Tire maintenance

Jacks and lug wrenches for emergency replacement of a flat tire with a spare are included with a new car.

This eliminates the need for an immediate stop and tire change or calling for roadside assistance.

The reason regular tires have treads is to avoid hydroplaning when the surface of the road is wet.

Therefore racing cars competing in dry conditions characteristically use tires without treads, often known as slicks.

For example stock cars driven on professionally maintained NASCAR tracks use tires without treads, and with a thicker layer of rubber.

[1] There are simple hand-held tire-pressure gauges which can be temporarily attached to the valve stem to check a tire's interior air pressure.

[2] The recommended inflation pressure is found in the owner's manual and on the vehicle's tire placard.

Under-inflation of tires can cause premature and uneven tire wear, excess fuel usage, and carries an increased risk of explosive failure (blowout) especially after prolonged high speed operation at high temperatures.