Regardless what type of tires are on your car or truck, regular maintenance is critically important. Even if you’re rolling on the best rubber from a leading name like Mickey Thompson, Maxxis, or Yokohama, you need to give them the attention they deserve to promote a long and healthy life.
Tires are easy to overlook until they start causing problems. Despite being the only point of contact between your vehicle and the road, they rarely get the attention they deserve. But waiting until performance declines isn’t the best approach—especially when a simple maintenance routine can extend their lifespan and help you catch potential issues before they turn into costly repairs.
Maintaining Proper Balance, Rotation, & Alignment
One of the most overlooked yet essential tire maintenance steps is ensuring your tires remain properly balanced. When tires are installed, they must be balanced with the wheel assembly to prevent vibrations that can lead to abnormal tread wear and even damage to steering and suspension components. As the tread wears down over time, balance requirements change, making periodic rebalancing necessary.
Given the potential risks, it’s important to check and rebalance your tires as needed. While driving habits and tire specifications will influence the ideal rebalancing schedule, a typical guideline is every 5,000 to 8,000 miles—often aligning with other routine service intervals.
Another key item on your tire maintenance checklist is rotation, which involves switching tire positions to promote even wear. Most tire experts recommend rotating your tires every 5,000 to 7,500 miles. The ideal rotation pattern depends on factors like tire type and the vehicle’s drive orientation. For example, a symmetrical tire like the Yokohama Avid Touring GS on a front-wheel-drive vehicle would follow a forward cross rotation pattern, while a more aggressive tire like the Mickey Thompson Baja Boss on a four-wheel drive rig benefits from a simple cross pattern. In some cases—such as with staggered directional tires—rotation actually requires dismounting the tire from the wheel and then rebalancing before reinstalling.
Also important to car care are tire alignments, which ensure that your vehicle’s wheels are properly angled for optimal contact with the road. An alignment adjusts the suspension components that position the wheels, correcting angles like camber, caster, and toe to prevent uneven tire wear and improve handling.
While an alignment doesn’t directly modify the tires themselves, it does have a major impact on how they wear. If the camber (tilt of the wheels) or toe (angle of the tires relative to the car’s centerline) is off, the tires can wear unevenly and wear out much faster.
Getting an alignment isn’t a one-and-done task. Over time, suspension components shift due to normal driving, potholes, or worn parts, requiring periodic adjustments. Most experts recommend an alignment every 5,000 to 10,000 miles, which can be coupled with regular rotations and tire balancing.
Checking Tread Depth, Wear Patterns, and Signs of Damage
Irregular tire wear is something every driver should keep an eye on, and it starts with understanding tread depth, which is the distance between the top of the tread block and the tire’s surface. While built-in wear indicators on the tire offer a handy quick reference, it’s a good idea to get in there and measure tread depth yourself from time to time.
A tread depth of 6/32 of an inch or deeper is generally considered good for most tires. As your tires wear, use a tread depth gauge to check multiple spots across the surface. This helps ensure even wear and confirms that your tires are still roadworthy. If certain areas are wearing faster than others, that’s a clear sign of an underlying mechanical issue that needs attention.
It’s also important to inspect your tires for cracks, bulges, punctures, or other visible damage, as these can lead to air loss or even blowouts. Sidewall bulges, for instance, often indicate internal damage that compromises the tire’s structure, while deep cracks or cuts can weaken the rubber and increase the risk of failure. You’ll want to catch these issues early to help prevent more serious problems down the road.
For a deeper dive into what your tires could be telling you, check out our guide on interpreting tire wear patterns.
Keeping Tires Clean and Protected
Brake dust, road grime, and road salt don’t just make your tires look bad—they can actually speed up wear and even cause damage over time. Regular cleanings help prevent buildup and give you a chance to check for issues beyond tread wear, like dry rot.
While a quick rinse helps, thorough cleaning is worth the effort. In addition to preventing corrosion and pitting on wheels, a deeper scrub improves traction, enhances handling, and reduces rolling resistance—boosting both safety and performance.
Not sure where to start? Check out our step-by-step guide to cleaning wheels and tires for the best techniques and products.
Maintaining Tire Pressure
As we near the end of our tire maintenance checklist, here’s a tip everyone knows but not everyone follows: Keeping tire pressure in check is essential for safety and tire longevity.
Tires perform best and wear evenly at the pressure recommended in your car’s owner’s manual. Unless you’re running aftermarket tires of a different size, always follow the vehicle manufacturer’s recommended PSI—not the number on the tire sidewall. That’s the maximum PSI rating the tire can handle, and inflating to that level could be dangerous. Instead, check the manual or, if that’s unavailable, refer to the sticker on the inside of the driver’s side door.
While your TPMS will alert you to pressure changes, it’s smart to check manually with a tire pressure gauge now and then. Pressure naturally drops over time and fluctuates with temperature, so occasional adjustments are normal. However, a sudden drop signals a leak that needs immediate attention.
Understand Your Tire’s Limits
Our final tip is to know and respect your tire’s limits. Modern tires are designed to handle a variety of conditions, but that doesn’t mean they’re ideal for all of them—and driving like they are, regardless of the environment they’re in, can lead to serious consequences.
For example, just because a tire is labeled “all-season” or “all-terrain” doesn’t mean it’s the best choice for snow. The real indicator of a true winter tire is the three-peak mountain snowflake symbol, like you’ll find on the Maxxis Premitra Snow WP6. On the flip side, that same Maxxis tire will struggle in summer conditions. That’s why it’s still wise to invest in at least two sets of tires for year-round performance—no matter how advanced modern tire technology has become.
Parts Via: Your Go-To for Tire Maintenance Essentials
Good tire care isn’t just about performance—it’s about safety, longevity, and getting the most out of every mile. By following this tire maintenance checklist, you can ensure your tires stay in top shape and catch potential issues before they become costly problems.
From car tire care products to tools for how to inspect tires, Parts Via has everything you need to keep your ride road-ready. Shop now for top-quality accessories and get ahead on tire safety tips that help you drive with confidence year-round.