For a car, winter does not begin on December 1, but at the moment when the air temperature drops below 7 degrees Celsius. At this point, tires made from a rubber-technical mixture for use in hot weather begin to harden. Consequently - braking distances car increases sharply (depending on weather conditions - from 40 to 200%). In addition, a car with summer tires skids in corners and may slip at the start: it’s time to change your shoes. Today we’ll talk about how a driver can avoid making mistakes.

Selection for the road: soft - for the village, hard - for the city

Conditionally can be divided Winter tires into two groups. Firstly, the tires are of the Central European type, designed for asphalt roads that are regularly cleaned. Secondly, Arctic tires (other names: Scandinavian, Nordic), created specifically for snowy and icy roads. The difference between them is the hardness of the material. Thus, Arctic tires are soft (from 50 to 55 Shore hardness units - this parameter is stamped on the tread), which is only twice as hard as chewing gum.

We recommend wheels of the first type for residents of cities where the roads are cleaned and sprinkled with salt, that is, the car mainly moves through slush. But if you need to often travel between a big city and a suburb, then it is better to choose Arctic wheels. Due to their softness, they do not harden and cling well to ice (in driver's slang, such wheels are often called “Velcro”).

After you have determined the driving conditions, pay attention to the tread pattern: a high-quality winter tire should have a lot of rectangular checkers, small stripes (lamellas), due to which the winter tire holds the road better (as if clinging to the slightest irregularities with the lamellas).

Tire depth also matters. Although some experts advise buying wide wheels, but from many years of experience, for city driving I advise you to take narrow and high ones - according to the laws of physics, such a tire puts more pressure on the surface, and therefore its handling, braking distance and acceleration characteristics are much better. Due to bad roads Choose a tire with the deepest possible tread to increase ground clearance.

The difference is in the recipe

Absolutely all global concerns that produce tires produce cheap, medium-priced, and expensive models. At first glance, wheels of the same size differ slightly. However, the difference between expensive and cheap tires is colossal, even if the tread pattern is similar (or copied).

It's all about the rubber composition. The fact is that car tire made from several dozen components: natural and synthetic rubber, carbon black, silica, all kinds of chemical additives, the content of which varies depending on the mixture recipe. The most expensive component - rubber - is quite expensive. Therefore, in cheap tires they try to use it to a minimum - such tires feel like oak, plastic, and have an irritating odor.

On the market, these types of tires are sold under Chinese, Turkish brands, as well as from some factories in the CIS countries. Interestingly, for their level the price is quite high.

Let us note that for tires of normal quality (manufactured under European and Japanese licenses at factories in Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Ukraine and Russia) they ask for a little more, but, judging by numerous tests, their quality is several times higher.

By the way, studded options are a third more expensive than regular ones. But you should only buy them if you live outside the city.

Winter tires don't always help

Even if the car is re-shod in the most expensive tires, it’s not worth driving just as recklessly as in summer. The fact is that there are no universal tires for winter - each model is designed for certain operating conditions, and they can radically change several times during the season. For example, a driver purchased tires for driving on ice and deep snow, and suddenly there was a thaw outside and I had to drive through the slush. So every time you choose safe speed it is necessary to take into account absolutely all factors that can affect safety (this is also required by traffic regulations).

Three nuances of re-shoeing

Despite the fact that today tire shops can be found on every corner, and there are queues of people wanting to change summer tires Not yet for the winter, we advise you to choose a workshop responsibly.

Don't wear your shoes where you bought them. Most workshops not only provide service, but also sell tires. At first glance, it’s convenient. I arrived with summer ones, bought them, immediately changed them and even offered to leave the summer ones in storage until spring. However, my friends had several cases when the seller gave them crooked tires (such a defect cannot be seen by the naked eye), but the tire fitter “did not notice” this defect and installed unbalanced wheels. The result is problems with controllability and noise. And the cause of the problems could only be found out when visiting another tire shop.

Look at the machines. It is impossible to perform balancing on poor equipment, so take a careful look at the tools of the masters. So, the balancing machine must be installed on a concrete pad and securely fastened - otherwise its readings are just numbers from the ceiling. And on the feet of the tire beading machine there should be special plastic pads to avoid scratches on the rim. By the way, the master is obliged to wash the wheel before balancing, otherwise the dirt can lead to errors in the equipment readings - when there are long queues, the masters often forget about this in a hurry.

