Tires are designed to provide your vehicle with traction so that when you apply the gas, or hit the brakes, the tires grab the road. That’s why they make tires out of rubber. That’s also why design engineers have spent decades developing tread patterns that will channel the water, dig through mud and snow and maintain a degree of grip even on ice.

No matter how good the design of your tires’ tread, over time, as the tread wears away, the tires will lose their traction. It’s inevitable.

As the tire turns, propelling your car down the road, or when it comes to a halt and drags the car to a stop, bits of rubber are torn away from the surface of the tire. Eventually, the tread has worn away to a point where the tire has lost a significant amount of its grip.

When tires have worn sufficiently, they increasingly present a potential safety hazard. They’re not as good when you want to get up and go. They’re also not up to par when you need to come to a quick stop. On wet or icy roads, this can lead to cataclysmic situations.

The old test for tread wear still works: while looking at Abraham Lincoln on a penny, turn the top of his head towards the tire and insert the penny into the tread. If his head is not completely outside of the tread when the penny hits bottom, your tread is worn beyond the safety point (beyond 1/16th of an inch).

On the other hand, even when bald or balding tires aren’t posing a direct safety hazard, they can prove quite a nuisance. Have you ever seen someone trying to drive up an icy incline? Their tires spin but they just don’t move. In such cases, the odds are pretty good that they have bad tires.

The same principle is true when someone gets stuck in snow or ice. Good tires would go a long way towards avoiding that situation and helping to get them out.

This is a particularly good time of year to check the tread on your tires. For one thing, winter is coming and, with it, all the challenges of driving on snowy, icy and wet roads. Better to find out if you need new tires before you actually wish you had them.

Another good reason to check your tires now is that there are special offers from tire manufacturers. For instance, Denny Norton, of Ringwood based Performance Unlimited, said that Goodyear is currently offering a Fall Tire Rebate.

“When you purchase a set of four select Goodyear or Dunlop tires, before Dec. 31, you’ll receive a Rebate Card in the mail worth up to $80,” he said. “That will go a long way to helping out if you do need tires before winter sets in.”

For more information about the Tire Rebate and prices, call Norton at 815-728-0343.