Do I need to replace my tires?

Short answer is if you have at more than 2/32″ of tread on your tires and they are less than six years old you don’t need to replace your tires due to wear. This doesn’t account for tire damage, particularly to the side walls.

One easy way to determine if you have enough tread is the Penny Test. This is a simple way ensure you’ve got the minimum of 2/32″ of tread, which is recommended by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Take any penny and place it, with Lincoln’s head facing down, into your tire tread in several areas around the tire. if Lincoln’s head is covered or partially covered by the tread you’re in good shape. If you can see the top of his head, it’s time for a new set of tires.

The other test is the age test, which is also easy. Most tire manufacturers recommend replacing tires after 6 years of the date they were made… even if you have plenty of tread. You can find the date your tires were made on the sidewall. This will be a series of characters that start with DOT, followed by the plant code, tire size, manufacturer code, and finally a four digit week and year. This may look like “1518”, the 1st two characters “15” indicate the week of the year and the last two “18” indicate the year. In this example the tire was made in April 2018 (15th week of the year is in April). if your date is greater than six years ago, it’s time to do some tire shopping.

Still not sure if you need your tires replaced, or looking to buy tires. Stop by Turn Key Auto Repair and we can give you the guaranteed best price on a new set of tires for your car or truck.

Looking for more information on how to keep your tires on the road, check out this article with the tips and tricks to get the best milage where the rubber meets the road!