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Let's first cover the basics. What is Tire pressure? Tire pressure is the manufacturer's recommended pressure for a tire, dependent on load, speed, etc., usually given in bar or pound-force per square inch (psi). The proper tire pressure reading is COLD inflation pressure and is the inflation pressure of tires before the car is driven and the tires warmed up due to the fact that air expands as it heats up. Tire pressure readings taken when a tire is warm would be not be accurate. UNDER inflatio...

Tire rotation is an very important maintenance duty that the majority of people don't think about often enough. When done at the proper time, tire rotation extends the life of your tires, preserves tire balance and traction, maintains even tire wear on all four tires thus ensuring safe driving and even tire performance advantages. Let's  take a look at this simple and effective process. Whether you plan on doing the job yourself or having it performed by a your local tire store, it's important ...

Given today's economy,  it's no surprise that car owners are looking for any way they can to save money. They seek out coupons, deals and rebates more aggressively than they did just a few years ago. Tire dealers understand this therefore, in most tire stores and auto repair shops, deals are so frequent, that  you can't get near a tire store without being bombarded with number of "so called" deals. The question is, are they really that big of a bargain? Here are some of the most common tire pro...

The other day we had the SPEED channel on in our waiting area there was a show on the TV where they were making recommendations about various cool ways to modify your car. One of the things they mentioned was the benefit of filling your tires with nitrogen instead of air. I have always filled my tires with air and don't have any problem checking and refilling them when necessary but every now and then people will call or come in to TEXAS TIRE SALES and ask if we offer Nitrogen Inflation. We dec...

Does your car pull to one side? Does the steering wheel vibrate? Do you constantly have to make  steering corrections to keep your car traveling straight ahead? If so, chances are you need an alignment. Many handling problems can be corrected by complete four wheel alignment.  Another symptom that a car is out of alignment is uneven or rapid tire wear. To determine if you need an alignment, first check each tire and look for uneven wear patterns. The trouble with this method, however, is that i...

As a young man in the early 80's, I once worked at a 24 hour donut shop.  I worked a shift the started at about 4 am and ended at about noon. One thing that I noticed right off the bat was that there were always a lot of police officers in and out of the shop every day, all day and all night.   Being a know-it-all teenager, I remember thinking to myself that I now had actual concrete proof that the old stereotype of police officers eating a lot of donuts was actually true.  I had not been worki...

Changing a flat tire is not considered  to be a very enjoyable experience for most people.  Flat tires always seem  to occur at the most inopportune time for example, on your way to a first date, when you are wearing your best clothes or when you are already late for an appointment. Some of you, might be lucky enough, or wealthy enough to own a car with run flat tires. If that is the case, you might be able to avoid the experience of changing your own flat tires completely.  If you are like a l...

We have several people that visit Texas Tire Sales asking us to "plug" a hole in their tire.  We patch tires at Texas Tire Sales but we do not "plug" tires at either of our Tire shops.  I have never plugged a tire on any of my personal vehicles. I personally don't feel that it is the safest or most effective procedure for repairing a leaking or damaged tire. Yes, plugging a tire is cheaper than patching by about 5 or 6 dollars and that is likely the main reason many people request plugs.  The o...

If you're reading this blog post, you're probably not the type of  person who skips an oil change here and there, but you might be curious what might happen to your car's engine if you start letting a few oil changes slide here and there. In short, it's not pretty. Think of your engine's oil like the blood in your body.  The absence of it... you die.  If it turns into sludge... you die. If it is not clean and filtered properly... you die. The following is a little breakdown of what would happen...

Look on the shelves in auto parts stores and you'll see oils labeled for all kinds of specific purposes: high-tech engines, new cars, higher-mileage vehicles, heavy-duty/off-road SUVs. You will  see a also  wide selection of viscosities. On the front of these engine oil containers, you’ll see the oil’s specified viscosity rating. Just think of viscosity as “thickness.” A few common motor oil viscosities include 5W-30, 10W-40, and 20W-50, though there are many more. These are considered to b...