Whether you drive a truck, a motorbike or a car, each vehicle relies heavily on the quality of their tyres. Even though you can buy tyres online or in good and reputable stores in your country, it is important that following a strict tyre care routine is critical to the performance of your vehicle.
Keep reading to learn more about what you can do to better care for your tyres
Checking tyre pressure
To begin with, you do not have to take your car to the garage to establish whether or not one of your tyres is running flat. Most people just check their tyre pressure when they fill up with fuel but you can invest in a relatively inexpensive bit of kit that will allow you to confirm your tyre pressure at home.
Keeping the correct tyre pressure in your tyres is an important aspect of tyre care. Not only will they take longer to wear out, but they’ll also improve your handling and your fuel efficiency – all important benefits for car owners.
Checking tyre treads
When you check your tyre treads and you notice the depth has dropped, you should know it needs to be changed. There are piece of technology that you just push these gauges into your tyre tread and they will tell you if there is enough left to remain legal on the road.
Rotating your tyres
Tyre rotation is an important way to care for your tyres. When was the last time you had your tyres rotated? As a general rule, you should rotate them every 5,000km to ensure you’re giving your tyres the appropriate care. By rotating your tyres, you’re helping to prevent uneven wearing, generating a long return on your tyre investment.
Using Seasonal Tyres
One of the best ways to look after your tyres is to use appropriate tyres for the particular seasonal conditions. At the most basic level, this means using summer tyres in summer and switching to winter tyres in winter. You can either store the set of tyres you’re not using yourself or if you don’t have the space, your tyre dealer may offer a tyre hotel service.
Summer tyres are designed to be excellent through the summer in both dry and wet conditions. However, when the temperature drops below 7°c, summer tyres will stiffen and become more susceptible to damage and faster tread wear. And that’s when you will want to switch to winter tyres.
Do not overload your tyre
Another bad habit that people often fall into is overloading their vehicles. Regularly overloading your car will damage your tyres, weaken the sidewall and make them more susceptible to failure. This is especially the case if you do not maintain correct tyre pressures as we have already noted. Carrying a lot of weight can also compromise your handling and cause your tyre tread to wear more quickly.
TYRE CLEANING
Don’t forget to keep your tyres clean! Another important aspect of tyre care, not only will it keep your car looking great overall, it will also prevent the exposed sidewall rubber from cracking or checking.
Follow these simple steps:
- Use a soft brush, never with metal bristles
- Be careful around the edges of your wheels
- You can use special cleaners, but typically the mild detergent you use on the rest of your car will work just fine
- After you’ve finished washing, dry them with a soft cloth and apply a tyre dressing.
Maintaining good driving habits
You will only exacerbate tyre wear by falling into bad habits such as heavy braking, over acceleration, constantly stopping and starting and dragging your brakes when traveling downhill. You should be conscious of the way you drive to avoid frequent change of your vehicle tyres
