Curious what are the signs you need new tires? Check the explanation that we’ve prepared just for you!

When car tires have reached a very old age, it is important to replace them immediately to maintain safety. One of the clues that a car tire needs to be replaced is when it looks cracked.

Tires are an important component of a car. Apart from being the main driving force of your ride, tires also play a role in safety, passenger comfort, fuel consumption and so on.

Signs You Need New Tires

1. Your Tires Has Reached 3 Year of Usage

The first and foremost sign that car tires need to be replaced is age.

Car tires are made of elastic rubber that will experience changes in flexibility over time.The longer the tires are used, the elasticity of the rubber will decrease and eventually become hard and not flexible anymore. Frequent driving activities also accelerate the age of car tires.

The ideal lifespan of car tires is 3 years. Therefore, it is highly recommended to replace car tires as soon as they reach that age, even though the tires still look thick because they are rarely used. Tire replacement is an important step for comfort and safety when driving.

If the tire age exceeds 3 years, what is noticeably felt is the lack of comfort when driving. This is due to the hardness or loss of flexibility of the tire.

2. Mileage

Even if it has not reached the age of 3 years, car tires should be replaced if the mileage has reached 40,000 km (about 25.000 miles).

For example, if the car often goes on long trips and within 2 years has traveled 50,000 km (31.000 miles), it is advisable that you need to change your tire within those time periods.

Although the flexibility of the tires is still good, tires that have traveled a considerable distance will experience a noticeable wear and tear.

Under normal conditions, cars travel about 15,000 to 20,000 km per year on average, so 40,000 km is usually reached in about 2 to 3 years. But it all depends on how often and how far you go with your ride.

3. Tire Tread Thickness Reaches TWI Limit

Every car tire is equipped with a Tread Wear Indicator (TWI) that indicates the limit of tire wear that is still allowed to be used.

The TWI usually has a triangle or a bulge to make it easier for us to see the wear and tear of our car tires and if the tire has reached the TWI triangle, the tire must be replaced immediately.

The TWI indicator is located at the edge and center of the tire tread. On the edge, you can see a small triangle under the tread, while in the middle of the tread, you can see a bulge that is not as high as the tire while it is inflated.

4. The Tire Has Uneven Wear

In addition to the three common conditions mentioned earlier, there are a few other conditions that can cause tires to need immediate replacement.

One of them is if there is uneven wear in the middle of the tire, while the edges are still in good condition.

If this happens, you should replace the tire immediately, as the thickness of the tire is not even. If left unchecked, this condition can endanger you as the driver and the passenger.

There are also cases where tires experience uneven wear only on certain parts, such as the outer side edge, inner side edge, or other parts of the tire tread. Tire wear on this particular part is usually caused by the driver’s driving habits.

5. There are Bumps on the Tire

Bumps in tires are common and are a sign that the woven thread or wire reinforcing the tire construction has broken.

The presence of these bumps indicates that the tire’s strength is uneven thus making the tire prone to bursting because some parts are not able to withstand air pressure properly.

If the car tires used are more than 3 years old, you should immediately replace them with new tires if there are bumps.

Bumps on tires can be caused by several factors, such as air pressure that often does not reach the recommended standard, so the load held by the tire is uneven.

6. Cracking

Cracks on the sides of tires are common, especially on the sides. This is usually caused by excessive heat exposure or the age of the tire, which makes the tire rubber brittle and easy to break.

Cracks in tires can also be caused by using old tires that are already in the store. To avoid this, it is necessary to be careful when buying new tires.

Check the production date on the tire before buying and using it there usually are four numbers that indicate the week and year when the tire was manufactured.

For example, 0619 means the tire was made in the 6th week of 2019.

7. Car Tires Constantly Punctured and Needs To Be Patched

Frequent tire punctures due to sharp objects are a common problem that is difficult to avoid. In the case of tubeless tires, patching is usually sufficient for the tire to function as before.

However, the tire has frequent punctures and leaks and needs to be patched means the strength of the tire will be reduced. It is best to replace tires that have been patched a lot with new tires.

It is recommended to limit the number of patches on car tires, for example, a maximum of 3 to 4 times.

If you have reached the maximum limit, you should replace the car tires with new ones to avoid unwanted problems while traveling.

“Also Read: “Car Tire Alignment: What Is That? What Is It For ?“

8. Scuffed Tires

Sometimes, car tires can suffer from large scuffs due to contact with hard objects such as road curbs or when passing through potholes on damaged roads.

Although the tire is still usable and there are no visible problems, the scuffed condition of the tire has the potential to become a bigger problem due to the strength on each side of the tire being reduced.

For example, if you have to drive over a damaged road again, the imperfect condition of the tire can increase the risk of a blowout.

9. Tires Experiencing Heel/Toe Wear

Heel and toe wear refers to partial wear that occurs on individual tire tread blocks, resembling a sawtooth pattern, but occurring in the direction of tire rotation rather than across the entire tread.

This wear pattern is most common on non-drive wheels, such as the rear wheels of four-wheel drive vehicles, and can be improved by rotating tires more frequently.

This usually happens to car tires that often pass through damaged roads, especially when the car is traveling at high speed on uneven roads, so it often performs strong braking on these roads.

Other than that, it can also be caused by using a tread compound that is too soft.

And that’s a wrap! The signs you need new tires that we’ve summarized just for you!

Although car tire’s need to be replaced in a certain period of time no matter how often or how rarely you use your ride, this regular maintenance period can be reduced by using a high-quality car tire.

And how do you recognize a high-quality car tire? Well, one of the things you can do is to choose the car tire that has met a certain standard that usually applies in many different countries.

And for Indonesia, the said standard is the SNI, which stands for Standar Nasional Indonesia (Indonesian National Standard).

The SNI regulates most of the products and/or services sold, distributed and provided in Indonesia to ensure that everything is met with certain standards thus improving the safety and quality of respective items/services.

For the tire, there are several standards that outlined in: