Depending on where you live, your snow or winter tires might be used often or just occasionally. But, no matter how frequent you are using your tires, it is a must to know how you can best take care of them both when they are in storage and when they are on your car to keep them in their best condition possible. Maintaining and caring for your snow tires properly can go a long way to help you save money and stay safe at the same time.
Depending on where you live, your snow or winter tires might be used often or just occasionally.
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Install Four Identical Snow Tires at All Times
Many car owners are wondering if some vehicles just need two snow tires rather than four. After all, rear wheel drive, front wheel drive, and all wheel drive vehicles differ in performance depending on the weather and terrain conditions.
If you are using mismatched tires or two all season tires paired with two snow tires, each of the tire designs will perform differently. Having a full set of winter tires installed will reduce the wear and tear on your tires since every tire handles the conditions in a more efficient way.
You will also notice benefits in terms of safety. It is imperative that all the four times have similar flexibility and traction for them to handle as you expect them to during snowy, icy, slushy, wet, and cold conditions.
Keep Track of Air Pressure
Colder temperatures during winter will affect your tires since the pressure drops once the mercury falls. Maintaining proper air pressure in your snow tires can help keep them in good working condition for a long time. This is also the simplest and easiest way to prevent unnecessary wear.
Your tires won’t be able to hold their shape if they are under-inflated and this can lead to higher rolling resistance, increased tread wear, potential failure, and lesser control in turns, especially when the driving conditions are poor.
Having a full set of winter tires installed will reduce the wear and tear.
Maintain Your Vehicle Regularly
One more easy way of keeping your winter tires in great shape is to make sure that you observe regular seasonal maintenance of your vehicle including tire balancing, alignments, and rotations. Depending on the specific position of their installation on your car, tires will wear differently.
Regular rotation of tires will have an effect on how long they can last. Aside from that, making sure that your tires are balanced and aligned can help prevent unwanted damage since the vehicle’s weight gets evenly dispersed.
