Tire Inspection at Johnny's Automotive
Tread depth at three points, date codes, and pressure set to your door placard, with photos on your phone. Often the honest answer is that your tires are fine.
How do I know if my tires still have life left in them?
A tire inspection is a set of measurements, not a walk around the car. Tread depth gets read at three points across the face of each tire: outside edge, center, inside edge. The difference between those three points tells you more than the number does. Even wear across all three is a tire aging normally. Both edges down with a healthy center usually means it's been running underinflated. A worn center with good edges points the other way. One edge worn and the other fine is an alignment question, or a worn steering or suspension part letting that wheel sit at an angle it shouldn't. So a tread reading is really the start of a different question: what's causing the wear, and is the fix the tire or something it's bolted to.
Age is its own measurement, and the Florida sun keeps its own schedule. Every tire has a date code molded into the sidewall showing the week and year it was built. Heat, sunlight, and ozone break rubber down whether the car gets driven or parked, which is how a tire here ends up with plenty of tread and no future: fine cracks at the base of the tread blocks, crazing across the sidewall, rubber gone hard. We read the date codes and look for that cracking every time, and on a second vehicle that mostly sits, it's usually the finding nobody expected.
Pressure gets set to the placard in the driver's door jamb. That's your vehicle manufacturer's number for your car at its load. The number stamped into the tire's sidewall is that tire's maximum, which is a different thing entirely.
People book this before a long drive, right after buying something used, or because a set is seven years old and they'd rather know. Everything lands on your phone through our digital inspection: the tread readings, the date codes, and any cracking, so you're looking at exactly what the tech is. And plenty of the time the answer is that your tires are fine and we'll look again in a few months. That's a real result, and we'd rather hand it to you than talk around it.
Choose your shop
Problems we fix
Our experts diagnose and resolve any issue.
Plenty of tread left, but the sidewalls look cracked
This is the Florida one. Sun and heat age rubber whether the car moves or not, so a tire can pass a tread check and still be finished. We read the date code and photograph the cracking so you can see what we're seeing.
The outside edge of the front tires is worn and the rest looks new
Wear on one edge is a geometry problem, not a tire problem. Alignment is the usual answer, and a worn control arm bushing or tie rod end can cause the same pattern. Replacing the tire without fixing that just restarts the clock.
Both outer edges are wearing and the center looks fine
That pattern comes from running low on air, so the shoulders carry load the center should be sharing. It's the cheapest problem on this list to fix and the most expensive to ignore, since it quietly costs you tread and fuel at the same time.
The steering wheel shakes at highway speed
A vibration that shows up in a speed range and fades outside it usually traces back to balance, but it can also come from a tire that's wearing unevenly or has a belt shifting inside it. Worth measuring rather than guessing at.
Just bought it used and nobody knows how old the tires are
The tires are one of the few things on a used car that tell you their own history. Date codes give you the build week and year, and the wear pattern across all four often says whether the previous owner kept up with alignment.
Heading out on a long drive and want them looked at first
Good instinct, and it's a quick check. Tread at three points, pressure to the placard, date codes, and a look at the sidewalls and the spare, so you know what you're leaving town on before you're two hundred miles from home.
More tires and wheels services
Explore our other tires and wheels services.
New Tires
New Tires addresses the listed maintenance need based on vehicle condition and service requirements.
Learn moreTire Repair
Tire Repair addresses diagnosed damage, wear, or system faults related to this service.
Learn moreFlat Tire Repair
Flat Tire Repair addresses diagnosed damage, wear, or system faults related to this service.
Learn moreTire Inspection questions, answered
Common questions about our tire inspection services.
How do you tell how old a tire is?
There's a DOT code molded into the sidewall, and the last four digits are the build date: two for the week, two for the year. So a tire stamped with the code for the eleventh week of a given year was built in March of it. We read it on every tire during an inspection and put it in the photos we send you.
My tires have good tread but they're several years old. Does age really matter?
In this climate it matters a lot. Rubber degrades from heat, sunlight, and ozone exposure on its own timeline, independent of miles, and a car that sits outside ages its tires faster than one that gets driven and garaged. What we look for is the physical evidence: cracking at the base of the tread blocks and crazing on the sidewall. Tread depth alone won't tell you.
Should I set my pressure to the number printed on the tire?
No, that number is the tire's maximum, not a recommendation. Use the placard sticker in the driver's door jamb, which is your vehicle manufacturer's spec for that car. Check it when the tires are cold, meaning before you've driven on them, since driving heats the air and raises the reading.
How often should tires get inspected?
We look at them during oil service anyway, so for most people it's already happening without a separate appointment. Book a dedicated inspection when there's a reason: before a road trip, after buying a used vehicle, or when something changed in how the car drives or sounds.
The pressure light comes on some cold mornings and goes off later. Is that a problem?
Air pressure drops as temperature drops, so a cool morning can push a tire that was already a little low below the warning threshold, then driving warms it back up and the light clears. That means the tire was low to begin with, not that the sensor is faulty. If the light is showing up regularly, something is leaking slowly and it's worth finding.
Request an Appointment
ASE Certified Technicians
ASE certified techs working on your vehicle
Flexible Drop-Off Hours
Convenient service options
20+ Years
Decades of trusted service