When done at the recommended times, rotating your tires can preserve balanced handling and traction of the tires and even out tire wear. We recommend that high performance tires be rotated every 3,000 to 5,000 miles, even if they don't show signs of wear. Tire rotation can often be done with oil change intervals while the vehicle is off the ground anyway. Tire rotation helps even out tire wear by allowing each tire to serve in as many of the vehicle's wheel positions as possible. Remember, tire rotation can't correct wear problems due to worn mechanical parts or incorrect inflation pressures. It's also important to check your owner's manual for specific details on what method of tire rotation the vehicle's manufacturer recommends.

While it's often referred to simply as an "alignment" or "wheel alignment," it's really complex suspension angles that are being measured and a variety of suspension components that are being adjusted. This makes an alignment an important suspension-tuning tool that greatly influences the operation of the vehicle's tires. Out-of-alignment conditions occur when the suspension and steering systems are not operating at their desired angles. Out-of-alignment conditions are most often caused by spring sag or suspension wear (ball joints, bushings, etc.) on an older vehicle. They can also be the result of an impact with a pothole or curb, or a change in vehicle ride height (lowered or raised) on any vehicle regardless of age.

Tires are comprised of many layers of rubber, steel and fabric. Due to these different components, your new tires require a "break-in" period to ensure that they deliver their normal ride quality and maximum performance. As tires are cured, a "release lubricant" is applied to prevent them from sticking in their mold. Some of the lubricant stays on the surface of your tires, reducing traction until it is worn away. Five hundred miles of easy acceleration, cornering and braking will allow the mold release lubricant to wear off, allowing the other tire components to begin working together. It is also important to note that your old tires probably had very little tread depth remaining when you felt it was time to replace them. As any autocrosses or racer who has tread rubber shaved off of his tires will tell you "Low tread depth tires respond quicker." Don't be surprised if your new tires are a little slower to respond (even if you use the exact same tire as before). Their new, full depth brings with it a little more tread squirm until they wear down.

Regardless of its size, every tire's load capacity, durability, traction and handling is dependent on using the right inflation pressure for the application. Since both too little and too much inflation pressure sacrifices some of the tires' performance, maintaining the "right" inflation pressure is very important. While a wide variety of tire sizes are available to fit the many different vehicles in use today, almost every tire size can be used on more than one vehicle. Therefore, it is the vehicle manufacturers that ultimately determine the tire inflation pressures they believe best fine-tune the tires' capabilities to their specific vehicle makes and models.