Statistics and experiments from tire companies show that 90% of tire bulges are caused by side impacts. During interviews, reporters found that to make parking more convenient, some drivers often drive directly onto sidewalks, and most don’t realize this severely damages their tires. “There’s a mesh-like layer inside the tire, made of materials like polyester cords, known as the carcass ply, which helps maintain the tire’s strength and dimensions. Bulging occurs when the carcass ply is damaged, causing local air pressure to become uncontrolled, leading to uneven force distribution on the outer tire. The high-pressure areas bulge out,” said Manager Cui, a dealer of a certain tire brand. Although urban road conditions are relatively good, many drivers still have to replace tires before reaching wear limits, mostly due to driving over curbs. It’s understood that if a car drives onto a 0.15-meter-high sidewalk at a 40 to 70-degree angle at 40 km/h, the chances of the tire’s carcass ply being damaged are nearly 100%.
Even if a car is parked for a long time in a location with height differences, the tire’s carcass ply can degrade in performance due to prolonged distortion, which is unfavorable for impact resistance. These are all instances of tire damage caused by human factors during daily use—even the sturdiest tires can develop bulges. If you must drive onto a sidewalk, try to keep the car’s front perpendicular to the curb and ascend at as slow a speed as possible. If feasible, it’s best to place a brick under the tire before driving over.
In daily driving and parking, try to keep tires on flat surfaces. If you must drive on rough roads, reduce speed as much as possible to minimize tire damage. Regularly rotating tires and maintaining normal tire pressure also helps extend their lifespan.
Washing your car like taking a bath – As summer temperatures rise and dust increases, cars get dirty more easily, and the frequency of car washing goes up. Many car owners want to wash their vehicles as thoroughly as they bathe themselves. However, it’s important to keep the exterior of the car’s air conditioning system dry. If the air conditioner gets wet, it can affect its lifespan.
Waxing in circles – Poor results: Many people habitually wax their cars in circular motions, but this is incorrect. The proper way is to wax in straight lines, alternating horizontally and vertically, then apply the final coat in the direction of rainwater flow. This reduces the appearance of concentric ring marks on the car paint.
Too much engine oil – Causes malfunctions: When the engine oil level is too low, insufficient lubrication between bearings and journals increases friction and wear, and may even cause serious bearing seizure. But too much oil is also problematic. When the engine is running, excessive oil causes vigorous stirring of the crankshaft and connecting rod big ends, not only increasing internal power loss but also splashing more oil onto cylinder walls, leading to oil burning issues. Therefore, the oil level should be kept between the upper and lower marks on the dipstick.
Over-tightening bolts – Permanent deformation: Cars have many fasteners connected by bolts and nuts. While they need sufficient preload, overtightening is not advisable. Overtightening can cause permanent deformation of connected parts under external force, and it can also stretch the bolts permanently, reducing preload, or even causing stripped threads or breakage.
Over-tight fan belts – Excessive bearing load: In hot summer weather, some drivers believe tightening fan belts improves engine cooling, so they overtighten them. Fan belts should have proper tension; overtightening increases bearing load, accelerates wear, raises power consumption, bends the water pump shaft, elongates and deforms the belt, and shortens its lifespan.
Imported tires – Not suitable: Some car owners insist on “imported” tires. A major drawback of foreign-brand tires for domestic users is their lack of suitability. Road conditions in Europe differ significantly from those in China. Tires suited to European roads often perform poorly domestically, especially in terms of sidewall impact resistance, which is like “not acclimatized” – akin to wearing Italian luxury leather shoes on gravel roads. Sidewall bulges are inevitable. Some foreign-brand tires, after being jointly produced in China, add an extra layer of cord fabric to the sidewalls based on domestic road conditions, greatly enhancing impact resistance. These jointly produced tires perform just as well as imports.