Welcome to the Dean Myers Chevrolet GM Goodwrench Tire Knowledge Centre, where you will find the information you need to make informed choices when it comes to replacing and maintaining your vehicle's tires.

You'll learn the right way to check tire pressure, how to spot problems like tread wear early, and how your tires can improve the fuel economy of your vehicle.

You will also learn when to replace old, worn, or out-of-season tires. When you are ready, an expert GM Goodwrench Service Consultant will help you find the tires that will best suit your driving style and needs.
Ready to begin? Choose a topic below and get rolling.

Tire Basics
Tire Maintenance
How to Choose a Tire
Tire Safety

Tire Basics

What is a tire?

Understanding proper tire maintenance, selection and safety, starts with knowing the basics: What is a tire? What is it made of? How do tires work?

Tires are a driver's first and only contact with the road, transferring actions like steering, braking, accelerating and turning to the road surface. Regardless of the vehicle you drive, the actual contact area (patch) each of your tires has on the road is roughly the size of a postcard, a small amount, to say the least.

Anatomy of a Tire

Tires are made up of several different components*:

The Bead: A rubber-coated loop of high-strength steel cable that allows a tire to stay "seated" on a rim.
The Sidewall: Literally the "side wall" of the tire, this protects cord plies and features tire markings and
information like tire size and type.

The Tread: This is where rubber meets road, providing strength, stability and above all else, traction to the road surface.

The Body: This is the tire itself, made up of several layers of plies. Plies, like polyester cord, run perpendicular to the tire's tread and are coated with rubber to help bond with other plies and belts to seal in air. Plies give tires strength and resistance to road damage.

Belts: Rubber coated layers of steel, fiberglass, rayon and other materials located between the tread and plies, criss-crossing at angles hold the plies in place. Belts provide resistance to punctures and help treads stay flat and in contact with the road.

The Inner Liner: This is the innermost layer of a tubeless tire that prevents air from penetrating through the tire.

Sipes: Sipes are special treads within the tread that improve traction on wet, dirty, sandy or snowy road surfaces

Tire Maintenance

Taking Care of Your Tires

The key to prolonging the life of your tires is properly maintaining them. This means knowing when and how to look for problems.
Regular tire inspection is the best way to increase your vehicle's fuel efficiency, reduce harmful emissions, save money and most importantly, make your vehicle safer. It's also easy, here's how:

• Check your tire pressure at least once a month with a good tire gauge. Ask your Service Advisor for the ideal tire pressure for your vehicle.
• If there is unusual tire wear, vehicle pull or vibration is noticed, have alignment and wheel balance checked.
• Rotate your tires regularly.
• Monitor treadwear and replace worn tires.
• Visually scan tires whenever possible for foreign matter in the tread, or other objects that could cause leaks.
• If you have any questions or concerns just stop by Dean Myers Service Drive Thru we will be more than happy to answer all of your questions.

Check Your Tires

As a general rule, you should check your tires at least once a month and before any extended road trips. Finding out you have a problem early will save you time, effort and more importantly money down the road.

Tire Inspection

A good visual inspection of your tires takes only a moment, if you know how. Finding a problem doesn't mean the tire is ready for replacement, sometimes the problem is minor and can be corrected, keeping the tire in service longer.

• Inspect your tires frequently for stones, bits of glass, metal or other foreign bodies that could puncture or otherwise damage your tire.
• Check your tires' built in "wear bars". These are narrow strips of smooth rubber across the tread. When the tread is worn to the level of these bars, you know it is time to replace the worn tire.
• Check the tread: if it is worn down to less than 1.6 mm (2/32 of an inch), tires must be replaced.
• Check your tires' air pressure regularly. If any tire continually needs filling, the tire or valve could be damaged.

Tire Tip!
For maximum traction in wet or snow conditions, replace tires before they reach minimum tread depth.

