Your tyres are the part of your car that is in constant contact with the road: but only ever a hand-span patch of each tyre at any one time.
This means that even a seemingly minor flaw in one of the tyres can have a much greater impact than we realize, should a fault develop in the tyre. Check your car tyres regularly to ensure that you remain not only legally compliant while driving, but safe and sound on the roads.
Check Tread Depth
The tread is the grooved patterning that you will see all over the part of your tyre that is in contact with the road. It adds grip at all times, but is especially effective when the roads are wet or slippery, helping the vehicle to grip the road surface.
Tyres come with a tread depth of 8mm (8 millimetres) or more, and are illegal to drive on when this drops below 1.6mm. However, many people prefer to buy tyres to replace theirs when the tread drops to 3mm or below: and there is a very simple test for this:
Take a 20p coin and hold the coin in the depths of the tread pattern. If you can see any part of the wide border around the coin, your tread depth is below 3mm and you should consider replacing your tyres.
Interestingly, if you have an American cent with Abraham Lincoln’s head on it, you can do the same thing: holding the coin so the head is dipped into the treads see if Lincoln disappears at all. If his head is partially covered, the tyres are fine, but if you can see it all, they will need to be changed.
Inflate Your Tyres Correctly
Tyre pressure can change over time, with driving on rough terrain, or if the car tyres have developed a slow leak. Some people like to underinflate their tyres, a hold-over from before the art of tyre manufacture was perfected. Modern tyres are carefully designed to be kept at their optimum pressure so it best to keep them at the ideal pressure.
Visual Inspection
On a regular basis, go over your car tyres looking for cuts, unexpected bulges in the tyre wall, and signs of foreign bodies embedded in the tyre: things like nails, screws and large pieces of toughened glass.
Also look for signs of uneven wear. Your tyres should sit flat on the ground from side to side, the weight of the vehicle should be evenly balanced over the four wheels, and all four wheels should be rolling in the same direction.
If you have a lot of concerns following one of these inspections, avail the best of services and buy tyres from a vast collection available at Headley Tyres. Either visit their location or shop online and buy tyres to replace the worrisome ones: it is almost always better to be safe rather than sorry!
