We
sell Tires at Cost with an install package that includes:
Tire mounting & valve stems, free lifetime balancing, free
lifetime rotations, free lifetime flat repairs, free
alignment check, and free one year road hazard package.
Servicing all of your tire needs from tire repair or
replacement to wheel alignment, tire balancing, and rotation. While we
are servicing your tires, we can inspect your brakes and suspension
Here at Willoughby Hills Auto Repair, we
offer a wide range of tires for your vehicle. Let our
professionals help you find the right tires for your car.
Improve your vehicle's handling, increase tire life, and
drive with safety by checking your tires every month to
insure that they are inflated with the right amount of air
pressure.
Today’s Willoughby Hills Auto Repair
article focuses on the effect of
tire tread depth on braking. When Willoughby Hills,
Mayfield, Kirtland and Gates Mills drivers talk about stopping
power, they tend to focus on their brakes. But our tires are
where the rubber meets the road. We have to have tires with
enough traction to translate braking power into
stopping power.
Let’s concentrate on stopping in wet
Cuyahoga County and Lake County conditions. In order for a tire
to have good contact with the road, it has to move the water out
of the way. If it can’t move the water, the tire will actually
ride on top of a thin film of water. That’s called
hydroplaning and it is a factor in many Northeast
Ohio auto accidents. If it’s really bad, you can actually spin
out of control. At best, you won’t stop as fast.
Your sedan tires have channels for
water to flow through. The deeper the channel, the more water
it can move. A brand new tire has very deep channels and can
easily move a lot of water. As the tire wears down, the
channels become shallower and can move less water.
When it wears down enough, it can seriously affect your
ability to stop on wet Ohio roads.
That’s why it’s so important for
motorists living in communities such as Willoughby Hills,
Kirtland, Mayfield and Mentor to replace their tires when they
get worn. Consumer Reports and other advocate groups call for a
standard of replacing tires when the tread is worn down to 4/32
of an inch. That’s 3.2 millimeters. By comparison, you’ve
probably seen the wear indicator that’s molded into tires. When
tires are worn to 3/32 of an inch, the tread wear bar is
visible.
And that little bit of additional tread
makes a big difference. Stopping distances are cut dramatically
on wet Willoughby Hills surface streets and the highways that
run from Richmond Hts, through Mayfield, Willoughby and up
through Mentor. A safe stop from Northeast Ohio freeway speeds
with 4/32 of an inch of tread would result in a crash with worn
out tires.
There’s an easy way to tell
when a tire’s worn to 4/32 of an inch. Just insert a quarter
into the tread. Put it in upside down. If the tread doesn’t
cover George Washington’s hairline, it’s time to replace your
tires. With a Canadian quarter, the tread should cover the
numbers in the year stamp.
You’ve probably heard of this technique
using a penny and Abe Lincoln’s head. That measure gives you
2/32 of an inch – half the suggested amount. And if you have
uneven tread wear – have us check it out at
Willoughby Hills Auto Repair. It could be a problem with
your steering or suspension components or a wheel alignment
problem. If you need new tires or have any concerns about your
brakes, give us a call today at
440.585.1691.
Willoughby Hills Auto Repair 34801 Chardon Rd
Willoughby Hills, OH 44094
When talking about stopping power, we tend to focus on our brakes.
But our tires are where the rubber meets the road. So having good
brakes isn’t enough: we have to have tires with enough traction to
translate braking power into stopping power.
Let’s focus on
stopping in wet conditions. In order for a tire to have good
contact with the road, it has to move the water out of the way. If
it can’t move the water, the tire will actually ride on top of a
thin film of water.
To move water out of
the way so the tire has channels for water to flow through. Look
at a tire and you’ll see channels that run around and across the
tire. They’re designed to direct water away from the tire so it
can contact the road better.
The deeper the
channel, the more water it can move. A brand new tire has very
deep channels and can easily move a lot of water. As the tire
wears down, the channels become shallower and can move less water.
When it wears down enough, it can seriously affect your ability to
stop on wet roads.
Consumer Reports and
other advocate groups think that a good standard of replacing
tires when the tread is worn down to four-thirty-seconds of an
inch. That’s 3.2 millimeters.
When tires are worn
to two-thirty-seconds of an inch, the tread wear bar is visible.
So the recommended standard has twice the tread depth as a
completely worn out tire – and that little bit of additional tread
makes a big difference. Stopping distances are cut dramatically on
wet roads. A safe stop from freeway speeds with
four-thirty-seconds of an inch of tread could result in a crash
with worn out tires.
There’s an easy way
to tell when a tire’s worn to four-thirty-seconds of an inch. Just
insert a quarter into the tread. Put it in upside down. If the
tread doesn’t cover George Washington’s hairline; it’s time to
replace your tires. With a Canadian quarter, the tread should
cover the numbers in the year stamp.
Give us a call at
440.585.1691 or stop by and visit:
Willoughby Hills Auto Repair
34801 Chardon Rd
Willoughby Hills, OH 44094
POTHOLES
Take necessary measures to minimize their
impact
Potholes form as pavement ages and
weathers. Sooner or later, the pavement will develop cracks as it
becomes more vulnerable to water. As water works its way down into
the cracks and expands as it freezes, it pushes up on the pavement.
