If you drive a lot, your tyres get a lot of beating from the road. Even though every tyre is guaranteed for a certain number of miles, unless you take care of them properly, dealers will not honour your warranty request. Tyre maintenance is not magic. Few simple things to keep in mind helps you get the maximum life out of them. Let’s see what those points are.
Table of Contents
Keep Your Tyres Properly Inflated
Even If you don’t know anything about tyre maintenance, your parents or your driving ed teacher must have told you this. When you drive with a tyre that is under or over-inflated, it causes not only unbalanced wear and tear but also dangerous to your life and others.
Proper inflation makes the most of the tyre surface come in contact with the asphalt, and that way, it gives you the best control of your vehicle. Usually, your proper tyre pressure can be found on a sticker, stuck somewhere inside your driver’s side door. Pay attention to it and keep them properly inflated.
Rotate Your Tyres Regularly
Depending on your vehicle and the type of tyres you use, there is a suggested mileage when your vehicle is due for tyre rotation. If you buy tyres online, do not overlook the suggested rotation time information. Failing to rotate your tyres will result in uneven wear and tear on the rubber and shortens the lifetime of your tyres.
Check Your Tyres Pressure Every Time You Get Into Your Vehicle.
As a follow up to the above statement, make sure your tyres are not losing air by inspecting them before you drive every time. A quick visual inspection saves you a lot of headaches due to a tyre going flat while driving on the road. Remember, an ounce of prevention is worth a ton of remedy.
Check Your Tyres For Tread Depth
Tread depth is important if you are driving in the rain. If your tyres are bald or near bald, the surface of the tyre touching the wet pavement is going to act like a skate on a sheet of ice and will make braking distances much longer than normal.
As a quick check, you can use a 20c coin and stick it in between the treads. If the tread height doesn’t reach the bill of the platypus, your tyre has less than a safe amount of tread remaining and needs to be replaced.
Always Put Your New Tyres On The Rear Axle
Regardless of whether you are driving a front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive, or all-wheel drive vehicle on the wet pavement, your vehicle will spin if you lose control of your rear tyres. It is physics, and there is nothing you can do to beat that. If you put your new tyres on the rear axle, higher tread depth will make it contact the wet pavement better and prevent your vehicle from spinning out of control.
Keep Your Tyres Balanced Perfectly
It goes without saying, but a wobbly tyre, even if you can’t see or feel the wobble, will cause undue wear and tear on your tyres. When you take your vehicle in for tyre rotation, make sure the garage people check your tyres’ balance as well.
Check Your Vehicle’s Alignment
Your vehicle’s front axle alignment deteriorates like any other moving part of the vehicle in time. But the cause of misalignment doesn’t only come from time. A sudden impact, like dipping into a pothole or a rather sharp curb, is also some other causes for your vehicle to go out of alignment.
If you feel like your vehicle is pulling you to one side of the road, rather than staying on a straight path, it is your sign to take your vehicle into a tyre shop and have them realign the front axle. Misaligned vehicles cause too much wear and tear as the tyres on one side are getting used harder than the other side.
Avoid Overspinning Your Tyres
If you are stuck in mud, sand or even snow, avoid over-spinning your tyres. It will not help you get out of that situation. Moreover, spinning at such high RPM will definitely cause undue heat up and damage the tyre material. Spinning your tyres on the road for no reason other than showing off will not do the tyres any favour.
Do Not Overlook The Tyre Pressure Alert On Your Dashboard
If you ignore it long enough, it will not go away. When you see this alert popping up on your dashboard, make sure your tyre pressures are correct and if they are not, take your vehicle to a tyre dealership to get the tyres checked against any punctures or other types of damages.
Do Not Mix-N-Match Tyres On The Same Axle
If you do not have the same size and model tyres on the same axle, the wear and tear on each side will be different, and at some point, this will cause a problem.
If you sustained untimely tyre damage, make sure you are replacing it with the same type of tyre and the same size. And if one side of the same axle is looking worn out and the other seems to have some life left in it, do not wait for replacing them both at the same time.
