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  DIY #6: How to Check Air Pressure and Tire Tread

  We know how important proper tire pressure is for the life of our tires. But checking tire tread can also help clue us in to problems and potential issues with steering and suspension parts, and tire maintenance should actually be the most frequent of all maintenance tasks. We should be regularly checking our tires for problems, wear, and proper pressure.

  Checking Tire Pressure

  The proper or operating tire air pressure for most vehicles is 33 psi, but that will vary depending on make and model. Check the air pressure in all your tires every time your tire pressure light comes on and add or remove air as necessary. If a tire pressure gauge didn’t come with your car, you can purchase one at a parts store for $10.

  When to Check Tire Pressure

  • Before going on a road trip longer than two hours

  • Monthly if you don’t have TPMS (required in cars manufactured in 2008 and newer)

  • When the tire pressure light illuminates on the dash

  Tools

  Tire pressure gauge

  Gloves (optional)

  Air expands as it heats, so checking air pressure when the car is hot will give you a higher reading. For this reason, you should wait until the car is cold (two hours after driving) before measuring the tire pressure if the car has been driven for more than 2 miles.

  Unless your dashboard identifies which tire has the low-pressure issue, you’ll want to measure all four tires.

  1. Kneel to remove the cap from your tire’s valve stem. (The setup will look familiar if you’ve ever taken care of a bicycle.)

  2. Make sure the sliding scale at the end of your tire pressure gauge is pushed all the way in. Push the head of the gauge firmly onto the head of the tire valve stem.

  3. Once the gauge is in place, you should hear a quick psst of air as the gauge’s sliding scale edges out. The farther out it edges, the more air pressure there is in the tire. Read the scale to see the exact pressure. You want the number to match the psi listed on your driver’s-side door (see page 21). If air pressure is too low, get some air in those tires ASAP; if air pressure is too high, you’ll want to remove some air by detaching the gauge from the tire valve stem for about ten seconds or so.

  TIP: If you hear a long pssssssst of air coming out instead of a short burst when you place the head of the gauge on the valve stem, you are letting air out of the tire and won’t be getting a proper air pressure reading. Readjust the gauge, making sure it fits squarely onto the tire valve stem.

  How to Add Air to Your Tires

  The step-by-step for adding air to your tires will vary depending on the particular machine, but it will also involve a tire pressure gauge, attached by a hose to a compressed air machine. Remove the cap from your tire valve stem, then place the gauge on the valve stem as if you were checking the air pressure. Turn the compressed air on—it will make noise while it’s working. Make sure the gauge is snugly fastened onto your valve stem, and monitor the amount of air going into the tire to avoid adding too much. Some machines allow you to specify your desired psi and will turn off automatically when that pressure is reached. Quickly replace the cap on your tire valve stem when you’re done to avoid losing air.

  Measuring Tire Tread

  When tires are brand-new, their tread is about 10 inches thick. As you drive and apply the brakes, your tread will wear down. At 2/32 inches thick, the tire becomes unable to provide optimal traction and thus becomes unsafe. Bald tires can cause a car to slide, especially in quick braking situations, and it takes longer for a car with bald tires to stop. Bald tires will need to be replaced as soon as possible. Try to check tread thickness and wear pattern monthly.

  Tool

  Penny

  Wear bars, also called tire-wear indicators, located between the rows of tire treads, give you easy visual indicators of when your tires need to be replaced.

  If the wear bar is flush with the tire tread, that means the tread thickness is 2/32 inches or less, and the tire needs to be replaced.

  You can eyeball the wear, but you can also measure the tire tread with a penny.

  To do so, turn the penny upside down and place it between two tire treads. If you can see the top of Lincoln’s head, your tire’s thickness is 2/32 inches or less and the tire needs to be replaced.

  THE SIX DIFFERENT TYPES OF TIRE WEAR

  You can easily judge the conditions of your tire tread using nothing but your eyes—uneven wear patterns are very pronounced.

  An Underinflated Tire

  If the tire tread is more worn on the outsides of the tire than toward the center, the car has been driven for some time with an underinflated tire.

  An Overinflated Tire

  If the tire tread is more worn toward the center, the car has been driven for some time with the tire overinflated.

  Alignment Issues

  If the tire tread is more worn on one side than the other, alignment angles are off, and steering need to be realigned.

  If the tire tread appears or feels jagged or feathered, alignment angles are off and steering need to be realigned.

  Suspension Issues

  Tire treads with bald spots or a scalloped effect are an indication that the car’s struts or shocks need to be replaced.

  DIY #7: How to Change a Tire

  Let’s be real. Changing a tire is tough, and you’re gonna need tools to do it. You’re going to get dirty. You might even break a nail. But taking on a new challenge, roughing up your hands, and getting yourself out of a pinch without having to call for help is downright empowering.

