Gig Harbor Auto Repair

Hey , are your tires worn out? What is the standard for our streets? How can you tell on your ? While there may be legal requirements for the area, there are safety concerns that go beyond meeting minimum replacement mandates. 2/32 is the depth of the tire tread wear indicator bars that US law has required to be molded across all tires since August 1, 1968. When tires are worn so that this bar is visible, there's just 2/32 of an inch - 1.6 millimeters - of tread left. It's that level of wear that's been called into question recently. We're referring to the Consumer Reports call to consider replacing tires when tread reaches 4/32 of an inch, or 3.2 millimeters. And the recommendation is backed by some very compelling studies. The issue is braking on wet surfaces in and around . Most of us think of our brakes doing most of the ... read more

Looking at getting some new tires? The choices at tire stores can be a little overwhelming. Suppose you have an SUV and are trying to decide between all season tires or some that are also rated for off-highway. Do you get off the payment on the outskirts of more than most? If so, some additional off-road traction would be nice. Maybe the real reason for wanting those off-highway tires is that they look cool. Well there's nothing wrong with that. If you make sure that you've got your functional needs covered with your selection, then you can have some fun with where you go from there. Let's suppose you zip around in a sporty car. You may like to run a high-performance summer tire when the weather's good. When weather turns cold, you can put on high-performance winter tires. For the kind of driving you like to do, you want full-on performance tires. All-season tires are naturally a compromise that works well for most drivers, but since you have a choic ... read more

Everyone in the area wants our tires to last as long as possible. Two ways to maximize tire life are wheel balancing and tire rotation. When wheels are out of balance, they wobble a bit. That makes the tires wear in a cupping pattern. And they vibrate. To fix this, your service technician at puts weights on your wheels to balance them out. If a front wheel is out of balance you'll feel it in the steering wheel. If it's a rear wheel you'll feel it through your seat. That brings us to tire rotation. The front tires on a car wear out more quickly than the rear tires. As they push through turns from to , the shoulders of the front tires wear down. So rotating front and rear tires allows them to all wear at about the same rate over the life of the tire. Proper tire inflation will also help your tires last longer. Under-inflated tires wear excessively on the shoulder and may even ... read more

Some of us just love tires. All those little rubber hairs on new tires and the smell is wonderful. We live in a great time for tires. No matter how you drive, where you want to go or the look you're after; there is a tire for you. The same is true about wheels. The hardest part is choosing from the thousands of wheels available. We may not be able to help with that, but we can help you get some things in mind before you consult with your tire professional. Let's start with function and think about how you drive. For example, maybe you have a large SUV but you don't drive off-road, so an off-road tread isn't important. Also, because you are not out bouncing over rocks in the backcountry, you don't need a high profile tire to protect your rims. So that means you can probably go with the low-wide look. If you have a winter season with rain and snow or if you find you need better ice and snow performance, they make great, high-performance snow tires that won't ma ... read more