VIDEO: Check Your Vehicle's Tire Tread

Through May 9, Baltimore had seen 13 straight days of rain. This week, in fact, showers are forecast for much of the country, meaning there will be plenty of slick roads out there. 

Many rainy-day crashes result from skidding on bald or nearly bald tires. Now is a good time to remind fleet drivers of the importance of regular tire maintenance.

(To view a brief video offering tips on checking tire tread, click on the photo or link below the headline.)

Here are some tire maintenance tips provided by Goodyear:

• Maintain inflation pressure at the recommended level. This level is shown on the vehicle placard or in your vehicle owner’s manual. Remember, maintaining proper inflation is the single most important thing a driver can do to promote tire durability and prolong tread life. Under-inflation is the leading cause of tire failure and may result in severe cracking, component separation, or “blowout.”

• Avoid excessive tire spinning when your vehicle is stuck in snow, ice, mud, or sand. The centrifugal forces generated by a free-spinning tire/wheel assembly may cause sudden tire explosion.

• Check your tires for wear regularly. For cars, always remove tires from service when they reach 2/32-inch (.16 cm) remaining tread depth. All new tires have tread-wear indicators, which appear as smooth banks in the tread grooves when they wear to the 2/32-inch level.

• Frequently check your tires for damage. Look for impacts, penetrations, cracks, knots, bulges, or air loss. Never perform a temporary repair. Only qualified people should repair tires.

• Don’t overload your vehicle. Check your vehicle owner’s manual to determine the load limits. Overloading places stress on your tires and other critical vehicle components.

• Make sure tires are rotated to the vehicle manufacturer’s recommendations or at maximum intervals of 6,000 miles.

• Never just ignore the tire pressure monitoring system alert. Address the problem as soon as possible.

• For tips more specifically suited for work trucks, click here.