New Shoes for Barbie! A lesson in getting new car tires...

It struck me the other day while I was having 4 new tires put on my car that I have never bought 4 new tires at once for any car I've ever owned. Weird.

I knew I needed them, especially given the wear bars were showing. For the ladies and non-car-guys, you need to know what wear bars are. (I didn't until recently). When you see them, it's time for new tires. Find yourself a good car-guy and have him show you.

Also, there's the Lincoln on his head measurement . This penny trick works because the distance between the edge of the penny and Lincoln's head is 1/16 of an inch -- the minimum required tread depth. When your tire tread is lower than 1/16 of an inch, where none of Lincoln's head is obscured or you can read any of the "In God We Trust" on the penny, you need new tires.



I've also learned recently that the size of your car tires is based on 3 measurements - which you can find on the side of the tire, or in your owners manual. For example, mine are 205 - 45 - R16. I CAN actually tell you what each of those numbers means. They measure the distance across the tire, the ratio of something and something, and your rim size. Once you know your tire size, you can find great tire deals online at tirerack.com. You can have tires shipped to you, then you take them to a tire place and pay to have them balanced and installed. OR... you do what I did, and tell the folks at the tire store about such deals and they can verify for themselves. The guy helping me took $30 off his prices per tire based on this little exercise in comparison shopping. Remember, the answer is always NO unless you ask.



Here's Barbie after they took the tires off. Again, my wear bars were showing, but I still had a decent amount of tread in the middle of the tire. But look at what was on the inside of my tire - which wasn't visible until they took the tires off:



Dude. See that crack??? That right there is a blowout waiting to happen, and it's a bloody miracle it didn't happen to me in Florida. The little dude said the hotter the road temperature, the more chance your tire will blow out. Yikes. NOT COOL. Everybody go out and check your tires now.

The next thing on my list is a car wash...