Maintaining your tyres is something that is more often neglected and tyres can become worn and unsafe without notice. This happens way to often and more often than not the driver is unaware that their tyres are unsafe and need to be replaced. One of the main reasons to keep your tyres in top condit...
Maintaining your tyres is something that is more often neglected and tyres can become worn and unsafe without notice. This happens way to often and more often than not the driver is unaware that their tyres are unsafe and need to be replaced. One of the main reasons to keep your tyres in top condition is due to the fact that they are the only point of contact with the road that your vehicle has. If you maintain your tyre not only will you have a safer ride, you will also get more miles from the tyre as we'll as a reduced fuel bill. A little attention goes a long way. There are 10 tips that come in handy when looking after your tyres. 1 – Ensuring you have the correct tyre size for your vehicle This is the area that comes in contact with the road. It imperative to get the right tyres for your vehicle. Driving on the wrong tyres will not only affect your drive but it will also affect your safety. Remember that the tyres on your vehicle are responsible for any acceleration, braking, and steering that your car does so having incorrect tyres or badly worn tread will seriously affect the safety and performance of your vehicle. 2 – Checking your tyres for any tread wear By checking your tyres tread regularly you can ensure that you are driving with enough tread on your tyres and that the tyres are performing, as they should. The legal limit for tyre tread in the UK is 1.6mm, if your tyres have less than 1.6mm you will not only be breaking the law but the performance and grip of the tyre will be seriously affected. The tread pattern on a tyre helps with water dispersal, as the tread reduces then so does the tyres capability to disperse water from the tyre. With less tread on the tyre you are more likely to loose grip and aquaplane. This can and does lead to some very serious accidents. By keeping constant checks in place you can stop yourself from having an accident in the future. 3 – Maintaining the correct Tyre Pressure Ensuring you have the correct tyre pressure for your tyres is crucial. Driving with over inflated or under inflated tyres will effect your braking, steering and general performance. It will also wear down the tread on your tyres and increase your fuel bill. Air can leak out of your tyre over time and air pressure will reduce in cold and warm environments. By keeping a constant check on your tyre pressure you will save yourself money on fuel and also increase your vehicles performance. We suggest you check your tyre pressure every two weeks. 4 – Make sure your tyres are Balanced correctly Balancing your tyres is something that has to be done at a garage because it needs specialist equipment to ensure that the job is done properly. Balancing a tyre will reduce the level of wear on the tyre tread and will also make the vehicle drive a lot smoother. If you tyres are unbalanced the vehicle will vibrate at high speeds and the steering will veer to the left or the right. Ensuring that your tyres are correctly with save you money in the long run and also make for a better driving experience. 5 – Make sure your wheels are correctly aligned This goes hand in hand with making sure your tyres are correctly balanced. If your wheels are incorrectly aligned the handling of your vehicle will be affected and your levels of safety will be reduced. It's very easy for your wheels to become unaligned. If you have ever hit a pothole or often mount kerbs it's likely that your wheels alignment will be incorrect. Your tyre tread will wear quicker if your alignment is out and your fuel consumption will go up. If you are getting your tyres balanced we suggest you get your wheels aligned at the same time. 6 – Maintaining grip with new tyres If your going to get new tyres either by two or four. Never get one tyre at a time. The reason for this is because it's likely that when you replace the old tyre with the new tyre it will have 8mm where as the opposite tyre will have less tread because it has been used longer. This will affect your steering, braking and control at all times. Its suggested that if you do change your tyres either change both front, both back or all four to ensure you are riding on the same tread. 7 – keeping an eye on your tyre valves Tyre valves believe it or not are actually made out of rubber. So as you would expect like the tyre, over time the valves begin to deteriorate. This can lead to leaking valves; a drop in tyre pressure and an increase in tread wear. It's a good idea to change the valves each time you change your tyres and ensure that valve caps are always tightly screwed into position to reduce the amount of dust and dirt that may get into the valve. 8 – Ensure that your tyres are stored in a safe environment If you have two sets of tyres it's a good idea to ensure that the tyres that are not in use are stored in a safe environment. Ideally keeping the tyres in a dry environment with constant temperatures (not to cold or to hot) and away from any sun light, will ensure that the tyres will be in the same conditions as they were when you last used them. 9 – Always use a professional If your tyres are ever in need of repair, unfortunately there is no time when "DIY" comes into practice here. Ensuring you use a professional to carry out any maintenance will not only mean the job is done correctly but will also ensure that the safety levels of your tyre are not compromised. 10 – Change your tyres when they need to be changed By carrying out the all of the 9 previous tips you will know when the time has come to change your tyre. It's pretty much impossible to predict when your tyre life is going to come to an end because of all the different weather and road conditions tyres deal with on a daily occurrence. We suggest you always keep an eye on your tyres to ensure they are performing to the best of their capabilities. Keeping you and fellow drivers safe and secure on the open road. Tyres.Online has a full list of tyres available in all tyre sizes. To find the correct tyres for your vehicle click here. Tyres.Online also has over 2000 fitting partners throughout the UK ensuring that buying tyres online has never been easier.