Category: Tires and Wheels

Talk about a rough relationship!

Roads are not easy on tires. Uneven asphalt. Potholes. Excessive heat. Roads take and take while tires give and give. If you go down that road far enough, a blowout is inevitable!

But you can take some preventative steps to move your tire-road status from “It’s Complicated” to “In a relationship.”

Under Pressure

First off, check that air pressure! If your car monitors individual tire pressure for you, you’re good. But, if not, do you have a tire gauge? No? Get a good quality tire gauge. Check the pressure monthly and check the number listed on the inside of your door, not the tire!

The structure of your tire needs air to hold itself together. Even a10% loss of tire pressure can eventually cause a blowout. If you’re regularly losing pressure, bring it in. We can let you know if it is a leak we can fix. If not, we can get you a great set of tires at an affordable price!

Rotation, Rotation, Rotation

Roads are purposely sloped to allow for drainage. This can cause uneven wear. You need to get your tires rotated every 5,000 to 6,000 miles.

We can maximize the life of your tires with this simple, affordable step. We will also make sure they are balanced and keep an eye on wheel alignment. If you are steering crooked down a straight road, give us a call! Getting a wheel alignment is much cheaper than a new set of tires!

George Washington Never Lies!

Checking tire wear costs just 25 cents. Insert a quarter into a tread groove with Washington’s head facing down. If you can’t see the top of his head, you are good-to-go. If you can see the all of George’s wig, it means you have less than 1/8” of tread left. This is the point at which you should consider replacing your tires. The more of Washington’s head you see, the more unsafe turning and braking become!

Remember, most tires don’t make it past the 50,000-mile mark.

It’s always good to visually inspect tires each month, especially before a long trip. If you notice low tread, tread wear on one edge, uneven wear (called cupping), or raised tread or sidewall, bring your car or truck on in!

The experts at Certified Automotive Specialists will make sure your tires—and everything from that keeps you running down the road—are in great shape. If you have questions or feel you have something we need to look at, set up your appointment online or give us a call us today at 253-854-6762!

Tires are an expensive purchase so knowing when tires should be replaced is important for Glendora auto owners. Tires will just wear out with normal use. The depth of the tread on your tire determines how well it will stop, start and steer – especially in wet conditions. 4/32th of an inch of tire tread is considered a safe amount of tread.

Uneven tread wear can be a symptom of other problems and simply replacing your tires will not prevent the same uneven wear from happening to the new tires. We can survey your tires for excessive or uneven wear. Unusual wear may lead to further examination of steering, suspension or alignment issues. We can help with needed repairs and with getting you the right tires for your needs.

Give us a call

Certified Auto Specialists
626-963-0814
476 Vermont Avenue
Glendora, California 91741

Remember snow tires? They were basically just regular tires with big, knobby lugs to get them through deep snow. They were loud and rode hard, and Glendora drivers couldn’t wait to get them off the car. Then along came television advertisements for “all-season” radials. California car owners ran out and bought some and we thought we were done with snow tires forever.

Tires have come a long way since then. Modern winter tires sold in the Los Angeles area are much better designed for the wide range of dangerous conditions that come with California winter weather. They are made with a rubber compound that helps them stay flexible in cold weather. Regular tires become hard and stiff at Glendora temperatures below 45°F, which reduces their traction. That’s a critical concern in winter, especially with snowy or wet Glendora conditions. But it also means that Glendora auto owners are better off with winter tires in cold weather even when it’s dry.

The tread design on winter tires has been improved to actually move snow, slush and water. The lugs and grooves actually throw packed snow out of the tread as the tire rotates. This means the tread is open and ready to move more snow when it rolls around again. Summer tires can actually pack up with snow, which makes them more detrimental than a bald tire.

Many winter tires use a micro-pore compound that lets the tire bite into ice and snow. They have wider grooves around the tire that help expel snow. They have a rounder casing to better cut into the surface of snow. Modern winter tires available at California tire shops also have sipes, or thin slits cut into the tread. The edges of these sipes can grab ice and snow so that the tire retains traction on almost any surface. The sipes also help to expel water and slush from the tread. In short, a lot of time and engineering has gone into improving winter tires.

