The tyres play a critical role in your vehicles safety, with little more than a hand size amount of tread per tyre making contact with the road surface at any given time. This is critical for cornering, Steering, acceleration and braking, so your vehicles tyres must be in a good condition.
Good tyre tread becomes even more critical on wet roads
The tyre tread is designed to disperse water from the tyre's contact area, allowing the tyre to grip the road and perform as anticipated for the driver.
Without good tyre tread in wet conditions, the driver will have difficulty in accelerating and cornering.
More importantly, the Tyre tread is responsible for ultimately stopping your vehicle when braking; the brake system can be operating fine, but if you don't have good tread contact with the road, the car can just simply glide on the road surface when you need it to stop.
To ensure this, tyres have a minimum tread level indicator.
If the tread is worn down to these bars or the bars are visibly worn, the tyre is illegal and needs to be replaced.
Correct Tyre pressure
The recommended tyre pressure is shown on the tyre placard attached to the car body (usually on the driver's door pillar) and is also listed in the owner's manual.
Tyre pressures are given for everyday driving and also when loaded up with the maximum number of people (the car can legally carry) and luggage, so if you are going on a trip, the pressure will differ from city driving with an unloaded vehicle.
The tyre pressure is also critical to the vehicle's suspension performance, allowing it to ride and corner efficiently while the tyres maintain good contact with the road surface.
Examples of Badly worn tyres
How often should I check the tyre pressures?
To ensure you get the best out of your tyres, they should be checked regularly; the recommended is every two weeks.
They will also need to be checked and adjusted before you go on a long journey or before towing, as they might need to be set higher.
Don't forget about the spare tyre,
"You don't want to go through the hassle of changing a flat tyre only to find out your spare is also flat."
Looking after your tyres
Maintain the correct tyre pressure.
Maintaining the correct tyre pressure is paramount to looking after your vehicle's tyres.
A tyre with the correct pressure should wear evenly across the tread; incorrectly adjusted tyres will wear unevenly and require replacement much earlier.
Under-inflated tyres wear heavily on the outer edges of the tyre, and over-inflated tyres wear out the centre of the tread prematurely.
Heat affects the tyre pressure.
Adjusting the tyre pressures when the vehicle is cold is always best.
This is because as the car is driven and the tyres heat, the air in the tyres expands, so setting the pressure after the vehicle has been operating for a considerable time will result in an incorrect tyre pressure when the tyres cool down.
So, how can we help?
Future Auto Service Centres will inspect and adjust your tyre pressures as part of your vehicle servicing, but that only occurs once in six months for most people (some even longer). So tyre pressure needs attention in between services.
If you are uncertain what you require, please ask our staff for their advice on tyres and how they can assist in getting the best value out of your tyre.
If you are a Platinum Rewards Club member, we will adjust your tyre pressures as part of your "Free Driveway Service" benefit.
