7 Lifesaving Tips for Your Car Tyres

 

With most people that I talk too, conversations about
tyres don’t come up in their top 100 things to talk about, not even close.
They are those black round things on the car, a necessary evil that comes up for replacement and the most inopportune times. If we do talk about them, I hear “Why don’t they last longer?”, “I don’t do much driving the cheap tyres will do.”,
“I never check my tyres.”

Here are some of the facts:

Tyres are one of the most important parts of your vehicle and should always be properly maintained. It is only those 4 small patches on the bottom of the tyre that meets the road that gets you safely from A to B.

Tyres have a limited shelf life and will need to be replaced. The recommended maximum safe life of a tyre is 5 years or wearing down to the tread depth indicator. Depending on the car tyre replacement is not the cheapest element of vehicle maintenance.

You get what you pay for and all cars have a minimum rated tyre.  How much is your life and that of your passengers actually worth?

 

7 Life Saving Tips to help you get the most from your tyres

1. Inspect and properly maintain your tyres regularly.

• Schedule a day within the week on when you should visually inspect your vehicle’s tyres.
• Look for damages around your tyre such as .
• Look for bits of rubbish and stones, that you have picked up whilst driving, before they potentially work in to the tyre creating a puncture. This will help prolong your tyre’s shelf life and avoid serious tyre damage
• When performing an inspection, with gloves run your hands over the tyres to double check any damage.

  

• Check your tyre pressures are correct. See below
• Clean the tyres and rims
• When performing an inspection, with gloves run your hands over the tyres to double check any damage.
• Check your tyre pressures are correct. See below
• Clean the tyres and rims

 

2. Maintain Correct Tyre Pressures.

• As part of your regular inspection use a tyre pressure gauge to check the pressure on each tyre, to make sure

  

  that the pressure is at the proper level.

• In your car manual, you will find the factory recommendations. This is also generally found on a tyre
  placard just inside the driver’s door.
• We recommend, for increasing the life of your tyres to run them a little harder. Low tyres pressures mean greater fuel use. If you aren’t sure what is the best pressures for your situation, then fill out this contact form and we will let you know.
• The newer air stands at the local petrol station are fairly accurate. If your local station doesn’t have this type or you want to check them not at the station, then get a good quality digital tyre pressure .
• Note the older type gauges that are on the hose near where you connect to the wheel are generally faulty. They don’t take kindly to being dropped on the ground all the time.

 

3. Rotate your tyres.

• Tyre rotation is vital to achieving even tread wear and long tread life.
• In general, at least every 10,000 kilometres even better is around 5,000 kilometres.
• Rotation is necessary because of the uneven wear characteristics of the left and right, and front to rear.
• Front Wheel Drive are perfect examples, in which places braking, steering and driving forces on the front axle tyres. The rear axle tyres are only along for the ride with some braking forces resulting in a much faster wear rate for the front tyres.
• Rotation for these vehicles becomes important for optimum shelf life for tyres. Give Chris a call of Your Local Tyre Truck to help you with it. (phone number)

 

4. Make sure your tyres are correctly aligned.

• If your wheels aren’t correctly aligned, they will cause premature wear on your tyres and suspension
  components.

  

• There are many ways for your wheels to be misaligned. Potholes, hitting gutters when parking, aging suspension parts.
•  Over time, even a slight misalignment will cause uneven and premature tyre wear. Once a tyre develops these wear patterns it is very hard to stop the wear, even with rotation and re alignment therefore, it is important to get this fixed as soon as you notice the wear.
• Problems may also arise with your vehicle handling, performance and overall safety. Some key signs are, the cars pulls left or right, steering wheel is off centre, the car feels like it crab walks
• There are 3 main components to a while alignment, Camber, Caster, and Toe. Most new vehicles have these adjustments both on the front and the rear.

 

5. Make Sure Your Tyres are Correctly Balanced

• Tyre balance, like wheel alignment doesn’t last for ever, as the tyre is used and aged the belts within the tyre settle and the rubber is worn away.
• Unbalanced tyres can wear the tyre down quickly, damaged suspension and steering components.
• Unbalanced front tyres are felt through the steering wheel and rear tyres through the car seat.

 

6. The Suspension and Brakes are Maintained

• More items that don’t last for ever, depending on the road conditions and the type of driving you can blow through a set of shocks in as little as 25,000 kilometres. Brake pads, according to Bendix, can last as little as 15,000 and up to 70,000 kilometres.
• Apart from an uncomfortable drive, not being able to pull up properly worn suspension and brakes take a heavy toll on tyres.

 

7. Don’t Carry Unnecessary Weight

• Every extra kilogram you carry puts pressure on the suspension and the tyres causing them to wear faster.
• When carrying loads ensure your tyres are rated for the weight and the tyre pressures have been adjusted to suit.
• It’s also better on the fuel economy.

We love to talk tyres, even if you don’t, but we don’t want to see you too early with worn out tyres.  Start maintaining your tyres now and when you ready to replace we will happily come out to your place in Rosebud and the Surrounds and replace your tyres then and there.

For more information about tyres and other services, call Chris from Your Local Tyre truck. Your Local Tyre Truck is a Mobile Tyre Service that comes to you.  We service the all areas on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria.

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