Tyres are your only point of contact that your car has with the road surface. You must not ignore the condition of your Tyres. If you do you could put yourself and your passengers at risk. Not to mention other road users. Black Circles suggest that you should check your Tyres at least once a month.
Recent surveys show that around a qurter of vehicles had tread depths of less than 2mm. Tyre performance and in particular braking deteriorates dramatically below 2mm. One tenth of vehicles actually had illegal tyres.
Why check your tyres?
- you are not insured when driving on illegal tyres
- Worn tyres significantly impede the performance of your car.
- worn tyre reduces the effectiveness of braking, steering, and acceleration.
What should you check?
The Tyre Industry Council have devised a five point tyre check:
- Check overall condition of tyres, including inner and outer sidewalls.
- Check tyre tread depth.
- Check tyre pressures.
- Check signs of irregular wear
- Check and examine the spare tyre – this is often forgotten until it’s too late!
Tyre Pressure
An under inflated tyre may not actually look flat. To be on the safe side you should check tyre pressures once a fortnight and especially before long journeys. To find out what pressure your particular tyres should be at check your car maunal. tyre pressures should be checked when your tyres are cold so don’t check them after a long drive and ideally leave them an hour to cool after driving. Driving on over or under inflated tyres can effect the car handling and also increase wear on your tyres.
Tyre Tread Depth
The legal limit is 1.6mm over 75% of the tyre however at this level you won’t have an ideal amount of grip. It’s widely recommended that you replace your tyres before they are less than 2mm. As well as being a safety issue you can also be fined up to £2,500 for having bald tyres.
Wheel Balancing
An unbalanced wheel will cause an annoying shake and can cause mechanical damage. Your wheel should always be balanced after changing a trye.
Wheel Alignment
If your tyre wears unevenly then it could be due to incorrect tyre pressure but it could also be due to incorrect wheel alignment.
This article is published with kind permission from Black Circles
Rick says
July 30, 2007 at 9:58 amevery one should read this
Martin says
August 2, 2007 at 5:51 pmWorth getting your wheels balanced every 6 months or if you notice a change in the steering. The weights tyre fitters put on can come off, especially over speed humps!
admin says
August 7, 2007 at 4:52 pmthat’s a good tip to add Martin – thanks 🙂