If you don’t regularly inspect and service your tires, you may experience a blowout, a flat, or worse. We have the right tires for your vehicle and offers services you need to keep your tires in good working order, whether it’s everyday driving or preparing for a summer vacation road trip. Our certified technicians will inspect your tires, perform a tire repair, or replace them entirely. For new tires, tire, and wheel work near you at the best cost, contact Gold Star Auto for auto tires, mounting, balancing, rotations, leaks and more.
Tire Rotation Services
Rotating your tires helps ensure tires wear evenly. It’s an important and often-overlooked part of auto maintenance that involves adjusting the position of tires around the car. We recommend that you rotate tires every 6,000-8,000 miles, ensuring the best tires are on the rear.
How do you know if you need new tires?
You should replace any tire that shows one or more of these signs of age, damage, or wear:
- Low tread depth: Replace tires that have worn down below the recommended tread depth. The U.S. legal minimum tread depth is 2/32.” You may want to replace your tires at a higher tread depth depending on manufacturer recommendations, or your specific driving conditions.
- Sidewall damage: Tires with cracks, punctures, blisters, or bulges in the sidewall are no longer structurally sound and cannot be repaired.
Gold Star Auto technician can help you identify these tire safety hazards, and help you select your perfect replacement tires.
At what tread depth should tires be replaced?
- The legal minimum tire tread depth in the United States is 2/32” and many tire experts recommend replacing tires at 4/32”-6/32” tread depth or less, especially for tire types that benefit from a deeper tread (snow tires, all-terrain tires, or mud tires). Testing multiple winter tire brands at 5/32”-6/32” tread depth (or 50% of original tread depth), Consumer Reports saw a 14.5% decline in snow traction when accelerating, and a 7% increase in wet stopping distance compared to the tires’ original tread depth.
How to tell if your tire tread depth is too low, and you need to replace your tires:
- Use a tire tread depth gauge for a precise measurement.
- Take the U.S. Penny Test: Insert a penny (headfirst) into your tire tread. If you can see the top of Lincoln’s head, it’s time for new tires. If the top of Lincoln’s head is covered, your tread is deeper than 2/32”. On the tail side, if the top of the Lincoln Memorial is covered, your tread is deeper than 6/32”.
- Take the Canadian nickel test: If the top of Queen Elizabeth’s crown is covered, your tread is deeper than 2/32”.
- Take the U.S. Quarter Test: If the top of Washington’s head is covered, your tire tread is deeper than 4/32”.
- Take the Canadian Quarter Test: If the caribou’s nose is covered, your tire tread is deeper than 6/32”.
- Check the wear bars: Tire wear bars are situated at 2/32” of tread depth, so if any wear bar is worn, replace the tire right away. It’s below the legal minimum tread depth.
- Check tread depth on several parts of the tire, especially if you see uneven wear patterns. And talk to our tire expert to help you decide how low your tread depth can go.
Do new tires need to be balanced?
While tire imbalance is a common side effect of bumpy roads and other driving hazards, new tires should be checked for balance before mounting. Even new tires can have natural imbalance from the factory. Starting off with balanced tires and having the balanced checked as a regular part of tire service will help extend the life of your tires.