SUPPLEMENT TO McHENRY PLAIN DEALER - PAGE 17 - WEDNESDAY. OCTOBER 5, 1977 Tires ... More Important Than You Think! You should think about tires more often than you probably do, says Jack Morton of Chrys ler's Service and Parts Divi sion. Tires are more important than you think. With the pos sible exception of brakes, tires mean more to the safety and well-being of the driver and passengers than anything else on your car. Face it, those round, black, rubber-like doughnuts on each corner of the car are the only things separating you from the highway. They are pretty cru cial at 55 miles per hour, or at any speed. Knowing more about tires can make your driving life safer and your budget less strained. Tires need more attention than most parts of your car. Oil changes and chassis lub rication are needed only at 7,500-mile-lntervals -- that's maybe three times every two years. New cars can go about 20,000 miles before needing a tuneup --that's almost two years for the average driver. But the air pressure in your tires is something pise again. It should be checked at least once a month with a good quality air pressure gauge. Morton says a variation of three pounds of air pressure in either direction can cause un due tire wear. The ratio of wear increases with every pound of pressure. A careful inspection four times a year will reveal tire defects such as bubbles or cuts. Inspection also tells you when tires are wearing unevenly. That is an indication that your car's front end alignment should be checked. You can check the need for new tires easily. Almost all of today's tires have wear-bars called tread wear indicators. They show up as solid strips across a tire's tread when the tread has worn down to 1/16 of an inch. Buy when the wear-bars contact the road, not when that last l/16th of an inch is gone and the tires are bald. Ninety percent of tire trou bles occur when a tire is in its final 10 percent of life. Chances of a flat or blowout are much greater then, and punctures or bruise damage can cause a tire to fail. Bald tires tend to hydroplane on wet surfaces. Hydroplaning (tires riding on top of the water without mak ing proper contact with the pavement) increases the likeli hood of a skid. Tire Anatomy A tire has two or three basic "parts", says Chrysler service executive Morton. First, the tread is that portion which touches the ground. For the sake of simplicity, consider the carcass (the second part) as everything except the tread. Some tires have belts (the third part), made of various materials between the carcass and tread. The belts stabilize the tread and reduce wear. The big difference between the types of tires is in the method of carcass construc tion. There are two types of carcass construction--bias-ply and radial-ply. In tire lan guage, ply is "a layer of rubber- coated parallel cords." The dif ference between radial-ply and bias-ply is the angle that these plies are in relation to the center line of the tire* In a bias-ply tire, the cords run at an angle of about 35 degrees to the center line--that is, they run on the bias, boh succeeding ply crisscrosses the one underneath it. In a radial-ply tire, often called simply a radial tire, the cords run from rim to rim or at a 90 degree angle to the center- line. The aforementioned belts which run around the outer drcumferenoe of the carcass be found on am bias-ply tires and on all radlals. So, w» have identified the three baste types of tires: bias-ply, Mas- belted and radial. Which do yot toeed? r . \ , A • • • Choosing Your New Tires Before you invest in new tires, consider the type of driv ing you do. It will help you know which type tire is best for your needs. If you do a lot of constant- speed long distance driving, you need radials. Although they cost more initially, they'll last longer for your type of driving. On a penny-for-mile basis, they'll probably be cheaper for you than less ex pensive tires. Radials give better gas mile age because they roll easier, a money-saving consideration. Also, radials with their larger tread contact give greater con trol on curves. If most of your driving con sists of short trips to the store or office, you can get quite acceptable performance and mileage from unbelted bias- ply tires. At low speeds, the tread will stay in good contact with the road even with the stiffer sidewalls of the bias- ply tire. If your driving is a mixture of local and highway, bias- belted tires are a good com promise. At high speeds they give better mileage and per formance than unbelted tires, yet they cost less than radials. Never use radials with any type of bias-ply or bias-belted tires on the same vehicle. Mix ing their different characteris tics can lead to an accident. As far as size and load range are concerned, salesmen in Chrysler dealership service de partments will show you a chart and explain what's best for your car, and you. It is sometimes acceptable to use a tire one size larger than that recommended by the manufacturer, but never smaller. Automatic Garage Door Opener Systems by Alliance HOLD EVERYTHING I THERE'S A BETTER WAY! Enjoy Convenience and Security with New CRYP1ARII" Digital Controls 814JT CRYPTARII DIGITAL CONTROL $15.00 EXTRA Save *65"! Reg. Sugg. Price *214" gsciMwawscnwMwioCT.ii.iw. 3000 code combinations are available in Genie controls. Each is pre-set on a Mylar code strip inside the transmitter and additional strips are available at your Genie dealer. You can choose your own secret code -- making it nearly impossible for As Advertised on TV 6S 450-0 Deluxe Screw Dim Light-time Delay. CRYPTAR II Digital Control* ComDletelv wwe in viv* wWiiijFwwiwiy Solid State. Meets •H FCC Require ments. All Q0/1J0 operators an U.L. 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