Thanks to Myki Roventine for the image
Healthy tyres are the key to a healthy and happy car. When they are treated with care, they will run for longer and save you money. Tyres, like most car parts have an interconnected relationship with the rest of your car. If they aren’t treated correctly, that affects the fuel system, and the engine. It affects the brakes and the steering system. The best practice with car maintenance is to look after every small component on your car.
That means regular checks on your tyres. Some of the checks on this list you should be doing weekly. Can you remember the last time you checked your tyre pressure, for example? The very simple and easy tasks on this list will save you money on fuel and maintenance costs. They will also help you avoid a costly and inconvenient breakdown on the side of the motorway. More importantly, when you visit used car dealer like McDougal & Breen, use these checks on the tyres.
Tyre Pressure
Tyre pressure is significantly more important than you think. Incorrect pressure affects your fuel consumption, the car’s handling and your bank balance. Check this weekly (whenever you fuel up) and consult your car manual for the advised pressure. The two big problems are under inflated and over inflated.
Under Inflated – Tyres with low pressure use a lot more fuel to power them. It creates more surface area on the road so the engine has to work harder to turn the wheels. It is estimated that motorists spend £1 billion as a result of under inflated tyres. You will save money at the pumps and help save the environment by using the correct pressure.
Over Inflated – You may be tempted to overinflate tyres because race cars run on such high pressure wheels. However, this is very dangerous. Over inflated tyres leads to poor handling. This gives you much less control on the road. More importantly, it will much more difficult to avoid collisions.
External damage
Your tyres are designed to withstand a beating. After all, they spend their entire day churning over tarmac. However, they can pick up bumps, cuts and indents very easily. Again, check for these once a week. Some can be touched up. But, if there are any that look particularly big, take your car in for service. It can lead to an unexpected tyre failure.
Tread depth
You are legally required to keep your tread depth above 1.6mm. However, anything below 3mm can be dangerous, especially in the winter. Check this regularly and if there are signs of wear on a particular tyre, figure out why. A good practice is to rotate your tyres every couple of months. Put the back tyres on the front axis and vice versa. Most of the work is done by the two drive tyres so they will wear down fastest. Rotate them to keep the wear even.
It doesn’t take a lot of time or effort to maintain a healthy car tyre. Keeping an eye out and making regular checks will save you a major headache in the future. Keep your fuel costs low with the correct pressure, watch out for external damage and remember to rotate. If the worst happens, make sure you carry a spare.
