Tyre Maintenance

by **DADDYCOOL** Fri 10 Jan 2014, 2:21 pm

Many may deny it but tyre maintenance is essential for you to have a safe driving experience, but how do you look after them?

Most of us assume tyres are the least important part of a car. As such, we pay very little notice to their maintenance and condition until it's too late. The only time we are ever concerned with them is when they look like they're low on air or when we feel they're considerably worn and need to be replaced. While its true that today's tyres are far tougher than they used to be due to clever design and construction, they still need looking after to give you the fuel savings, performance and longevity that the manufacturer

The best time to check or inflate your tyres is when you haven't done much travelling and the tyres are cold. If you've done some running about, chances are the tyres are warmer than when they've been left idle on your driveway for a few hours. If the tyres are hot, so is the air inside them. When air gets hot, it expands. This along with other factors will increase the pressure giving you an inaccurate reading of your tyres' normal pressure. (The best time to inflate them is at night or early in the morning when your tyres are still cold)

Check the tyre pressure as often as possible or at least once a week. This will allow you to gauge what's going on with them and provide you with early signs of a puncture. Make sure that the valve caps are screwed on properly. Never rely on how the tyres look to tell you if they need air. This is because softer tyres have side walls that bulge out more than harder and sportier ones.

Always use a gauge that has been properly calibrated to check your tyre pressure. If the tyres came with the vehicle, chances are the manufacturer would have left a sticker either on the driver's door side sill or the fuel filler door informing you of the recommend pressures for the front and rear. You can inflate them a little more or less than recommended but it shouldn't defer by more or less than 10-15%. If they are over inflated, you are going to have a bumpier ride and they will offer less grip. Under inflated tyres will give you a softer ride but also ruin your fuel consumption figures as well as make it harder for you to steer the vehicle.

The best way to ensure longevity is to balance and rotate your tyres every 10,000 to 15,000km. There are various methods of doing this but the most common for rotation involves switching positions of the front left with the rear left and the front right with the rear right tyre. Include the spare with this rotation cycle if possible.

For balancing, the most prevalent method is to have the wheel mounted on a spindle that's linked to a computer. The wheel and tyre are spun and during this time the computer analyses the centrifugal forces created by the high speed movement. Areas that create erratic out of balance forces are spotted and weights clipped or stuck on to that particular place to offset the imbalance.

Wheel alignment is also necessary as continuous use and dealing with undulations on the road can upset the wheel geometry. When the front tyres aren't aligned properly, they can cause the car to pull to one side when travelling on a straight road. Most tyre shops have sophisticated and accurate machines that can align them in no time at all.

When do tyres need to be replaced? There are various different interpretations on when it is time to buy new rubber but generally, they should be replaced when the threads are worn down to a point where the drainage groves are too shallow to channel water away from the tyres effectively.

Virtually all tyres have what is known as the 'Tread Wear Indicator' (TWI). This is moulded into the tread and becomes apparent when the tread is worn down to the minimum recommended. At this stage, the channels in the treads appear to be blocked by little 'bridges' between the blocks of rubber. If you look along the sideways just where the tread pattern ends, you'll see either a small triangle or the letters 'TWI' which correspond with the positions of the small 'bridges'

As such, if you want your tyres to last you a long time, never neglect them. Always ensure that they are inflated to the recommend pressures and don't forget to do the same with the spare as well. pig