  There’s no shame in a #shecanic paying for roadside assistance and reaping the benefits in times of need. But being able to change a flat is a useful skill. Even if you do have roadside assistance, you never know.

  Sometimes even a positive attitude, the right tools, and your best effort won’t get the job done. Removing lug nuts with a hand tool can be really difficult, especially if an inexperienced tech bolted your lugs nuts down too tight with a power tool. If you can’t change your flat with the tools and techniques listed here, a call to a professional will be in order.

  Don’t Forget the Spare

  How many tires are there on your car? The answer isn’t four, or it shouldn’t be. Every car should have five tires—four of them attached to the wheels, and a fifth, the spare, tucked beneath the car or in the trunk. Recently automakers have been eliminating the spare tire and tools to decrease the weight of the car and offering spare tire kits as upsells. If your car doesn’t come with a spare, I recommend making the investment.

  What Causes a Flat Tire

  • Puncture of a tire by a sharp object such as a nail, causing a small or large air leak

  • Running of a tire against the curb or collision with a car or other object, causing small or large air leaks depending on the extent of the damage

  • Excessive wear of tire tread, creating explosive tire failure, or tearing by road debris, resulting in large air leaks

  • Failure of or damage to valve stem causing small air leaks

  There’s no way of anticipating the random, nasty sharp object that takes a bite out of your tire and ruins your day. But you can decrease your chances of a flat by inflating your tires to the proper psi (not too high, not too low), rotating your tires at least once a year, and making sure that your tire tread isn’t worn down too far. Those of you who’ve been reading carefully will remember that this was never much of a Patrice specialty. I wore my tires down. And as someone who’s always running around like a chicken with her head cut off, I never appreciated having to make an unexpected stop at the gas station just so I could scrounge around for a bunch of coins to put a tiny little puff of air in my tires. I ignored that tire pressure light like it was a call from a life insurance salesman. It’s honestly a miracle that I never skidded out in the middle of the highway with a blowout on one of those cross-country trips of mine.

  Don’t be the ghost of Patrice past
. Keep your tires healthy by staying on schedule with those tire rotations and replacements—and making a stop at the gas station when your dashboard tells you that your tires need a refill.

  Or, take it up a notch by buying a portable compressor for fifteen to thirty dollars. You’ll never have to deal with the annoyance of an unexpected stop at the gas station air machine. And if you do pop a slow leak, a compressor might allow you to temporarily refill the sagging tire and drive yourself (very carefully) to a repair shop—a totally worthwhile investment.

  How Long Were You Parked?

  If you catch a flat while parked . . . how long were you parked? You most likely have a leak from an object stuck in the tire, the valve stem, or the tire bead. If your car has been parked for more than twenty-four hours, you may have the type of small leak that could be temporarily inflated with a portable compressor, giving you enough air to tide you over on the drive to the closest garage or tire shop. If your car has been parked for less than twenty-four hours, change the tire on the spot—the leak is too large, and you might not make it to the closest garage or tire shop. Small, slow air leaks deflate a tire over the course of a few days; tires with slow leaks can often be repaired and reinflated, unless their tread is worn. Large, fast air leaks can deflate a tire in minutes or seconds. The latter is what you call a blowout, the very worst kind of flat.

  Safety First

  If you get a flat while driving, make sure to pull off somewhere safe. Changing a tire with your back to traffic can be extremely dangerous for you or for a roadside mechanic. If your flat is on the right side of the car, try to pull over to the right side of the road; if your flat is on the left, pull off to the left.

  Get yourself to flat ground if possible, apply your emergency brake, and turn on your hazard lights. Never change a tire on a hill or incline. If you can’t reach flat ground, you’ll need to get a tow.

  If you have an orange cone or triangle warning (see page 282), place it behind the car to make yourself that much more visible.

  Tools of the Trade

  Think gathering all the tools needed to change a flat means a trip to the auto parts store? Think again—these tools should actually come with your car. They’re usually tucked away beneath the carpeted layer of your trunk or strapped underneath the trunk. If you’re buying a used car, check to make sure they’re all there. Here’s what you’ll need:

  Spare tire or full-size spare—required

  Lug wrench (X-shaped or L-shaped)—required to remove lug nuts from wheel studs

  Jack—required to lift the car off the ground

  Mat—nice to have for when you are on your hands and knees finding the lift points

  Gloves—highly recommended to keep hands clean and free from injury

  Pipe—nice to have for extra leverage when removing lug nuts

  How to Change a Tire

  If you’ve got the tools and you’ve got the spare, you’re ready to change your tire. I’ve provided instructions here, but check your owner’s manual for details on how to use your particular jack and the locations of your lift points—the spots on your car where you can safely position the jack. Using a jack isn’t always intuitive, so if your owner’s manual doesn’t do it for you, see my “Changing a Tire” video on YouTube for help.

  Now put on your gloves and place your mat on the ground next to your flat tire. Time to get dirty!

