Tips to keep tyres in tip-top shape

Spare a thought for the humble tyre. Its entire working life is spent exposed to the elements, it gets dragged along the roughest of road surfaces with scant regard for its well-being, and it receives little, if any, tender loving care. Yet these rubber hoops provide four rubber contact surfaces that are no bigger than the palms of our hands to keep our cars and our families safe on the road.

When it comes to getting the best life out of your tyres the most important factor is wheel-alignment. Tyres that are too hard or too soft will, by changes in the car’s handling, alert most drivers to the state of affairs long before too much damage is done, but wheels that are misaligned will make your car go through tyres at a rate you wouldn’t believe possible. And once you’ve had your wheel alignment checked, don’t become complacent — our roads are becoming increasingly more riddled with potholes, and every jolt you feel through the steering wheel is going to have some effect on your wheel alignment. Check your tyres regularly — say every month or so — and have your alignment checked at the first sign of uneven wear. Most cars can manage at least 40 000km on a good set of tyres, but incorrect wheel alignment can scrub off the tread in a tenth of that.

When you have to buy new tyres for your car it’s important that you fit rubber-rated for the performance of your car. Every tyre is marked with the maximum speed for which it is rated; in a tyre marked 205/55 R16 91 H, the first series of numbers tells us the size of the tyre, while the H tells us that the tyre is rated as safe for up to 210 km/hr.

Some other tyre ratings are as follows:

It’s important to realise that you may not fit tyres rated at a lower speed than your car is capable of simply because you habitually drive slowly. If you’re involved in an accident your insurance company could reject your claim if your car was fitted with tyres of the wrong speed rating, just as they could if your tyres were smooth.

Tips to get the best out of your tyres:

1) Keep tyres at recommended pressures at all times. Over-inflated or under-inflated tyres are dangerous, wear out faster and affect fuel consumption. If you aren’t sure what the recommended pressure is then work on 2,2 bar — that’s about right for most passenger cars. When in doubt rather over-inflate by a little than under-inflate. Soft tyres wear out faster, cause your car to chew petrol and are more dangerous than tyres that are pumped a little too hard.

2) Rotate your tyres every 8 000 km or so — move the front tyres to the back, and vice-versa.

3) Keep a GOOD spare in the car, and check the pressure frequently. When you rotate the tyres, include the spare in the process — tyres deteriorate over time, so an unused spare tyre will end up unsafe after about five years, even if the tread is still perfect. Keep a record of which tyre started off as the spare so that it doesn’t end up back in the boot after just one duty cycle.

4) It’s often false economy to fit retreads. They usually don’t last anywhere near as long as new tyres. Unscrupulous dealers sometimes stick new tread onto very old, worn out carcasses, which can collapse at any time.

5) Check the tyres’ sidewalls for cuts or bulges. If they are damaged, discard the tyre because repairs in this area are dangerous. Never fit a tube inside a damaged tubeless tyre — the interior of the tyre has reinforcing ridges that will wear through the tube and cause a blow-out somewhere down the road.

6) Replace your tyres BEFORE the tread reaches the legal minimum depth of 1mm. Buy from a reputable dealer — some shady types import new and secondhand tyres that are designed for different conditions to those in South Africa.