The all-season tire that is popular among Los Angeles drivers is actually a compromise between summer and winter performance. This means they give adequate performance for Glendora auto owners in either season, but aren’t great in either. Summer tires give great performance in hot weather, but lousy performance in winter. Glendora motorists need to put more thought into their tire choices these days, but that also means they get a lot better performance for their money.

If you want the performance that new winter tires can give you, you should have them properly installed at your Glendora service center or Certified Auto Specialists. It’s best to purchase four snow tires and put them on all the wheels of your vehicle. But if you only want two, you need to put them on the rear of your vehicle, even if you drive a front-wheel drive vehicle. Glendora drivers always want to put the tires with the best traction on the rear of the vehicle.

Imagine this: You take a corner on an icy Los Angeles road and your rear end starts to slide. What happened is that the front end slowed for the turn, but the rear end hasn’t figured that out yet. If you have high-traction tires on the front of your vehicle, that makes the problem worse. You’re slowing the front end faster and harder, which makes the back end fishtail even more.

Putting the higher traction tires on the rear will give Glendora auto owners more control for turns, regardless of the type of vehicle driven. Of course, that makes putting high-traction tires on all of your wheels even smarter. Why not give all of your tires the best traction they can get? Some Glendora assume that four-wheel drive or all-wheel drive vehicles only need winter tires on two wheels. Why? Doesn’t it make sense to give all four wheels the same level of traction and control? Four-wheel or all-wheel drive cannot compensate for poor traction.

Another false assumption held by many Glendora car owners is that if you have traction control and anti-lock brakes, you won’t need winter tires. Traction is essential for good acceleration, steering and stopping. And tires provide traction. Traction control and anti-lock brakes can only improve on that traction. The better the traction, the better the traction control and anti-lock brakes will work. In other words, the better the tires, the better those systems will work for Glendora drivers.

A Canadian law requires all passenger vehicles, rental cars and taxis registered in Quebec to have winter tires on all four wheels from November 15th until April 1st.

If you’re shopping for winter tires and live where there is a lot of snow in California, look for a mountain with a snowflake in it molded into the tire’s sidewall. This symbol means the tire complies with severe snow standards. All-season tires have an M&S stamped on the sidewall. M&S stands for mud and snow.

For more important auto advice about tires for any California season, speak with your reliable Certified Auto Specialists tire professional. They can help you opt for the right tire for your area and for your driving needs. For the best performance from your tires, whatever the season, don’t forget preventive maintenance. Keep your tires up to pressure for best durability, safety and performance, but don’t overinflate them. Remember, good car care provides the safest road for all of us Glendora car owners.

If you’re interested in customizing the wheels and tires on your sedan, there are a few things you should know first.

Most importantly, the wheels you buy need to fit your vehicle. Not all wheels are created equal. Too many Glendora drivers have bought a set of wheels that caught their eye, then, after going to the work of mounting them, have found that the wheels don’t fit right and the tires rub against the sedan when they turn or go over a bump.

To ensure a proper fit, you can consult with your Certified Auto Specialists tire professional. He/she can also help you find tires that are suited to your driving habits as well as your sedan. You may find their auto advice invaluable, and you’ll probably be happier with your new wheels once you purchase them.

But if you just have to have that set of wheels, and you’re willing to pay for them, you can modify your vehicle to fit the wheels. Again, you should seek a knowledgeable Los Angeles professional’s help ahead of time. For example, if you want a bigger set of wheels on your pickup truck, you can get a suspension lift so they will fit the truck. A professional Glendora custom wheel shop can help you get the work done right.

The anti-lock brakes and stability control system on your sedan are engineered to work with a particular height of tire. This is another reason drivers should be careful when purchasing custom wheels in Glendora. The new wheel and tire combo needs to match the height of the tires that came with your vehicle.