Knowing the Signs
How do you know when there is a problem with your tires? Knowing what to look for is a great way to find out.
Examine your tires and look out for the following signs of damage:

• Excessive inner or outer edge tread wear — indicates possible alignment problem
• Excessive centre or shoulder tread wear — indicates possible inflation problem
• Patchy tread wear patterns — indicates possible balancing problem
• Diagonal tread wear patterns — suggests possible worn-out suspension components

Be sure to also look for any unusual tears, abrasions, nicks, or cuts in the tread or sidewall. Any of these could lead to tire failure, or tire blow out.

In some cases, the tires themselves are not the problem, however they can alert you to greater problems, which need to be addressed.

Balance issue: An unbalanced wheel and tire assembly may create an abnormal vibration on smooth roads and can lead to irregular tread wear.

Alignment issue: Misaligned front or rear wheels, malfunctioning brakes or shock absorbers, bent wheels, and other mechanical problems can cause uneven and rapid tread wear and should be corrected by a qualified Goodwrench Technician.

Rotation issue: Tires should be rotated every 8,000 to 13,000 km (5,000 - 8,000 miles) to prevent irregular tire wear. For the average Canadian driver, this means having your tires rotated every 6 months.

Consult your owner's manual to confirm your vehicle's rotation configuration schedule.

How To Choose a Tire

Choices

The GM TPC (Tire Performance Criteria ) system makes it easier for you to select the right tires for your vehicle. An identical TPC code located on your new tire's sidewall indicates they meet the same critical performance specifications of GM vehicle original equipment tires.
You may also decide to replace your original tires with new tires that have different handling characteristics than those that came with your vehicle. Ask your Service Advisor for help.
Tires are manufactured in a wide array of types and designs, and for every type of vehicle on the road. Getting the best combination of performance and value means understanding the options available to you.
It also means asking the right questions

• What kind of vehicle do I drive?
• What is my driving style?
• Where and how will I use these tires?
• What benefits do I expect from my new tires?

When to Buy New Tires

The lifespan of your tires depends on how they are used: average driving speed and weather, as well as the types of roads driven on. Eventually, even the toughest tires wear out so knowing when to replace them is an important part of proper vehicle care.
The best way to check your tires is to check the treadwear indicators. These will appear when your tires have only 1.6 mm (2/32 of and inch) or less of tread remaining.


Replace your tires if:

• Treadwear indicators are visible at three or more places around the tire
• Cord or fabric is showing through the tire's rubber
• The tread or sidewall is cracked, cut, snagged deep enough to show cord or fabric
• The tire has a bulge or is split
• The tire is punctured, cut or has other irreparable damage

Wheel (Rim) Replacement
Knowing when to change the entire wheel/rim is also a key element of keeping your tires and vehicle in good shape.
Replace wheel/rim if:

• It is bent, cracked or badly rusted or corroded
• The nuts keep coming loose
• The wheel/rim leaks air

Your Dean Myers Service Advisor will know what kind of replacement wheel/rim you will need and when you need it. The replacement wheel should have the same load-carrying capacity, diameter, width and offset, and be mounted the same way as the one it replaces.
Tire Tip!
The wrong wheel/rim can cause problems with bearing life, brake cooling, speedometer or odometer calibration, headlight aim, as well as bumper height and ground clearance.

Tire Tip!
Be careful when you take your new tires on the road. Every tire requires a break-in period during which handing
and traction will be slightly compromised.

Tire Safety

What GM Does for Tire Safety

General Motors has long been committed to keeping you and your passengers safer. In 1968, the GM Tire and Wheel Systems Laboratory was opened in Michigan, to oversee the design, development, validation and engineering release of all tires used on GM North American vehicles.
GM was also one of the first automakers to include original equipment tires in its new vehicle limited warranty. This means you can bring your tire concerns related to the tires on your GM vehicle directly to Dean Myers Chevrolet Service Drive Thru. In doing so, we can improve our product offering.
Another GM safety innovation is the TPC (Tire Performance Criteria) system , making it easier to purchase replacement tires for your GM vehicle. In General Motor's labs, tires in development for use on GM vehicles are subjected to a series of rigorous tests, under a variety of load and driving conditions. These tests measure critical performance characteristics, like force and moment properties that influence steering.
In this section, you will learn how you can take good care of your tires, keeping them in circulation longer.