Be careful, air gun. Craftsmen can unscrew and tighten nuts using pneumatics. But tighten it only by hand. Otherwise, you can make a mistake with the wheel alignment, which will affect the chassis.

Who are all-season tires suitable for?

Car dealerships now continue to sell so-called all-season tires (with the All Seasons mark on the cord). For the consumer, purchasing such wheels is quite attractive - in the spring there will be no need to change shoes again.

FROM EUROPE. You can buy such wheels, but only if you will not drive in very coldy. The fact is that according to its characteristics, these are ordinary summer tires, intended for sale in countries where there is no winter in our understanding - 5 degrees below zero is considered terrible cold. According to tests of a number of foreign publications, such wheels can easily withstand slush, but during snowfall and on ice their efficiency drops sharply.

There are also a number all-season tires designed for minibuses and small trucks. This equipment does not drive fast, and re-shoeing is not economically feasible.

OUR TIRES. In our country, tires developed back in the Soviet Union as all-season tires are still sold - they are produced by CIS enterprises. Interestingly, they are in steady demand - they are bought by drivers of Zhiguli, Niv, Volga, and Moskvich cars. But no tragedies occur: usually such people either do not drive in winter or only drive short distances.

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We have to choose a place where the process of connecting the tire to the disk will take place, and for some visitors, the rearrangement of the wheel assembly will take place. Tire shops are numerous, and the workers in them are bored most of the year, but twice a year they have “Putin”, and motorists have queues, like for food during perestroika.

The work carried out in a tire service, not counting the repair of tires and wheels in case of damage, consists of two procedures: the tire fitting itself (assembling the tire and wheel into a single unit) and balancing the assembled wheel (aligning its center of gravity with the axis of rotation).

When visiting a workshop, the first thing you should pay attention to is the equipment. It is clear that a non-specialist cannot determine from the inscription on the machine whether it is good or bad, but one can assess the quality of care for the equipment. For example, if the machines are located in a damp, unheated room or some of their parts are simply broken off. It is better to avoid such tire fitting. Be sure to watch how the car is hung up to remove the wheels. Still, it is very unhelpful to hang the car, placing the jack only under one point of the threshold and lifting the car so as to remove both wheels. A new car can receive both local deformation of the threshold and general curvature of the body. It is better if the car is hung on a lift or the wheels are removed one by one on a jack. So, the wheel is removed. When the tire comes off the rim (overcoming humps), especially impressionable car owners are better off turning away. The tire experiences significant deformation, but, fortunately, usually without irreversible consequences.

To make it easier to seat the tire on the disk, the contacting surfaces should be lubricated with a soap solution. In some workshops, the tire and disk are coated with oil, either engine oil or waste oil, before assembly. If you lubricate it lightly, the oil will slightly corrode the rubber and the tire will stick to the rim better. True, when disassembling such a wheel, a piece of rubber can be torn out of the bead. If you apply a lot of oil, the picture you get will not be funny at all. When pressing the brake while driving wheel disks stop. And the tires begin to rotate relative to rims. Need I say that such tires will not last long?

The calculations based on the price list sometimes look insulting in tire shops. Let me give you an example. I brought new wheels and separate tires to the tire shop. I asked him to replace the wheel valves. Two movements and the valve is replaced. Then, when calculating according to the price list, they tried to calculate the replacement of four valves. But the price of such work includes dismantling the wheel (at least partially) and only then replacing the valve. And on bare disks it should cost much less. Well, since then I haven’t set foot in this tire shop, even though it’s located next to the house. Balancing is also a crucial moment. It is possible, without going into too much theory, to determine whether the work was done in good faith. So, on one side of the wheel, for example the outer side, the weights (if there are several of them) should form a continuous segment. It is unacceptable if they are scattered around a circle, like stars in the southern night sky.

The second point, easily identified visually, is the method of tightening the wheel fasteners. If workshop workers only use an impact wrench and do not check the wheel tightness torque wrench, then it’s most likely better not to stop here either.

