The tyres are one of the most fundamentally important parts of any vehicle. As the only part of the vehicle which ever touches the ground, your tyres are of particular relevance when it comes to the care of your vehicle. It’s therefore hugely important that you are looking after your tyres as best as you can, and in particular that you are ensuring they last as long as possible - while remaining safe and reliable to drive on.
In this post, we are going to take you through some of the major things you need to focus on to ensure that you are looking after your tyres properly, and therefore lengthening their shelf life. Let’s take a look at what you might want to bear in mind here.
Get Good Quality Tyres Fitted
First of all, a very simple and effective thing to do is to make sure you have good quality tyres fitted in the first place. As long as you have done that, you’ll find that they are going to last so much longer, and that they are also easier to look after, which is another important concern here too. To that end, how can you know whether the tyres you are having fitted are actually of high quality or not?
One option is to shop around, so that you can compare tyres from different providers and opt for the best. If you ask the tyre fitter service what tyres they recommend for your specific vehicle, that is probably the best way to get the right tyres for your purpose.
With good quality tyres, you’re going to find that they last so much longer, and that you can take better care of them more easily, so this is a really important thing to consider.
Keep An Eye On Them
In general, keeping a close eye on your tyres will ensure that you can see what kind of condition they are in, so that you are more likely to be able to care for them well. If you are watching them closely, you’ll find that you are a lot more aware of when they might be losing their tread depth, cracking around the rim, or otherwise showing signs of wear and tear. Then you can replace them before they become unsafe, and in doing so you’ll be able to drive safely and keep them for longer too.
So make sure you are keeping a close eye on your tyres, and that you look out for the specific signs of disrepair. That way, you should be able to look after them so much more easily and effectively.
Rotate Them
A very simple but vital thing you can do to help extend the life of your tyres is to rotate them. If you have not done this before, it might not be immediately obvious what tyre rotation is, so it’s worth looking into to see whether it’s something you might want to do for your own tyres. There is no doubt that rotating your tyres does help to extend their lifespan.
In essence, tyre rotation is swapping your tyres from one position on the car to another - from front to back, or side to side for example. This is important, because no vehicle is perfectly level on the road, and therefore some tyres are going to get more wear than others. Over time, that means you’ll have an unbalanced vehicle, and that one tyre might run out quicker than other ones.
With rotation, you can avoid that problem, and generally keep your tyres in a great condition. So it’s a really simple but important thing to consider. Generally, it’s advisable to rotate your tyres every 8,000 miles or so, but exactly how often depends on the vehicle and a few other factors. If you are unsure, ask your local garage for advice.
Keep Them Properly Inflated
One of the very simple and highly effective things you can do by yourself to extend the life of your tyres is to make sure you are keeping them properly inflated at all times. In other words, you need to check the air pressure of your tyres regularly, and then inflate them more if they are not pressured to the right degree. This is a really important thing to do for a number of reasons.
First of all, a properly inflated tyre is safer, and you are less likely to have an accident on the roads. You’ll also find you have a better stopping time, and that the vehicle deals with various weather conditions a lot more easily too. It also improves fuel efficiency, saving you money over time considerably. And of course, it will mean that your tyres don’t need replacing as often, which is exactly what we are aiming for here above all.
So make sure you are checking your tyres every six weeks or so, or more if you are driving more. Find out from the car manufacturer what the recommended psi is, and then ensure that the tyres are inflated to that. This is a really simple way to lengthen the life of your tyres, and not to be overlooked.
Know What To Do In An Emergency
When a tyre does blow out, you need to know what to do and how to approach the situation. This is important for safety reasons, and it also means that you are much more likely to be able to deal with the situation as best as possible, so that the new tyre is going to last longer too.
The best thing to do is to make sure you call a professional mobile tyre fitting company who can come to you in an emergency. If you find the right people for the job, you will find that the situation is much less stressful on the whole.
Those are the main things to bear in mind when it comes to caring for your tyres. If you do those right, your tyres will last a lot longer.