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If you had no air in your tires, your car wouldn’t move far from where it sat. That said, if you had plenty of air but no tire tread, you wouldn’t be able to control your car. This is a case where what’s on the outside matters just as much as what’s on the inside. Understanding the importance of tire tread takes a bit of digging. To further your knowledge, consider these three factors.

Healthy Tread Is Responsive

First, solid tread gives you maximum control over your car. It grips the road tightly on sharp turns and doesn’t skid like a worn tire would. When you need to accelerate, high-quality tread gets you up to speed quickly. This responsiveness is really important in dangerous situations. If the driver in front of you slams on their brakes without warning, you need tread capable of bringing you to a halt before you crash. If your tread has lots of wear, it won’t create enough friction to slow you in time.

It Grips in Tough Conditions

Second, effective tire tread helps you maintain your car’s grip amid rain, sleet, snow, and anything else Mother Nature or happenstance throws at you. To overcome the loss of friction with pavement in these circumstances, tires have a few tricks to increase their tread’s contact with the road. As the tire passes over water, its structure pushes water through longitudinal grooves. This evacuates water from the surface of the tread blocks, pushing it behind the tires. Meanwhile, the tire tread has little slits called sipes that bend in wet conditions to stabilize the tread as it passes over snow and rainwater. Together, these limit your chances of hydroplaning during or after a storm.

It Limits Your Chances of a Flat

The last key to understanding the importance of tire tread is the fact that durable, thick tread guards your tire from going flat. The rubber material that makes up tire tread is strong enough to last thousands of miles without bursting, even as you travel at high speeds. That’s why you should keep careful of tread depth, which is a reliable metric for tread health. For a quick check, turn a penny upside down so that Lincoln’s head is upside-down, and then insert it behind a tread block. If you can see all of Lincoln’s head after doing so, you need new tires with a better barrier between your tire liner and the outside. If you need new tires now, contact our team at RNR Tire Express. We offer affordable tires in Grand Junction, CO, and we welcome any questions you have about our offerings.

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