Tire Care and Safety Guide for Daily Drivers

The number on the tire sidewall is the maximum the tire can hold, not what your car needs. The right pressure is on the placard in the driver door jamb, set by the vehicle maker for the car's weight and handling.

Check pressure monthly with the tires cold, before driving or after the car has sat a few hours. Pressure drops as temperatures fall and rises as tires warm. More detail is in the tire pressure and care guide.

Front and rear tires wear differently, especially on front-wheel-drive cars. Rotation moves them around so all four wear at a similar rate. Skipping rotations can lead to cupping and a shorter tire life.

Wear patterns tell you what else is wrong:

• Center wear: too much air
• Both edges: too little air
• Inner edge: alignment
• Cupping: worn shocks and missed rotations

See tire rotation and balancing and tire wear patterns.

The last four digits of the DOT code show the week and year a tire was made. Rubber ages with time and heat, even when the tread looks fine. Look for cracks in the sidewall or between tread blocks.

Guidance on age varies by vehicle and tire maker, so check your owner manual. We inspect older tires closely and show you what we see. The tire age tool weighs age against tread depth.

A puncture in the main tread area of a healthy tire can usually be repaired from the inside with a patch and plug. Punctures in the shoulder or sidewall, large cuts, and tires driven while flat usually mean replacement.

We take the tire off the wheel and inspect the inside before deciding. An outside plug alone is a temporary fix. See flat tire repair.

Goodyear fitment starts with the right size, load index and speed rating for your vehicle, not with what happens to be on sale. Trucks that tow or haul may need a higher load range. EVs are heavy and often need tires rated for that weight.

On many AWD vehicles, all four tires should match in size and have similar tread depth. A large mismatch can strain the drivetrain. That is why one damaged tire on an AWD car sometimes means more than one new tire. See new tires and brands.

Same-day installation is possible when your size is in stock and a bay is open. Call (909) 608-7699 with the size from the sidewall and we check. Installation includes mounting, balancing, a TPMS check and torquing the lugs.

You can check pressure, look at tread and wear, read the date code and spot sidewall cracks yourself. Leave mounting, balancing, TPMS programming and alignment to a shop.

Everything a shop needs to match your tires is printed on the sidewall. The size comes first, then a service description: a number for load index and a letter for speed rating. The replacement should meet or exceed what your vehicle maker lists on the door placard, never fall below it.

Take a phone photo of the sidewall before you call. It makes the size check fast.

Hot pavement and long afternoons raise tire temperature, and pressure climbs with it. That is why a reading taken after a midday drive looks high. Do not let air out of hot tires to reach the placard number; they will be low once they cool. Check in the morning before you drive instead.

Heat also ages rubber. Tires on cars parked outside all summer can crack sooner than tires on garaged cars, even with plenty of tread. Watch for:

• Fine cracks in the sidewall or at the base of tread blocks
• A tire that loses air every week or two without a visible nail
• Low pressure on a loaded car before a trip toward the mountains or the desert, where long grades and heat stack up

Tread grooves move water out from under the tire. As tread wears, the tire needs more distance to stop on wet roads and can start to hydroplane at lower speeds. After months without rain, the first storm lifts oil and dust off the road, which makes worn tires feel worse than they did last winter.

Check tread before the rainy season, not during it. Look for the wear bars molded across the grooves; when the tread is close to level with them, plan replacement. A tread gauge at the shop gives an exact reading on every tire, including the inner grooves you cannot see easily.

The tire pressure monitoring light comes on when one or more tires falls well below the placard number. A steady light means low pressure somewhere, so check all four with a gauge. A light that flashes and then stays on usually means a sensor or system fault, not a tire.

The spare ages like any tire, even unused. Check its pressure every few months, and on cars with a compact spare, remember it is for short, slow trips to the shop only. Some newer cars carry a repair kit instead of a spare; know which one yours has before you need it.

Monthly tire routine

1. Check all four and the spare with a gauge, cold.
2. Look across each tread for uneven wear.
3. Scan sidewalls for cuts, bulges or cracks.
4. Note any pull or vibration and mention it when you book.