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Hi. Ken Groves here again. In our last video, we talked about tires. Tires are a very important
way to know if you’re getting a good car or not when you’re buying that used car.
Let’s recap a little bit. First of all, we talked about mismatched tires. Make sure
they’re all the same. And if they’re not, these tires have been switched and played
around with what? Is there a problem?
It’s all about questions here. Now, another thing you want to look at is tread depth in
there. You stick your finger in there. Can you get like half a fingernail down in the
tread? That’s a good solid tire right there, lots of tread depth ready to go. Good wear
on that tire. It will last you a while if you buy this car.
Second thing you want to look at is, “How is the tread wearing?” Is it worn on the
outside? Is it worn on the inside? Is it worn in the middle and OK on the outside? Well,
that’s what you got to look at. You got to look how that tread is wearing on this
tire.
This tire is wearing pretty even. You remember about rubbing your hand? Rub your hand down
over this way. Is it grabbing your hand, trying to hold you? Rub it this way. Is it grabbing
your hand? Now pull it back. Is it grabbing your hand?
It tells you that the tread is worn one way or the other and if you’re rubbing your
hand over, it’s trying to stop your hand. This tire is wearing great right here. Great
wearing tire. This tire here, now this is worn down a little more but it looks like
it’s wearing pretty even.
Rub my hand both ways. Oh, I feel a little cupping right here. That’s where the tread
is going like this. A little cupping on the inside. Some tires just do that. This one
is wearing just a little bit. What that does, it makes a lot of noise when you’re driving.
That’s the cupping noise that it’s making. This tire is cupped just a little bit, not
too bad.
If it’s cupping real bad though, that tire is going to make your steering wheel shake
and the front end shake. This tire here is worn but it’s still a good tire. It will
last probably a good six, maybe eight months yet before you have to replace it.
So if there’s any belt showing, the steel radial that we saw on the last video sticking
to the side, bad tires. You will need tires right away on that one but these tires right
here on this car is looking good.
Now come up to a car in a used car lot. It has got all the tires on it. Oh, that’s
good, right? No. That’s not good. The guys in the used car lot know that there’s a
problem with the front end of this car and instead of spending $600 or $700 or $800 to
get the suspension all fixed on that car so it’s right, it’s cheaper to throw a set
of $80 tires on it. You think you’re getting a good deal but what you’re buying is a
lot of suspension troubles upfront.
They covered up a few tires. Be very careful. Here’s a couple of ways you can see if your
suspension is OK.