Basic Tire Safety

Tires are four of the most important features on any vehicle. They are also the area most often neglected even though they are relatively easy to care for. You can increase your vehicle's fuel efficiency, reduce harmful emissions, save money and make your vehicle safer by adopting a few simple tire maintenance habits:

• Use the right tires for your vehicle and road conditions.
• Check tire pressure on a monthly basis, using a good quality tire gauge.
• Have your vehicle's tires aligned if you notice unusual wear.
• Have your vehicle's tires balanced if you feel abnormal vibration.
• Rotate your tires regularly.
• Monitor tread wear and replace tires when tire tread is worn out.
• Visually check treads for foreign objects and tires for rips and tears.
• Properly store seasonal tires.

Tire Storage
Store seasonal tires upright, in an indoor location, out of direct sun or strong artificial light. Tires stored on the rims should be deflated to about 15 PSI (pounds per square inch) to avoid cracking or deformation.

Winter Tire Safety Tips

Living in Canada means dealing with cold, ice and snow, all of which can make for challenging driving conditions. The way your vehicle handles in these conditions can be greatly improved when the tires on all four of your vehicle's wheels are of the same type, size, speed rating and load index.
Winter Tires
Featuring a combination of specialized tread designs and compounds to provide effective traction in cold, snowy conditions, winter tires are the safest tires for Canadian winters. Marked with the pictograph of a peaked mountain with a snowflake, this symbol means your tires will meet the specific snow traction performance requirements — designed specifically for cold, snowy, icy and slippery driving. These tires are also designed for improved traction on cold, dry road surfaces.
Good Advice for Canadian Winter Drivers:

• Install Four Winter Tires.
• Do not mix tires: different tread patterns, size, construction can compromise vehicle performance and safety.
• Check your tires: worn treads have less traction on all surfaces, especially on ice and snow.
• Monitor tire pressure: in colder weather, the pressure in your tires drops. This affects safety and fuel consumption, so check your tires often.

The performance of your vehicle's tires is directly related to the temperature outside. As the temperature drops, even the best summer tires will fail to respond road conditions. All-season tires, while designed for all types of weather, will not perform as well in ice and cold.
As a rule, whenever the average outdoor temperature falls below or climbs above 7 degrees Celsius (19.4 degrees F), your tires will be affected. As the temperature drops, non-winter tires loose elasticity and the grip they have on the road. That's why the best tires to have when the temperature drops are winter tires. Conversely, winter tires will deteriorate faster in hotter temperatures.
All-Season Tires and Winter Driving
You can spot an all-season tire by the M+S (Mud + Snow) marking on the sidewall. All-season tires do provide safe all-weather performance. But remember, in severe winter snow conditions, they are not the safest choice.
Tire Tip!
Reducing tire pressure to increase traction doesn't work. Driving on under-inflated tires is dangerous any time of year.

What You Can Do

Protecting Yourself and Your Tires
The life and performance of your tires depends on how, when and where they are put to use. The way you drive will directly affect the lifespan of your tires and above all else, your safety.
Safe Driving Tips:

• Always observe the posted speed limit.
• Avoid fast starts, stops and turns.
• Avoid potholes and objects on the road.
• Do not run over curbs.
• Do not rub your tires against the curb when parking.

Tire Tip!
In the event of striking an object on the road, find a safe area to stop and inspect your vehicle. Report any noticeable damage to a GM Goodwrench technician.

Flat Tires
Regardless of how safely you drive; there is always the possibility of getting a flat tire. If this happens on the highway, there are simple steps you can take to avoid serious injury.
Drive slowly to the safest area, out of traffic. This can potentially further damage the tire and wheel, but it can also prevent serious injury.
Change the damaged tire. Refer to your vehicle's owner's manual for guidance.