water and rags, but don’t use steel wool to scour them, since steel wool will scratch the soft aluminum surface. Often, car enthusiasts will care great deal about rims, and get new ones that are designed for street racing and also look attractive. Car enthusiast are also known to spray paint their car rims, add colored lights, and add spinning rooms for good looks. This helps them look trendy and stylish at a race or a car meet.