As you know from my previous post, I was selected by Bzz Agent to participate in a Michelin Tire Campaign!
Half of tire safety is starting with the right tire! As I told you before, we changed out tires on out suv (and our other primary vehicle) to better all-terrain tires and greatly increased both vehicles road handling and tire life!
We bought ours thru an on-line tire merchandiser (which I will tell you about in another post later, if you want the info sooner, email me), but Michelin has a great on-line buying guide that will help you a)diagnose if you need new tires and b) what type of tires to buy for your car. Just remember that bigger tires may work for your car, but reduce the handling and gas mileage of your vehicle! We were lucky on our car, we found a tire the same size, whereas on the suv we went up a size, but the greater handling was more than work it!
Michelin has some new tires out- the MXM4 line- that look very good for luxury cars- they can stop 19' SHORTER than the competition due to their increased traction! That's the difference between stopping on the line and stopping in the middle of the intersection! Their cross-terrain tires are super for SUVs and have a 65,000 mile warranty- that's almost as good as the ones we got! So you might want to check out the Michelin tire line when you're looking for tires!
Other things you can do to protect your tires and extend their life are:
- make sure your car is aligned properly. Misalignment can cause uneven wear, making you have to buy 1 or 2 tires before the others! If your car feels like it is "pulling" to one side or the other, it's time for an alignment check! Living in the South, where potholes are a dime a dozen, we have to check ours practically every other oil change!
- rotate your tires - not doing so can cause uneven tire wear. Check your owner's manual- usually it's every other/3rd oil change that it is recommended
- improperly balanced tires can cause vibration that can lead to driver fatigue and unnecessary wear and tear! They should ALWAYS be rebalanced when they are first mounted on your vehicle, when taken off for fixing and checked when rotated!
- carry an air pump in your car- that way if you have to pump up a tire that is going flat and there is no gas station around, you can get to the next station and have it fixed!
Disclosure: I received the Michelin promotional materials, free of charge, for review and promotional purposes, as part of the Michelin Tires Campaign for Bzz Agent. By participating and posting about Michelin tires and tire safety, I qualify for a Michelin giveaway contest for all Bzz Agents in the campaign.