What are the risks for you and your car when visiting a workshop that provides poor quality services? Poor wheel assembly can cause tire damage. In the easiest case, this is the probability of air escaping at the junction of the disk and tire; I don’t even want to talk about the worst. Poor balancing can lead to increased vibration at high speeds, wear of tires and suspension parts. Tightening the wheel fasteners, and especially the locks, “from the heart” threatens with broken threads, elongated studs or bolts.

After visiting a bad tire shop, you can end up with a lot of troubles associated with unforeseen costs of money and time for suspension repairs and more, premature replacement worn tires. There are also more significant risks - health and life, which cannot be measured by any money. And don’t think that these are just words - bursting on high speed the wheel can lead to extremely sad consequences.

To avoid getting bored while changing shoes, you can look into wheel arches and check for wear brake discs and pads, the condition of the levers, steering rods and CV joints, if, of course, you understand what we are talking about.

And do not forget: the high price announced for services is by no means a guarantee High Quality executed works. Prices also vary greatly depending on the region in which you will visit the tire shop. Even in the Moscow region, prices are noticeably lower than in the capital, and in neighboring regions a set of wheels can sometimes be changed for the money that a Moscow motorist pays for one wheel (albeit with removal and installation).

From personal experience

In conclusion, I’ll tell you what else I’ve encountered personally. Once, several car owners gathered in line near a tire repair shop. The old master (while the student is working) shares his experience: “It is impossible to properly seal a wheel with flagella, they are weak.” It so happened that it was at this moment that the author took out a wheel from the trunk of the car, which had to be repaired on the road with flagella.

Background. On tram tracks tiles flew out. In the rain and in the dark, at three o'clock in the morning, he ran into her with a wheel. The sidewall is broken in two places. The spare tire is underground, and on top of the trunk there is such a load that you can’t take it out alone. Okay, I had the flagella with the pushing tool with me. We set the compressor to continuous pumping and let's install the flagella moistened with glue. We managed to push the first ones in with our fingers, the rest with a device. A total of 14 flagella were lost. The tire was completely sealed and inflated perfectly. I drove the remaining few kilometers without incident and the next day, having installed the spare tire and purchased a tire, I went to the “professionals”. Of course, you shouldn’t ride on such a tire for a long time, but I highly recommend mastering the technology of installing a flagellum in a hole from a self-tapping screw.

Prepare for your trip to the tire service: what you need to know and what to keep track of in order to save time, money and... health?

I decided to write about tire fitting after two stories that happened.

First: I was leaving on a business trip in the fall, and it snowed the day before. For the safety of the wife's travel, he decided to change the car's shoes. There were huge queues at the nearest tire shops.

The cars were moving slowly. An hour has passed. Another one.

At the beginning of the third, it was my turn, the sleepy and tired guys quickly put winter tires on the rims, and I drove to the house. After the second intersection I realized that the vibration intensified with increasing speed. And that the snow that fell could not turn into ice patches so quickly. Why is the car shaking so much?

Second story: my mother told me how she was driving from work to heavy rain. At the intersection, turning right, the rear of the car swerved to the side. She got scared, she says, and grabbed the steering wheel. It seems that the speed was low, there were no large puddles.

The skid turned out to be small, it turned normally. Then I drove slowly, my heart pounding. Was it really necessary to go even slower?

Now I will tell you about four rules that will help you avoid such situations on the roads and save time and money.

No. 1. Correct pressure

The pressure depends on how hard you are driving. It will be different for one driver and for a car with five passengers. Sometimes the pressure for the front and rear tires is different.

Tell the tire service staff the correct required pressure and ask them to inflate the tires that way.

Why is it important? Safety and efficiency. When setting up safety systems, the manufacturer is guided by this tire pressure. Efficiency is ensured by an optimal balance of fuel consumption and comfort.

No. 2. Ask to inspect the tires

Ask your tire shop to inspect and check your tires. They can find defects that are invisible to the normal eye.

For example, lateral hernias, cuts, severe wear.

Why is it important? The sooner you find out about similar problems, the safer the road will be. Tire fitters have a trained eye, be sure to use their experience to your advantage.