  1. Find the lift points for the jack. Place the jack on the car’s problem side and get on your hands and knees to locate the lift point closest to the tire you are changing—this is the spot where a jack can be safely positioned. There are four lift points on a car, located several inches behind the front tires and several inches in front of the rear tires (and designated on some cars with little arrows).

  Locate your lift points.

  2. Position the jack and prep the tire. Place the jack on flat ground directly beneath the lift point. Start to raise the jack until the top touches the lift point on the car. Jack the car up just enough to get a little weight off the tire. Do not jack the car all the way up so that the tire leaves the ground. If you do, when you try to loosen the lug nuts, the tire will spin and prevent you from obtaining traction.

  3. Bust a nut. Grab your lug wrench—it’s time to bust loose the lug nuts (the parts that secure the tire to the wheel bearing) from the wheel studs.

  Make sure the head of your wrench fits tightly around the lug nut and is pushed all the way onto the lug. Remember the toy toddlers would play with, where they had to put the square peg in the square hole and the circular peg in the circular hole? Same philosophy here.

  Now turn the wrench to the left (counterclockwise), exerting as much force as you can on the end of the wrench. Remember: righty tighty, lefty loosey. The trick here is to loosen the lug nuts enough so you will be able to remove them later by hand. Do not remove them from the stud yet.

  Turn the wrench counterclockwise to loosen the lug nuts.

  Loosen all of the lug nuts. The tire will still be on the ground.

  Those lug nuts can be stubborn, so this step is likely to be the hardest part. Lug nuts may be rusted on, or they could have been screwed on too tight the last time the tire was removed. Mechanics use a power tool to screw and unscrew lug nuts, and some really drill down onto the wheel stud.

  There are a couple of things you can do to loosen your lug nuts if you find that using your own upper body strength is not sufficient: (a) use your foot to step on the wrench, recruiting your body weight to create some extra force, or (b) slide the pipe from your tool kit over the handle of the wrench. This will lengthen the wrench handle, giving you more mechanical leverage and decreasing the force required to turn the lug.

  If needed, use your body weight for leverage.

  4. Lift the car. Once the lug nuts are all loose, jack up the car until the flat tire is just off the ground and the wheel can spin freely. Now you’ll be lifting part of the car off the ground. This will give your arms a serious workout, but you can do it.

  5. Remove the tire. Once the flat tire is off the ground, use your hands to completely remove all the lug nuts from the wheel studs. Place the lug nuts aside. Pull the flat tire off the wheel studs and place it aside as well.

  6. Put on the spare. Grab the spare and place it on the wheel. Retrieve the lug nuts and use your hands to screw them onto the wheel studs. Remember, righty tighty, lefty loosey. Do not use any tools to tighten the lug nuts yet. You want them to be “hand tight,” just holding the tire onto the wheel.

  7. Lower the car. Now it’s time to lower the car with the jack until the tire just touches the ground. Do not completely lower the weight of the car onto the ground. You want the car in the same position as in step 3, when you were busting the nuts loose. You don’t want the entire weight of the car on the spare tire until the lug nuts have been tightened with a wrench.

  8. Tighten the lug nuts (see opposite). Take your lug wrench and tighten each lug nut onto its stud, starting at the top right and working in a star pattern. Remember to make sure the head of your wrench fits tightly around the lug nut and is pushed all the way on.

  Follow the star pattern to evenly bolt tires onto wheel studs and prevent lug nuts from “backing out” or becoming unthreaded and flying off as you drive; the pattern changes depending on the number of lug nuts on your wheels.

  Use some muscle when you turn the wrench to the right (clockwise). You can recruit your foot or the pipe to get more leverage on the wrench, but you don’t need to jump on it. You do want to use all your might, wrenching down on the lug until the wrench doesn’t turn any farther.

  9. Remove the jack. Almost there! Now it’s time to lower the jack all the way. Put your tools, along with the flat tire, back into the trunk. Take the tire to your mechanic to get it repaired or replaced.

  10. The final and most important step? Wipe your brow and stand back and admire your hard work.

  Fast Facts About Flat and Spare Tires

  Most of us pay little attent
ion to that spare tire in the back, but just like the rest of your car, it sometimes requires a little TLC. Here’s a bit more about how to care for the most valuable player on your bench.

  Keep your spare inflated. You can’t change a flat tire with a flat spare, and tires lose air over time even if they aren’t being used. So make sure you or your PCT checks the tire pressure on your spare at least once a year.

  Know your size. A full-size spare, often seen in SUVs and trucks, is not limited in its functionality. But a spare tire, often called a space saver or a donut, is deliberately sized down to save on space and weight. For this reason, a spare is meant to be used only temporarily. Driving around on a small spare tire for long periods of time is a major no-no that can result in damage to suspension parts and other components of your car. Do not drive over speeds of 50 miles an hour on a spare (i.e., stay away from highways), and avoid driving in adverse weather conditions.