Your car’s computer gauges your speed by the revolution of your tires and sends commands to the brakes and traction control based on that speed. If you put larger or smaller tires on your sedan, your computer is calculating the wrong speed and, consequently, sending incorrect commands to the brakes and traction control. This can have serious consequences as it may result in expensive damage to your vehicle or, worse, an accident.

If you change the size of your wheels, you need to get your engine’s computer reprogrammed at Certified Auto Specialists to accommodate the new tire size. New wheels shouldn’t just fit your vehicle, they should also fit your lifestyle. There are hundreds of styles and sizes to choose from. You should do a little research about which wheels and tires will best fit your personality, give you the performance you want, and meet your handling needs. We’re not saying you shouldn’t personalize your ride, we just want you to be happy with the result. Talk to us at Certified Auto Specialists in Glendora.

After all, good car care isn’t just about preventive maintenance. It’s also about making good choices.

Taking care of our tires is an important part of car care for Glendora drivers. We know they have to be replaced when they wear out, but tires also require some essential preventive maintenance. This maintenance will improve MPG and extend the life of the tires, so it’s well worth the effort and expense for Glendora motorists to get it done. Tire maintenance includes keeping tires properly inflated, rotating tires and balancing wheels.

The recommended tire pressure for a vehicle’s tires is printed on a sticker on the inside of the driver’s side doorjamb. A lot of engineering goes into calculating the correct pressure, so it’s a vital number for Glendora car owners to know. Not following this recommendation can throw off the suspension system and can lead to costly tire damage. Underinflated tires wear out more quickly than properly inflated tires. Vehicles also get better traction, handling and gas mileage on properly inflated tires. Check your tire pressure at least once a week and add air if necessary.

Don’t be tempted to add a bit of extra air to your tires when you fill them. Overinflated tires will cause the center tread to wear unevenly because of improper contact with the road. It will also curtail the handling performance of your vehicle.

Rotating tires allows all four tires on a vehicle to wear evenly. Front tires get more wear than rear tires because they do most of the work on turns. Tire rotation allows all of the tires to spend time on the front of the car so they all experience the extra wear.

For most vehicles, tire rotation is simply a matter of moving the front tires to the rear and vice versa. Some vehicles, however, recommend a cross-rotational pattern. Other vehicles use asymmetrical tires, which means the right tires have to stay on the right side of the car and the left tires on the left. Some vehicles use differently sized wheels on the front and back of the car and should not have their tires rotated.

What kind of rotation do you need? Check your owner’s manual or talk to your reliable Certified Auto Specialists service professional. Your owner’s manual will have information about how to rotate your vehicle’s tires as well as letting you know how often you should get it done. For most vehicles, that’s usually every 5,000 miles. Your reliable Certified Auto Specialists service specialist can also offer auto advice about tire rotation. A quick tire inspection can also indicate whether or not your tires are due to be rotated.

When it comes to tire maintenance for Glendora motorists, wheel balancing is usually what we know least about. Balancing a wheel is necessary to keep it in constant contact with the road. If a tire is not balanced properly, it actually hops along the roadway. You can feel this hopping as a vibration in your steering wheel if the unbalanced tire is a front tire. You’ll feel the vibration through your seat if a rear tire is unbalance. Properly balancing your tires is vital and will extend their life span, improve handling and improve the safety of your vehicle. When you replace your tires, the new tires need to be balanced.

Never use different sized tires on the same axle of a vehicle. In other words, your front tires need to be the same size and your rear tires need to be the same size. Mixing sizes can lead to some serious handling problems for Glendora auto owners.

If you have an all-wheel drive or four-wheel drive vehicle all four tires need to be the same size. If your tires are wearing out, you can sometimes make a new tire purchase fit within your budget by only buying two tires at a time. When you do this, the new tires should be installed on the rear of the vehicle. Rear tires are more in need of the traction than your front tires to avoid spinning out on slippery surfaces. If you drive a vehicle around Los Angeles, you need tires, so Glendora motorists need to know how to care for them. The safety of your sedan can depend on the condition of your tires.