No. 3. Correct tire installation

After installing the tires on the car, be sure to check whether they were installed correctly.

Some tires have different outer and inner side. In this case, on the outer side it will be written “ Outside", and on the inside - "Inside". Make sure the outsider is on the outside.

Sometimes the sidewall indicates which direction the tire should turn. Then they will write “ Rotation"and the arrows will show how the tire should roll when moving forward.

Asymmetrical and directional patterns are now available on most models road tires, so be sure to install it correctly.

Check that everything wheel bolts were on site. And that they cannot be turned by hand.

Why is it important? Tire manufacturers use asymmetry and pattern direction to solve problems beyond the control of chemical composition rubber mixture. Tires are tested exclusively with correct installation. By neglecting this, you will impair the performance of your tires. Loose or missing bolts (or studs) make the wheel less secure.

No. 4. The first kilometers after tire fitting

Immediately after changing shoes, turn off the music in the car and listen to the sounds and sensations. If road conditions allow, try accelerating and braking smoothly, doing a snake or shift.

Possible bad symptoms:

• strange noise, louder on one side,
• unusual vibration.

Bonus: cleaning, washing, lubrication

As a bonus - desirable, but optional rules for tire fitting. They will also help you understand the level of service you are receiving.

A good mechanic will clean the tires and wheels with a wire brush. Or even wash the wheels. Clean tires are more pleasant to work with, easier to inspect, and provide better balancing.

Even a good tire shop will lubricate you, or at least offer to lubricate the inner edges of the tires. Lubrication will help the tire settle into place faster and make it easier to remove at the end of the season.

A nice bonus can be clean bags in which you will not get your car dirty when transporting tires.

Conclusion

What about our stories? After the vibration, I returned to the tire shop. He waited until the master was free. Then I said where the vibration was coming from. The tire fitter removed the wheel and found that the mounting ring was crooked, causing the wheel to be installed at an angle.

And later on my mother’s car I saw rear wheel"Inside" inscription. So we went and got it right.

Next time you go to a tire shop, remember these rules:

• ask to inflate the wheels to the correct pressure,
• ask a technician to inspect the tires,
• Upon completion of work, check the bolts and the correct installation of tires,
• listen in the first kilometers and it goes smoothly.

And vice versa. Mechanical services at a tire station and an hour and a half of time. That's all there is to worry about. Considering that almost all car enthusiasts, when buying seasonal tires for a car, purchase a second set of rims. After assembly and installation further shifts tire repairs come down to replacing the wheels with season-appropriate mounted tires. Removed wheels After washing and drying, they are sent for storage in a secluded place, usually in the basement. Conditions in a normal, ventilated basement are most suitable for storing replacement tires.

Some drivers, due to their ability to plan and organize work a week in advance, bring replacement wheels to the tire shop in advance. Wheels are inspected and balanced, inflated required pressure and are installed upon the arrival of their owner.

The question of time has always been a painful one. On a day off, you don’t really want to waste precious time on a routine, it’s full of different things to do and problems. Moreover, it won’t be possible to combine changing tires and going on a shopping trip with your family - the trunk will be full of wheels with replacement tires. The spare tire and tools will have to be moved into the interior of the car. In addition, when you need to “change” your car due to snow, ice or sharp decline temperature, there will be a decent queue of people at the tire service station.

Usually, when the situation on the road is already critical and it is simply unsafe to postpone replacing tires, you have to go to a tire station after work, in dark time days. After a couple of hours of waiting in line, a worker at the station will show you the place where they will change your shoes, accept a set of tires from you and offer to wait half an hour or an hour.

As a rule, the main area in the pit, where cars are serviced, is filled with “serious” cars. For ordinary clients, an adjacent asphalt parking area is offered. Usually such places are poorly lit, in best case scenario There are a couple of lights for illuminating surveillance cameras. For the master the absence normal lighting not a hindrance at all.

In the heat of “conveyor fever”, most of the operations of unscrewing the wheel nuts and subsequent replacement with a new one can be done by touch with their eyes closed. Which, by the way, very often happens at the end of a shift, what can you do - people are not robots and hard physical work exhausts even young and seasoned guys. Their earnings directly depend on the number of clients served. The period when drivers change seasonal tires is as important for them as the first real ice of the season, popularly called “tinsmith’s day,” is for specialists who straighten car cladding.

