It’s important to keep your tyres up to scratch, particularly before heading on a road trip! Here are our top tips for taking care of your tyres…
New tyres are expensive. More than that, driving on poorly maintained tyres is positively dangerous, subjecting you and your passengers to much greater risk of accidents which can cause injuries and even deaths. Here are our top tips for taking care of your tyres to ensure they are always in the best possible condition…
Service List
First in our list of top tips for taking care of your tyres is to consider when you take your car for a service. Whenever you take your vehicle in for a service, make sure that your tyres are checked too. This way, the mechanic can ensure that your tyres are inflated to the correct pressure, as well as aligning and balancing them to a high degree of accuracy. If they have any concerns about any of the tyres, they will let you know so you can either keep an eye on it, or opt to replace your tyres early. If you do not use your vehicle a lot, so there are long periods of time between services, you might want to invest in a pressure gauge so you can check the pressure by yourself in between times.
Drive Safely
“Drive safely” is often said, but thinking about what it actually means shows that it is also good for maintaining your tyres. As well as not speeding down the road, and paying attention so you are rarely forced into an emergency stop (neither of which are great for your tyres) you will avoid rough patches of road, potholes and debris left in the road. You will also stick to well-maintained roads, and definitely avoid off-roading. You may even want to find a new solution for parking if you regularly bump your car on and off raised curbs: this can disrupt the alignment and balance and can worsen any weaknesses in the tyre wall.
Check the weight in your vehicle
Related to this is keeping an eye on the number of passengers and weight of cargo in your vehicle. Overloading the car presses all that extra weight down onto the tyres, and this can cause unwanted wear and tear and worsen any existing issues. Hire a bigger van for the duration, or take two trips to avoid inflicting long-term damage on the tyres – and, in fact, the whole vehicle.
Visual Inspection
Our final point in our top tips for taking care of your tyres is to give them a visual inspection. Get into the habit of looking over your whole vehicle periodically. All too often people take their car for granted and happily get behind the wheel, unaware that their vehicle may have been damaged by a passing car or vandalized or suffered some other instance of harm. Checking the tyres will soon be second nature too. Tyres being heavily textured and dark in color means that they may not show signs of damage readily. Be prepared to get up close, perhaps with a bright torch to hand, and spend time running your fingers over suspicious marks, taking the time to check it thoroughly. If you detect any problems, get your tyres checked, for example, if you’re looking for tyres in Maidstone, make sure to contact Tyre Point or book your tyres online from their website. Tyre Point employees are trained to handle your tyre emergencies quickly and efficiently, so you are safely back on the road in no time.
What do you think of our top tips for taking care of your tyres? It’s particularly important before a long journey or road trip. Any other tips let us know!
