Extreme heat can cause tire blowouts
The extreme heat can make it unbearable for tires trying to survive on the hot roads. The hotter it gets, the more at risk tires are to fail.
“We have one major factor out here that a lot of people don’t really have to compete with, and that’s our extreme heat weather,” said Mike Radford, California Highway Patrol officer. “As somebody that drives around often for work, obviously being a CHP officer, I’ve just noticed personally that there are a lot more tire treads out on the freeway. More than a month ago as it was a little bit cooler,” he added.
Automotive professionals agree. Jorge Uribe’s worked at Mountain View Tire for the past three years. He said more and more customers come in during summer in relation to tire pressure.
When temperatures rise, tires tend to inflate. When the inflated tires come into contact with hot surfaces like freeway asphalt, that added friction paired with high speeds could lead to blowouts if tires aren’t properly inflated.
“Tires that are not properly inflated do tend to overheat excessively out of normal ranges, so that’s definitely something you want to keep up on, especially in these summer months where it gets extremely hot,” said Uribe. “We’re currently experiencing an extreme heat this whole week it looks like. It’s very very important that not only do you check your tire pressure but also the condition of the tire itself.”
Automotive professionals recommend buying a tire pressure gauge to keep track of the PSI (pound by square inch) of your tire. Every tire should be checked roughly once every three weeks or at least once a month. The PSI recommendation for your tire should be on the inside of the the driver’s door.
The National Traffic Highway Safety Administration recommends drivers to change out tires every six years. The age of the tire can be found on the tire, next to the DOT stamp. It should be four numbers, signifying the week and year of manufacturing. Officials recommend to also rotate tires roughly after every oil change.
