Summer driving in the rain can be as treacherous as ice during the winter. Know your tread depth!

When I was a young driver in my 1975 Camaro I had my first and only tire blow-out. It happened going on a residential street at 20 mph. I hit a pot-hole, the tire ripped open and I had the momentarily scary feeling of losing control as the car lurched right. Lucky for me, due to the slow speed I clunked to a stop. Besides needing new tires and a rim, the only lasting injury was to my pride. My dad saw this as a teaching moment. He explained the risk I was taking and made me understand my responsibility as a driver was to ensure my car was safe. Checking air pressure regularly and paying attention to tread wear are a responsibility of every driver. While the tires pictured on the left aren’t my tires from that day, mine looked very similar.

Do your tires look like this? I hope not!

Just like my experience 40 years ago, It took a tire blow-out incident to get this driver to invest in new tires. At this point “tread-depth” was only a memory on these bald tires. In fact, based on Minnesota statues they violated the law as unsafe and might have drawn a ticket (Minnesota regulations attached below*).

Nowadays, with our high-speed highway driving and speed limits of 50 mph on many city streets there is no place safe to have a tire blow-out, or hydro-plane during a rain-storm.

An easy way to check tire condition is to let us do it for you! Ask for a tire check each time you have your oil changed. Here at Christian Brothers our courtesy visual inspection is always free of charge and our experts can check tires, brakes and suspension to ensure you and your family are safe on the road. An added benefit of having tires checked at each oil change…you won’t be surprised when you need tires. You will get a digital report with pictures at each service allowing monitor tire wear and plan for your replacement.

Until next time stay safe out there!

As your AAA authorized service center in Lakeville we get great safety information from their research. Here is great info on tire safety.

Megan McKernan, manager of the Automobile Club of Southern California’s Automotive Research Center said: “If tested side-by-side at 60 mph, vehicles with worn tires would still be traveling at an alarming 40 mph when reaching the same distance as a vehicle with new tires has come to a complete stop.” That distance could be the difference of life and death as this AAA video demonstrates.

*MINNESOTA STATUE: 169.723 TIRES CONSIDERED UNSAFE. A tire shall be considered unsafe if it has: (1) any part of the ply or cord exposed; or (2) any bump, bulge or separation; or (3) a tread design depth of less than 2/32 (1/16”). These tires were truly an accident waiting to happen.