Quality Tires near HARRISONBURG, VA
Our Certified Service experts can quickly and easily handle all of your tire needs. To start shopping for new tires, use our Tire Finder Tool. Simply enter your vehicle's year, make, model, and tire size.
Not sure about your tire size? It's the combination of letters and numbers located on the sidewall of your tire.
Once you've selected the right set, schedule an appointment with Joe Bowman Auto Plaza.
Maintaining Your Tires
What Causes Tire Wear
The purpose of tire tread is to divert water away from the tire so that it maintains traction, while helping to maintain vehicle safety. However, over time, tires gradually wear, becoming more shallow.
There are many factors that cause tire wear, including your driving style and tire maintenance habits.
2 Other factors include:
• Out of spec tire alignment—Toe in and toe out
One thing is certain, as tires wear, it affects the overall tire performance, as well as your ability to maintain proper control of the vehicle in inclement weather.
The proper amount of tire tread helps maintain vehicle safety.
When there isn’t enough tread to grip the road, a driver can lose control of the vehicle.
How can you know when your tires have become unsafe? Built-in tread wear indicators do the trick. They look like narrow strips of smooth rubber across the tread and become visible as the tire surface wears.
Tire replacement is absolutely needed when the tread wear indicators appear. As a rule of thumb, tires can become unsafe when the tread has worn down to 1/16.”
However, there’s also another simple, quick way to check tire safety, and that’s with a penny!
Measuring Tread Depth: The Penny Test
The Penny Test
However, the simplest and easiest way to check your tire tread is with the penny test. Take a penny with Lincoln facing you, upside down. Place it in the center groove of the tire.
If you can see Lincoln’s head or the copper above it, it’s time to replace the tires!
If Lincoln’s hair is visible, it’s time to visit the service center of Joe Bowman Auto Plaza and consider tire replacement.
When To Replace Tires
The tread wear indicators on your tires are another excellent way to know when it’s time to replace worn out tires. These indicators appear when tires only have 2/32” or less of tread remaining.
Passenger trucks, as well as light and medium truck tires have these indicators known as wear bars. They make it easy to determine when it’s time for tire replacement.
Another factor to consider is the age of the tires. Just like a rubber band that’s been sitting around for a long time, the rubber in your tires will form cracks over time.
You’ll see these cracks appear on the surface of the tire as well as inside, eventually, causing the steel belts in the tread to separate from the rest of the tire.
Other warning signs include:
• You can see three or more tread wear indicators around the tire
• The tire cord or fabric is showing through the rubber
• The tire tread or sidewall is cracked, cut, or snagged deep enough to show cord or fabric
• The tire has a bulge or split
• The tire has a puncture, cut, or other damage that can’t be repaired correctly
Click here to schedule your service today!
Wheel Alignment
Vehicle misalignment can cause your tires to wear unevenly. Besides uneven tire wear, other common signs of misalignment include:
• The vehicle pulls to the left or right
• Steering wheel is crooked even though you’re driving straight
• Squealing tires
• Abnormal vibration
If you find your tires have unusual wear or your car, truck, or SUV is pulling significantly to one side or the other, a misalignment is likely to blame.
Further, if a tire is out of balance, it will often affect the quality of the ride, and it can shorten the life of your tires, bearings, shocks, and other suspension components.
A regular car maintenance schedule extends the life of your tires and of your car.
Schedule your wheel alignment check here.
Tire Rotation
On a rear-wheel drive vehicle, rear tires follow the front tires, so they tend to wear more evenly. On a front wheel drive vehicle, the front tires do the pulling.
Either way, if you never rotate your tires, you'll have to replace them thousands of miles sooner!
That's why regular tire rotation prevents irregular wear and extends the life of your tires.
Schedule your tire rotation service here.
Tire Pressure
Check your tires at least once a month when the tires are cold, meaning the vehicle has not been driven for at least three hours or no more than one mile.
The tire information label located on the inside of your door frame has the recommended cold tire pressure for your vehicle.
Maintaining the correct inflation pressure allows the tire to perform as intended, including comfort, fuel economy, stopping distance, cornering, traction, tread wear, and noise.
Tire Pressure Monitoring System
If the pressure in one or more of your tires is 25% or more below the vehicle manufacturer's recommended cold inflation pressure for tires, a warning indication will alert the driver.
With normal use, your original equipment TPMS sensor battery can last up to 10 years. When the battery fails, the sensor will need to be replaced.
If the Tire Pressure Monitor light appears as a blinking yellow lamp for more than one minute and stays solid, then diagnostic service is needed. If your TPMS is not functioning properly, it cannot detect or signal a low-tire condition.
If the Tire Pressure Monitor light comes on and stays solid with a check tire pressure, low tire pressure, or add air to tire message, then check and adjust all tire air pressures to the recommended levels. Next, drive the vehicle to turn the light off.
Tire FAQ'S
Q: Why is tire rotation so important?
A: Each tire on a vehicle performs a different task, causing them to wear at different rates. Regular tire rotation allows tires to wear evenly, maximizing tire life and allowing tires to be replaced in sets of four, which is preferable.
Q: Why is tire pressure important?
A: Improperly inflated tires are a leading cause of tire failure. Proper tire pressure helps a tire have optimum tread contact with the road, which improves traction and braking and reduces tire wear. Underinflated tires generate heat, which is the tire’s worst enemy, so maintaining the right amount of air keeps temperatures where they should be.
Q: How will I know when I need new tires?
A: You’ll need new tires when the tread wear indicators—called wear bars—appear. These wear bars look like narrow strips of smooth rubber across the tread and appear when it’s time to replace your tires. If you can see three or more tread wear indicators, you should replace your tires. Other ways to know when to replace your tires include cord or fabric showing through the rubber, cracks or cuts in the tread or sidewall deep enough to show cord or fabric, bulges or splits in the tire, and punctures or damage that cannot be repaired correctly.
Q: There are a lot of places that sell tires. I need new tires. Where should I go to get the right tires for my GM vehicle at the right price?
A: Our Certified Service experts can recommend tires that are right for your vehicle, your driving habits, and your budget. You can start searching for new tires right now with our Tire Finder Tool above. It’s a quick and easy way to find tires for any vehicle. Once you’ve selected the right tires, you can schedule an appointment. We employ factory-trained technicians who use state-of-the-art technology and equipment to help keep your vehicle running like new.