1. Grab a Gauge
No other aspect of a car’s tire is quite as critical as proper inflation, yet it’s also one of the most commonly overlooked. While three-quarters of drivers wash their cars monthly, only one in seven correctly checks tire pressure with every flip of the calendar’s pages.

Under-inflated tires tend to sag in the middle, meaning the car is actually riding on a small contact patch located on either side of the tire. Over-inflated tires, on the other hand, ride on a small contact patch located in the very center of the tire. Either condition means that the tire’s “handhold” on the road is smaller than it should be, ultimately giving your car less grip on the road.

That’s why experts recommend checking your tires’ air pressure at least monthly. (If you don’t like getting your hands dirty, many auto service facilities will do this at no cost, and it usually only takes a minute or so.)

The air pressure inside a tire is measured in pounds per square inch (or psi), and it’s not uncommon for tires to lose one psi per month in common use. (Which is why some automakers are now filling tires with pure nitrogen, which tends to maintain pressure longer than compressed air, whose smaller oxygen molecules leak out over time.)

2. Check the Wear Patterns
Have you ever taken a close look at your tires? And not just the sides while you’re shining them up at the carwash. Examining the tread pattern on your tires can help identify problems long before they become dangerous.

For instance, if your tires are wearing more in the middle than at the edges, chances are the tires are over-inflated for the driving and loads you carry. Conversely, if they’re wearing at the edges more so than in the middle, chances are they tires are under-inflated (a much more common problem).

Also, you may notice that one edge of a tire is wearing more than the other. This could indicate an alignment problem (although some cars with “sport” suspensions are designed so that their tires ride on their inside edges, which increases cornering ability but also contributes to the tires wearing faster on their inside edges).

If you’re not sure you can identify a dangerous wear pattern yourself, ask your auto service technician to help.

3. Rotate Routinely
If you glance through the owners manual of just about any car on the road, you’ll find a factory-recommended interval for tire rotation, generally on the order of every 5,000-8,000 miles—or annually at the very least.

Tire rotation involves swapping the front and rear tires, along with crisscrossing the drive tires on most vehicles that do not use directional tires designed to spin in only one direction. This process is important because it ensures that the tire tread wears evenly, which maximizes tread life. Yep, if you rotate your tires, they’ll last longer and you won’t have to replace them as often. That makes the investment well worth it.

4. Achieve Balance
Ever heard your washing machine start vibrating like crazy? That’s because more clothes have collected on one side than the other, throwing the machine out of balance during the spin cycle. Get the washer out of balance enough, and it’ll literally walk across the floor.

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