Tire Care Tips

Tire safety is simple and easy. Maintenance, tire basics and a simple education can make your ride on the road a lot safer.

• Don’t wait until it’s too late - Make it a habit to check your tire pressure at least once per month and before every long trip. Under inflated tires causes excess heat build-up that can damage tires and lead to a failure.
• Know your pressure point - The correct tire pressure is found on a sticker on the driver's door, door post or owner’s manual not on the tire sidewall ­ that’s the maximum pressure for the tire.
• Keep your cool - To accurately measure your tire pressure, check tires when they are cold. Wait at least three hours after driving.
• Take care of your spare - Check your spare tire each month and keep it properly inflated so it¹s ready to go when you need it most.
• Penny for your thoughts - A penny can tell you if your tire is bald. Place a penny upside down into a tread groove. If you can see all of Lincoln’s head, it’s time for a new tire.
• Keep yourself in line - Be aware of potholes that can not only damage your tire but can also jar your car¹s alignment.
• Pick a date and rotate - Make sure you rotate your tires every 6,000 miles to promote uniform wear and longer tire life.
• Don't take a spin without a cap - Driving without your tire valve cap allows for a slow leak of air from the tire and eventual under inflation.
• Don't lose your balance - It is important to have your tire balance checked periodically to avoid irregular wear.
• Be a weight-watcher - Overloading your vehicle stresses your tires and can lead to damage.

Don't Let Your Bacon Turn Into Spam

Bacon is a newly coined term used to describe the permission-based marketing you receive by email. It is not spam, exactly, because you agreed to it, maybe when signing up for a store's newsletter or joining an airline's frequent flyer program. So you probably don't mind getting messages about free shipping on orders over $100 or last-minute deals on flights. But neither are you in a hurry to read them. That's bacon. If your business uses email to reach customers, stressing the fine line in customers' perception between bacon and Spam. If you send subscribers a stream of irrelevant content, they might react by:

• Creating rules to automatically delete your messages.
• Hitting the Spam button, increasing the chances you'll be blacklisted by your ISP.
• Unsubscribe in frustration.

This doesn't have to happen:

• Make it easy for your subscribers to update their preferences.
• Use profile data to target a receptive audience for each mailing.

Bacon is acceptable as long as it contains information. Your subscribers will read sooner or later. But if the communication is not relevant to them, they will start thinking of it as Spam.