The weight of cars
and trucks
can break up this uneven pavement, creating a pothole.
A pothole is bad news as everyone will agree, especially so if it
damages your tires. The sharp impact caused by hitting a pothole can
cause immediate tire or wheel failure. It is also possible that
internal damage could eventually lead to tire failure weeks or
months later. Potholes will be there whether we like it or not, it
is up to us to take the necessary measures to minimize their impact.
Begin by keeping your tires well-inflated. Your car will be able
absorb the impacts caused by the potholes if there's enough air
pressure in the tires.
See if the wheels of your car are properly aligned, check if the
wear on your tire treads are even. Hitting potholes can affect your
vehicle's alignment. If you feel your car "pulling" to one side
during driving, that's a sign that you could have a problem. Bring
your car to an auto repair shop periodically so they can check if
your wheels need to be realigned.
Refrain from slamming on your brake once you hit a pothole. Instead,
try to apply brakes before hitting and release them just prior to
impact. Abruptly stepping on the brakes when you feel the impact
will jar your wheel assembly even more. You would be able to
minimize the damage on your tires if you don't hit the pothole
squarely, instead let the downward motion carry the wheels through
it.
You should pay as much attention to your vehicle as to anything else
that is important to you, make the maintenance and care of you car
one of your priorities. Properly maintaining your tires includes
proper rotation, inflation, repair and replacement.
Remember to check your tire pressure at least once a month and be
sure to rotate your tires according to recommendations in your
owner's manual. Save yourself the unnecessary expense and possible
dangers brought about by these horrible potholes, take care of your
wheels properly.
The following Tire Rotation and Balancing
video is presented by Willoughby Hills Auto Repair:
The following Tire Rotation and
Balancing animation is presented by Willoughby Hills Auto
Repair:
You can make your sedan tires last
longer with regular
tire rotation and wheel balancing.
Let’s start with tire rotation.
In normal driving around Northeast Ohio, your front
tires wear more on the shoulders because they handle
much of the cornering forces in turns. Front-wheel drive
vehicles have even more force on the front tires.
We rotate the tires so
that all of the tires do some duty on the front end as well as
getting a little break on the back end. That way, all four tires
wear more evenly over their life and last
longer.
For most vehicles in the Cleveland area, tires are
rotated front to back. Some manufacturers recommend a
cross rotational pattern that includes the spare tire, and some
high-performance vehicles have different size tires on the front
and rear and may even have uni-directional tires that can only
be on the left or the right side of the vehicle. Your Willoughby
Hills OH service advisor at Willoughby Hills Auto Repair
can help you sort that out and will perform the right tire
rotation for your vehicle.
Your tire manufacturer will have a
recommendation for how often you should rotate your
tires. It’s usually somewhere around 5,000 to 8,000
miles.
Let’s move on to
wheel balancing. That’s when there are heavy spots on the
tire and wheel that cause it to wobble.
Balancing adds weights to the
wheel to balance it out. Now, we are talking about very
small weight differences. Variations in the tire and wheel
manufacture can cause a slight imbalance. The valve stem, and
now the tire pressure monitoring sensors in the tire, also play
into the equation.
Even small differences can cause
annoying vibrations at speed: the wheel is essentially
bouncing a bit as it goes down the road. For example, at freeway
speeds, an out of balance wheel can be slamming into the road 14
times a second. That’s annoying and can cause your tires
to wear out more quickly.
If a front wheel’s out of balance you’ll
feel the vibration through the steering wheel. When it’s a rear
tire, you’ll feel the vibration through your seat. If you’re
getting bad vibes from your vehicle, bring it in to see if it’s
a balance issue or something else. You should balance
your wheels whenever you get a new tire or remount a
tire like when it’s been removed for a flat repair.
When
you visit our location at the corner of Rt. 91 & Chardon
Road, you will notice the new Goodyear promotional displays.
Willoughby Hills Auto Repair is an authorized Goodyear
Retailer. Visit
Goodyear Tires website to
find the right Goodyear tires for your car, truck, van or
SUV; as well as for current tire offers or learn about the
features and benefits of Goodyear tires.
Your
place for tires in Northeast Ohio, Cuyahoga County, Lake County &
Geauga County. City of Cleveland, Willoughby & Willoughby Hills,
Mentor, Kirtland & Kirtland Hills, Waite Hill, Wickliffe, Mayfield &
Mayfield Village, Euclid, Highland Heights, Gates Mills, Chardon,
South Euclid and surrounding areas. Light truck and car tires,
foreign or domestic.
Call us at 440-373-1438 and 440-585-1691 or
contact us here.
We
sell Tires at Cost with an install package that includes:
Tire mounting & valve stems, free lifetime balancing, free
lifetime rotations, free lifetime flat repairs, free
alignment check, and free one year road hazard package.
and trucks
can break up this uneven pavement, creating a pothole.
