WheelCrafters Wheel and Tire Care Tips
Tire Care
Proper care and maintenance of tires is one of the easiest ways to ensure peak performance from your car and maintain your wheels. In particular, low-profile tires must be carefully maintained in order to avoid damage to wheels, suspension, and the tire itself.
Keep 'em aired up
- Check your tire pressure regularly with a high quality guage.
- Don't depend on gas station guages, as they are prone to damage from weather and abuse
- Custom wheels and tire sizes may need different air pressure than the manufacturer specifications. Check with a professional, like Wheelcrafters, to ensure that you know the correct tire pressure that is needed.
- Particularly in humid areas like Houston, moisture can build up inside of tires; causing corrosion to both the wheel and tire. Wheelcrafters recommends filling your tires with nitrogen or similar 'dry air'; available at an increasing number of shops and large chain stores.
Keep 'em clean
- Clean your wheels and tires at least once every weeks.
- Avoid acids and other harsh cleaning chemicals, which can eat away at the finish on your wheels. Wheelcrafters recommends using a common car wash solution, such at Turtlewax Car Wash.
Rotatate 'em
- Rotate your tires regularly, according to manufacturer specifications.
- Many shops will include or offer tire rotation service with oil changes
Watch 'em for wear
- Check your tires regularly for signs of uneven wear. Often times, this will occur on the center or inside of the tire, making it difficult to see.
- Use and tread depth guage in several grooves of each tire to look for uneven wear across each tire and equal wear on all four tires. Remember that, legally, if your tread depth is less than 2/32", your tires are considered worn out.
- Worn tires, especially low profile tires, increase the likelyhood of wheel damage, suspension damage, loss of control, and blowouts.
Your wheels are one of the most valuable and asthetically attractive parts of your vehicle. Good care and maintenance of your wheels can help to avoid thousands of dollars in mechanical and wheel repairs as well as keep your vehicles lookings it's best. Here are some tips:
- Avoid using acids, abrasives, brake cleaner, or other harsh chemicals when cleaning your wheels. These can cause damage to the finish of your wheels. Wheelcrafters recommends Turtlewax wheel cleaner or similar non-abrasive products, available at your local car care store.
- Wash wheels at least every two weeks.
- Chrome rims require extra care and should be cleaned at least once per week. Wheelcrafters recomends Turtlewax chrome polish or similar non-abrasive chrome cleaners.
- If you start to see signs of chipping, flaking, pitting, corrosion, or other damage; bring your vehicle to Wheelcrafters for a free assessment. Even minor damage can, if left unchecked, result in costly damage down the road.
We've noticed that chrome wheels in particular tend to build up moisture on the inside of the tire. Over time, this can lead to corrosion which results in air leaking and peeling finish. To prevent it, some service and repair shops have started to fill tires with "dry air" nitrogen.
If you notice water marks, rust marks, pitting, or corrision on your wheels, bring your vehicle to Wheelcrafters for a free assessment. If corrected early, repairing minor damage can often prevent the cost of re-chroming a wheel after these problems develop.