It is important to remember that tyres are the only point of contact between your vehicle and the road. That is why it is extremely important to regularly check your tyres to preserve the quality and performance and to ensure both your safety and others on the road.
Here at Bodymek, we give our top ten tips on how to preserve the life of your tyres and keep them legal and roadworthy.
Contact
The part of your tyre that’s actually in contact with the road is around the size of your hand (tyre width). Your safety, comfort and fuel economy depends on that very small area. It is important to ensure that you select the right tyres and that you regularly maintain them to ensure they perform at their best.
Tyre Wear and Depth
Make sure to regularly check the tread depth of your tyres and replace them when they are worn. This will guarantee maximum traction and grip, helping you avoid any unpleasant surprises. Change your tyres before your tread depth is worn to 1.6mm.
Tyre Pressure
Tyres should always be set to the correct pressure and always when the tyre is cool or even better when cold. If the tyres are hot and there is no option to allow them to cool, you can still inflate them but add 4 or 5 more PSI more than the recommended pressure.
Once you have completed your journey you should allow the tyre to cool, possibly overnight and then recheck and adjust to the correct pressure.
Balancing
Balancing your tyres can help prevent premature wear of your tyres and eliminate vibration. It also protects the suspension, steering system and bearings of your vehicle. It is important to have your wheels balanced when a tyre is replaced, a balance weight is moved or removed, or you purchase new tyres. You will know a wheel is out of balance when one area is heavier or lighter than the rest.
Wheel Alignment
Alignment refers to an adjustment to a vehicle’s suspension, the system that connects a vehicle to its wheels. It is not an adjustment of the wheels or tyres themselves. The key to proper alignment is adjusting the angles of the tyres, which affects how they make contact with the road.
Wheel balancing is integral to smooth driving, safety, tyre wear, and stability, and allows the tyres to spin without causing vibrations. If you have an out-of-balance condition on the steering, have all four wheels balanced, front and back. Unbalanced wheels on the rear can often be felt through the steering.
Valves
A valve inspection, also known as “valve adjustment”, is really very important. An engine’s intake and exhaust valves let air in and out of your engine as it burns fuel. The correct mixture of air and fuel can keep your engine run smoothly and ensure you get the best fuel economy from your vehicle.
Daily wear and tear and stress can slowly effect the mileage and causing the inefficient running of the engine. Apart from these, improperly adjusted valves can cause your engine run roughly, burn your valves or may even damage your piston. This type of damage is very expensive to repair, therefore it is important to have the valve inspection in an engine regularly.
Handling and Storage
Tyres are not meant to be stored for extensive periods of time. We suggest that storing a tyre for several months is not ideal and may cause damage to the tyre. Tyres should be stored in a room that is not exposed to direct sunlight. It is important to store them in a room with a low temperature, preferably a room which allows air to circulate.
You should keep tyres in an upright position in order to prevent any damage to them, it also makes it easier to stack. It is worth noting that tyres should not be hung or stacked in piles.
Spare Tyre
It is essential that your spare tyre is working properly when the time comes. While most modern cars have a solid buffer or carpet between the spare tyre and the rest of the gear that rides in your boot, it still shouldn’t be taken for granted. If you have a habit of dropping weekly grocery shop on top of your spare tyre every Friday, you risk developing an air bubble or even a puncture over time. You might not notice such a defect at the moment, but you certainly will when you pull alongside to put your spare into action. Not to mention that using a faulty spare tyre can make your car situation even worse. Driving on a damaged spare increases the risk of a blowout and major accident.
Tyre Repairs
When a tyre needs repairing, it’s essential to have a tyre specialist remove the tyre from the wheel and inspect it from the inside. This is necessary because internal damage is not visible while the tyre is mounted to the wheel. A tyre specialist will ensure compliance with procedures for assembly, disassembly, balancing and inflation of the tyre, and the replacement of the valve, verify the internal condition of the tyre, detecting any damage not visible on the surface and ensure the tyre is refitted correctly, optimising handling and comfort.
Service Life
A tyre is made up of various materials and rubber compounds that affect its performance. Its performance also depends upon many other factors such as weather, storage conditions, and conditions of use. Here at Bodymek, we strongly encourage drivers to regularly inspect their tyres to identify anything which means that the tyre needs to be removed from service.
We advise that drivers should have their tyres that have been in use for five years or more inspected by a specialist every 12 months as well as replacing tyres still in service ten years or more from the date of manufacture with new tyres, even if they appear serviceable and even if they have not reached the legal wear limit.
