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Your tires' first duty is to keep you stuck to the road, and since most vehicles are driving on all-season tires, chances are your rollers are maximized for grip in widely differing road conditions. Dry, wet or frozen you expect your tires to head in the direction you are steering and stop reliably when you hit the brakes.

All that grip requires friction, and friction causes heat. Excessive heat can do irreparable damage to your tires, making them a rolling time bomb and generally necessitating replacement. Unfortunately, this damage has nothing to do with the age or miles on your tires. Heat can tear up a brand new tire or one in long use, especially when your tires are underinflated, drive long uninterrupted stretches on hot Alabama roads or hit repeated curves at their limit.

How to Identify Heat Damage in Your Rolling Stock

Lumpy Tread - If you see any raised areas, bubbles or lumps in your tread you may have tread separation. Your tires are created from a tread layer and the underlying carcass. These layers are pressed together as sticky, green rubber before the tire is hardened, or vulcanized. Heat damage can cause the tread to separate from the carcass. If you have seen a tractor-trailer drop a long strip of tread on the road, that is the result of tread separation. Your vehicle doesn't have seventeen other tires to roll on, so if you drop a tread section there is a good chance you will lose control of your car. If you have signs of tread separation head over to Don Duncan's All American Tire & Auto Centers immediately and have them check it out.

Side Wall Blistering - Inspect the sidewalls of your tires, the area on the side of the tire where you find the size, manufacturer and model, for soft areas or blistering. Also look for feather marks which may indicate that your tires are rolling over and using the sidewalls for traction. Make sure you inspect both sides of the tire. Better yet, take your car over to Don Duncan's All American Tire & Auto Centers and have them inspect them for you. Sidewall failures almost always result in a dangerous catastrophic blowout when you least expect it.

Side Wall Cracking - Sometimes called dry rot, older tires can lose their natural oils and crack in hot conditions. Any checking or cracking on your sidewalls can be signs of heat damage which, again, generally leads to a nasty blowout.

Let Our ASE-Certified Technicians Inspect Your Tires!

Your safety on the road depends on reliable tires. If you detect any of these heat-related conditions in your tires, whether they are new or not, let the trained tire techs at Don Duncan's All American Tire & Auto Centers check to make sure your rubber is road worthy. A quick visit to one of our three convenient Alabama locations can restore peace of mind, and if damage is found we can replace your damaged tires and get you back on the road.