Purcell Tire & Service in Monroe, WA

The Pacific Northwest makes one tire question more important than it is elsewhere: how much tread is left.

Wet grip falls away as tread wears, and it falls away faster than most drivers expect well before the tire is legally finished. On roads that are wet for a good part of the year, that is a stopping distance question rather than a comfort one.

Ask the store to measure rather than judging by eye, and ask while the vehicle is in for something else, which costs nothing. The same visit can check the wear pattern, which tells you whether the tires are wearing evenly or whether something else is doing it to them.

Mining fleet services runs from 13 Purcell locations and this is the only one in Washington. A program covers the equipment list, scheduled inspection, change-outs planned around a maintenance window, repair while damage is repairable, and casings pulled while they are still worth retreading.

Casings go to the Purcell plant in Portland, Oregon, the nearest of the seven. See retreading.