During this period, everyone is in a hurry at the tire station. Customers are in a hurry, they have a lot to do and do not want to wait in line. Workers and craftsmen are in a hurry, afraid of losing clients and income, so everyone is trying to work with minimal loss of effort and time.

There are many unfavorable factors, the quality of work is declining. Therefore, do not be lazy to use the flashlight you have prepared in advance and carefully examine the results of the work:

• First. We will make sure that your tires are installed on your car. There are no damages or fresh cuts on the rubber, the air pressure level corresponds to the required standard. Pay attention to the fresh imbalance compensation weights on the discs. They must be firmly attached and not be removed by force of the fingers.
• Second. Let's check the presence of all nuts on the wheels. The nuts must be original; if replacement occurs, immediately call a technician and make sure all fasteners are complete.
• Third. Using a wheel wrench, tighten all the nuts again. There are many cases when a car leaving a tire station lost control and got into an accident due to the fastening nuts not being tightened properly.

We refit the car ourselves

Many of the car enthusiasts are making a change seasonal tires independently in a garage. Moreover, most operations can be performed a couple of weeks before the replacement date.

The wheels are removed from storage in advance, inflated a little more than normal, thoroughly wiped with a dry, clean rag and inspected. If the condition of the tires does not require specialist intervention, the wheels are sent for balancing. Checking the wheel for imbalance should be done as regularly as possible, the frequency depends on the quality of the roads and mileage. But in any case, when changing tires, balancing is extremely necessary.

To change wheels, no special skills or knowledge are required, just follow simple rules. Having loosened the wheel nuts using a wheel wrench, install the jack so that the support of the lifting part of the jack barely touches the point of application of force to the car body. As a rule, the manufacturer determines the location of the jack in the diagrams and technical descriptions to the car. The base or base plate of the jack must rest on a dry, level, hard surface. Before lifting, be sure to check that the gear shift lever must be set to first or reverse speed. Under free wheels Additionally, wooden blocks are installed to prevent possible movement of the machine when using a jack.

Using a jack, lifting the wheel a couple of centimeters above the supporting surface, you need to install a reliable metal support under the bottom of the car, duplicating the jack. “Professionals”, as a rule, do not do this, neglecting safety rules. Using a wheel wrench or by hand, remove the nuts and remove the wheel.

Using a flashlight, inspect the suspension elements, first of all, the absence of stains from leakage of process fluids, integrity rubber covers and seals. If there are traces of rust and corrosion on the wheel hub elements, they must be removed with a stiff brush and the surface treated protective composition, you can use silicone aerosol. The latter does not apply to brake discs. Usually, they additionally check the condition of the plastic or composite protection of the wing arch, the absence of cracks and damage.

If everything is in order, install the wheel with the appropriate tires and tighten the nuts by hand until they stop. Use a wheel wrench to slightly increase the tightening torque. Now you can remove the additional support and lower the wheel.

Having completed a similar procedure with all the wheels, use a wheel wrench to tighten all the nuts on the wheels one by one. In this case, the nuts are moved diagonally from one to the other, increasing the tightening torque. The procedure must be performed one by one with all wheels.

The removed wheels must be thoroughly washed with high-pressure water and dried indoors. Experts recommend storing rubber in an upright position, pre-packing it in dark polyethylene or special covers. At proper storage high quality tires practically does not lose its properties and lasts for a long time.

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Car tires are playing important in operation vehicle. They provide comfort while driving, make movement in the car safe, and provide reliable grip with the road in adverse weather conditions. And the first thing that both novice and experienced motorists should remember is the need to control the level of pressure in the tires.

Why is this so important? It is the pressure indicators that determine the readiness of the wheel for road confrontation in any weather conditions. Thus, a decrease in tire pressure leads to an increase in fuel consumption. And in critical situation may cause loss of controllability and stability of the vehicle. So is it worth the risk if regularly checking tire pressure will allow you to avoid many troubles associated with operating your car?

