Tyre Tips and Advice
Help for Motorists
The condition of your tyres is critical in the overall safety of your vehicle – after all they are the only point of contact with the road surface! Therefore is vital that you regularly check the condition of your tyres to make sure they’re roadworthy. At Massive Discount Tyres we recommend that you check your tyres at least once a month.
It’s believed that there could be around a third of vehicles on the road with a dangerously low tread depth of less than 2mm. This severely affects breaking and grip, especially in wet conditions.
Illegal tyres can invalidate your insurance
Many people don’t realise that apart from the safety element of illegal tyres it also invalidates your insurance. So you not only have a potential human cost but also severe financial implications in the case of damage to your car or a third party vehicle.
What to check on your tyres:
- Check the depth of the tyre tread
- Look over the general condition of the tyres including the inner and outer sidewalls.
- Check for signs of irregular wear
- Check the tyre pressures and this not only keeps you safe but a correctly inflated tyre will be more economical for fuel consumption of your car.
- Finally, don’t forget to do all the above checks on your spare tyre.
Check your tyre pressures
It’s recommended that you check your tyre pressure every other week and keep them inflated to the correct pressure for the tyre make. You can find this information in your car handbook.
When checking your tyre pressure you need to do this when they’re cold and when they’ve been running they heat up and give an inaccurate reading.
Remember that your tyres can actually be under inflated even if they look OK, hence the reason to regularly check them. However, don’t be tempted to over inflate your tyres as this can make them unstable and dangerous.
Tread Depth
At Massive Discount Tyres we recommend changing your tyres when the tread depth gets to 3mm, this is generally thought to be good practice however remember that the more tread you have the better your grip. For cars the legal limit for tread depth is 1.6mm across 75% of the tyre and drivers who ignore this can face fines of up to £2500 per tyre and three points – expensive, whichever way you look at it!
Wheel Alignment
The alignment of your wheels play an important part in the overall safety performance of your car. If you experience wear on one edge of your tyre it could be due to incorrect wheel alignment. In the case of poor alignment you must get your vehicle into a garage where they can carry this out for you.
Wheel Balancing
Wheels can become unbalanced for a number of reasons, and this can cause vibration which can be felt at certain speeds. This is not only dangerous but can also cause additional mechanical damage to your car. If you experience vibration caused by wheel balance being incorrect we suggest that you get into a garage to get the wheels re-balanced as soon as possible.
Spare Tyre
The spare tyre is often neglected in terms of being checked, however you can guarantee that the moment you want to use it and you find it’s flat or in a bad condition you’ll wished you had!
As with your other tyres you should always check for tread depth, wear and damage as well as ensuring it is inflated to the correct pressure.