A change of season for the car owner is always a change of tires. It is convenient to time this event with the purchase of a new set, as well as some additional work with those wheels that will still serve you. The weather gives us a couple more weeks to prepare for shifting to “winter”. To make sure everything goes smoothly, we’ve prepared a few tips for you. We hope you will use them and make the right choice of tires.

1. How to store your tires between seasons: Important points

– Labeling your tires

Sign your tires with a marker or chalk, indicating which wheel each tire was on, e.g. LP – front left. At another season change, this will allow the tires to be reinstalled to avoid excessive wear on the carcass and tread.

– Clean the tires.

This is best done with a coarse brush, possibly with water. If the tire is already off the rim, it’s best not to use a pressure washer as this can damage the tire and cause tears and microcracks. At the same time clean the tread from small pebbles that deform the beads and lamellae. And most importantly, check it for stuck nails, pieces of wire and other things. Foreign bodies need to be carefully removed, and holes need to be patched immediately.

– Choosing a Storage Place

The storage location must be dry, clean and well ventilated. The optimum temperature for storage is +15 C, but a range of -30 to +30 C is acceptable. Humidity should be between 50-60%. Sports tires react sensitively to lower temperatures, so it is desirable to store such models at least -10°C. Rubber should not be exposed to direct sunlight, as UV light tends to age quickly. Do not keep near fuels and lubricants, chemicals and other volatile substances that can affect the composition of the rubber.

– Correct positioning

When storing on rims. Place on a flat surface stacked on top of each other (up to 4 per stack) with all tires pre-inflated so that they are not deformed. Do not put anything on top of the tires. You can also hang them vertically by the hole in the rim. Vertically in a row, e.g. on a shelf, mounted wheels can only be stored for a short time!!!

When storing without rims. The tires should be placed vertically on a flat surface and rotated at a small angle every 2-3 weeks so that no deformation occurs in the lower part of the tire.

– Do tyres have to be packed?

If you would like to keep your tires in their cases, they should be special textile cases. It is better not to pack tires in plastic bags, because condensation forms under the film, blocking air circulation, which is not very good for both the rubber and the metal carcass of the tire.

2. When do I “change” my shoes?

To put on winter tires. When the average daily temperature drops to +5 – +7 ° C, regardless of rain.

On summer tires. When night frosts stop and minimal daily temperature reaches at least +8 – +10 ° C.

The main thing to know and take into account: winter tires on warm asphalt are less dangerous than summer ones on ice and frozen roads.

3. How to understand that it is time to change the rubber?

The depth of tread pattern for summer tires should be at least 1.6 mm (this is according to traffic regulations, but in practice it is desirable to leave not less than 2-3 mm). For winter tires – the threshold is 4 mm. Some dealers, when selling tires, complete with a simple meter – a depth tester. In addition, many manufacturers equip their tires with special indicators – tread flats at the bottom of the tread grooves. They allow you to conveniently control the depth without the help of additional devices: when the tread has worn down to them, it means that wear is at its limit.

The presence of cuts or other noticeable damage to the tire is also a prerequisite for the replacement of the rubber for a new one. Theoretically, you can seal a cut up to 1 cm long, but it is better not to do it on high-speed cars. If there is a hernia on the tire sidewall or damage to the bead area near the rim, you must also prepare for tire replacement.

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The car battery is not the cheapest product, but the purchase of a new one, alas, is inevitable from time to time. But the frequency with which different motorists do it is very different.

The battery life of most drivers is up to 5 years. But if you set a goal to “watch out” for it, its service life can be increased even up to 9 years.

By and large, the life expectancy of the starter battery is significantly affected by only one factor: its degree of charge during the entire period of operation. In other words, the car battery does not like when it is discharged.

In short, from a technical point of view, the essence of the phenomenon is as follows: when the battery contains a minimum reserve of energy, the lead plates with the active mass are sulfated – covered with a layer of sulfuric lead. Because of this, the plates lose their ability to exchange ions with the electrolyte. And the more often and for longer the battery is in a discharged state, the sooner it will become sulfated.

About the sulfated battery electricians say: lost capacity. It precisely reflects the reality – such battery, no matter how much it is charged by the generator or charger in the garage, can no longer accumulate a slightly useful reserve of energy for the car.

It turns out that if the car owner wants to prolong the life of his battery, he should make sure that it is constantly charged. In fact, it is not very difficult:

– When starting the engine, listen to how briskly the starter cranks the engine. A drained battery does it reluctantly, sluggishly; in summer it is less noticeable, in winter such a diagnosis is more accurate;

– don’t deplete the battery with prolonged strain, such as keeping the headlights on when the engine is not running, playing loud music all day long, or trying to start a faulty engine to no avail;

– the most accurate diagnosis of the battery condition is to measure the voltage on its terminals after several hours of “rest”, when the engine and all power consumers are turned off. The voltmeter should show not less than 12,6 volts – this will mean that the battery is serviceable and fully charged, and the car is charging it correctly. This is the state of affairs you should strive for. It is advisable to check the battery voltage at least once a month;

– In winter, it is desirable once a month and a half to recharge the battery from the garage charger. It is during the cold season that the battery is most stressed and often remains undercharged.

As soon as you discover that the battery is dead, it should be recharged, if possible, to 100%. It makes no sense to start the engine and try to charge the battery from the generator while the engine is running – it would take more than one hour and a canister of gasoline. Normally the battery will be charged only during a long trip, and ideally – from the charger, powered from 220 V. The recommended charging current is 10% of the battery capacity: for example, for a 6ST-60 battery with a capacity of 60 Ah this would be 6 Amps, for a 75 Ah battery – 7.5 Amps, etc.

The duration of charging the battery depends on how much the battery is discharged. The principle is as follows: the amount of energy “put” in the battery is equal to the charging current (in amperes) multiplied by the charging time (in hours). For example, if you have been charging the battery for 4 hours with a current of 5 amps, you have replenished it by 20 Ah. Accordingly, a fully boarded battery with a capacity of 50 Ah should be charged with a current of 5 Ah for 10 hours.

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