Tire structure: design features and types of tires

Before mastering the intricacies of tire fitting with your own hands - in a garage or outdoors, it is important to study the theoretical part of the process. First you need to decide on the configuration car wheel, consisting of a tire and a disk with a rim on which it is mounted.

All types of modern car tires are divided into several categories with their own design features:

In addition, tires are divided into:

• highway or summer, are used for use on hard surfaces in wet or dry weather. Not used for operation at low temperatures;
• winter, the tread of which is designed to quickly remove snow and dirt from the area of ​​the contact patch that ensures adhesion of the vehicle to road surface. These tires are originally designed to work in winter period and contain components that protect rubber compound from loss operational properties in conditions of low temperatures;
• all-season, allowing you to ensure safe driving in any weather and regardless of changing temperature conditions.

Car tires are graded according to the type of thread arrangement in the cord base. It can be radial - at a right angle to the sides, or diagonal, with the threads crossing from sidewall to sidewall diagonally.

Mounting and dismantling the wheel

Ability to dismantle and install a car wheel - big advantage for the car owner. You can be calm even in the most unusual road situations, and in conditions of urgent seasonal tire replacement. And if you haven’t yet mastered all the intricacies of car making, it’s never too late to take the first steps in the right direction. The main thing is to understand the procedure.

To dismantle/install a car wheel you will need:

• a flat space that allows you to freely change wheels;
• jack - to provide free access to the wheel mounting area;
• wheel wrench the right size- for dismantling.

Having completed the preparations, you need to proceed in stages:

1. First you need to securely fix the vehicle in place by using parking brake(pulling the lever). The car is then placed in first gear. To securely secure the vehicle, it makes sense to use special devices (“shoes”).
2. Having secured the car, it is necessary to “break” the wheel nuts that are subject to the dismantling procedure. To do this, you need to loosen the nuts using a wheel wrench without removing them completely.
3. Next, the car should be placed on a jack, lifting it in the area where the wheel to be removed is located.
4. After securely fixing the vehicle on the jack, you can begin dismantling by unscrewing wheel nuts and removing the wheel from the axle.

The removed wheel must be replaced with a spare one. To do this, a pre-prepared “spare wheel” is placed in the “landing” area of ​​the wheel, installing it using studs or guides, depending on the design. And then they fix it (not completely) using previously dismantled fasteners, checking the reliability of the fixation (the nuts should be screwed in order, starting from the top, in a diagonal sequence - this ensures correct alignment).

The final tightening of the nuts is carried out only after the vehicle is lowered from the jack. Upon completion of the installation procedure, you need to check the tire pressure (normally it should be 2 Bar or more) and, if necessary, bring it to the required values.

Replacing a tire

Sometimes the tire fitting procedure requires not just temporary elimination of the problem by replacing the wheel, but much more decisive action. In particular, replacing a tire on a car's rim, which even in a garage does not look like an easy task. What is required for self-replacement tires?

• Special tools - spatulas, or, for lack of a better one, two flat-tip screwdrivers.
• Soap solution.

Beading a wheel with your own hands is a process that requires a certain amount of patience. It is necessary to separate the tire from the rim as carefully as possible, gradually squeezing the rim. By placing the paddles between the rim and the tire, use the soap solution as a kind of lubricant, making it easier to release the edge of the tire from under the rim.

It is important to take into account that you need to act slowly during the dismantling process, gradually moving along the rim. On average, in the absence of special equipment and skills, dismantling one tire will take about 30-40 minutes.

The tire replacement process is carried out in a similar way. Using the spatulas, the tire is gradually placed in place, carefully tucked under the wheel rim.

Upon completion of the tire mounting process, our wheel is ready to be installed on the car. To do this, it is placed at the fastening site and fixed with bolts, and then removed from the jack and maximum fixation of the fasteners is made in the fastening sockets. Upon completion of installation, tire pressure must be brought to standard values.

We bring to your attention a video lesson “How to change a tire on a car”:

Having mastered basic fundamentals do-it-yourself tire fitting, you can always cope with an emergency tire replacement in traffic situations without resorting to the help of specialists but seasonal replacement summer tires in winter it will not cause serious problems.