It may be time to buy new tires even if they look okay on the surface. Goodyear/Facebook
With so many of us depending on our cars, I wanted to share a safety tip with you. This one is about old tires.
Tires last a long time, a lot longer than they did when I was a kid. Back then, it seems like we had to buy tires every couple of years, or 30,000 miles. But nowadays tires might have 60,000 miles on them and the tread still looks good. But that doesn’t mean the tires are really good.
Tire companies recommend replacing our tires when they are 6-8 years old, even if they look good. This is because tires degrade with exposure to heat and sunlight. This is called oxidation, and it can cause tires to fail without warning. But, even before they get that old, sometimes they just don’t “feel right.”
Have you ever noticed that your car seems to ride rough, and you can feel every crack in the road? You probably think you need shocks, but the real culprit is old tires. But there is another problem: Stopping distances increase as tires age and the tread wears.
As tires age, the rubber gets hard and loses its “give.” Because tires are your only contact with the road, this causes problems with grip, especially on wet roads. A rough ride is one thing, but skidding on wet or slick pavement is another.
So, before you hit the road for your next adventure, stop at your tire shop or your local auto shop and have them take a good look at your tires. If you want to look at the date on the tires yourself, look on the sidewall and you will see the letters “DOT” followed by a series of letter numbers: DOT X000 XXXX 4014 The last set of numbers representing the week and year the tires were made. In this case it was the 40th week of 2014. This is good knowledge to have. Never buy tires that are more than two years old. I have found more than once that the “Big Tire Sale” at XYZ Tire Center & Nail Salon is really them selling four year old tires they got really cheap.
Check the tires on your vehicles and if they are getting close to the six years old mark. If so, go ahead and replace them before you take a trip. In any case get all of the households tires looked at. Shops will do it for free, and it could save your trip, or you.
Mike Herzing is an ASE Master Technician, Former Automotive Instructor, and Current Host of Let’s Talk Wheels with Mike Herzing heard on ESPN 97.5 Houston and The Lets Talk Wheels Radio Network. Saturday Mornings.
Email Mike: Mike@letstalkwheels.com
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Dusty Baker has won the fourth Lifetime Achievement Award presented by Baseball Digest.
The beloved Baker retired following the 2023 season after spending 56 years in the majors as a player, coach and manager. He was honored Thursday with an annual distinction that “recognizes a living individual whose career has been spent in or around Major League Baseball and who has made significant contributions to the game.”
Willie Mays won the inaugural award in 2021, followed by Vin Scully in 2022 and Joe Torre last year.
“Receiving this award is a tremendous honor,” Baker said in a news release. “I never thought that I’d be in the class of the people that received this award. I know that my late mom and dad would be proud of me. This is really special.”
The 74-year-old Baker broke into the big leagues as a teenager with the Atlanta Braves in 1968 and played 19 seasons. He made two All-Star teams, won two Silver Slugger awards and earned a Gold Glove in the outfield.
He was the 1977 NL Championship Series MVP and finished fourth in 1980 NL MVP voting before helping the Los Angeles Dodgers win the 1981 World Series.
Following his playing career, Baker was a coach for the San Francisco Giants from 1988-92 and then became their manager in 1993. He won the first of his three NL Manager of the Year awards with the Giants that season and spent 26 years as a big league skipper, also guiding the Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Washington Nationals and Houston Astros.
Baker took all those teams to the playoffs, winning 10 division crowns, three pennants and finally a World Series championship in 2022 with the Astros. He ranks seventh on the career list with 2,183 wins and is the only manager in major league history to lead five franchises to division titles.
In January, he returned to the Giants as a special adviser to baseball operations. Baker's former team is 7-18 under new Astros manager Joe Espada.
“On behalf of Major League Baseball, I am honored to congratulate Dusty Baker as the 2024 recipient of Baseball Digest’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He joins an incredible club," Commissioner Rob Manfred said. "Dusty represents leadership, goodwill, and winning baseball. His ability to connect with others, across generations, is second to none. He is a championship manager and player. But, most importantly, Dusty is an extraordinary ambassador for our national pastime.”
Baker was selected in voting by an 18-member panel from a list of candidates that also included Bob Costas, Sandy Koufax, Tony La Russa, Jim Leyland, Rachel Robinson and Bud Selig, among others.