Your car’s tyres have a hard life. The amount of rubber in contact with the ground at any one time is only around the size of a DVD – yet they have to support your vehicle and keep it glued to the road in all sorts of conditions.
This means that it’s important to replace any tyres with too little tread depth and to watch out for tyres that are wearing unevenly, as this is usually a sign that your car’s wheel alignment needs correcting.
The legal minimum tread depth for car tyres is 1.6mm across 75% of the width of the tyre. However, many companies recommend that you should replace tyres when the tread depth gets down to 3mm, as grip and braking performance reduce considerably below 3mm.
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All-Season & Winter Tyres
To learn about All-Season tyres click here. Or, if you’re thinking about snow, learn about Winter Tyres here.
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Tyre Punctures
It will happen! Learn how to change a wheel here. Or, have a tyre puncture repair kit? Learn how to use it here.
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Car Tyre Pressures
Reduce your car’s fuel consumption and check your car tyres regularly. Learn how to check your car tyre pressures.
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Tyre Sidewall Markings
You should replace car tyres with the correct spec. To save money read our tyre markings guide – click here.
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EU Tyre Labelling
The EU is introducing compulsory tyre performance labelling in 2012. Click here to read all about it.
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Part-Worn Tyres
Part-worn tyres are increasingly popular in the UK but using these tyres involves safety risks that you may not be aware of – click here for the full story.
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Run Flat Tyres
Run flat tyres work very well and could be due for an explosion in popularity when a new EU law comes into force in 2012 – click here for the full story.
Tyre Pressures
One of the simplest and most useful things you can do for your car is to make sure its tyres are pumped up correctly.
If tyres are over or under inflated, they will wear out faster, they may be more prone to punctures and your fuel consumption will go up. Even if your tyres look correctly inflated, they may well be under or over inflated:
- Up to 2 pounds of air escapes naturally every month, even without a puncture.
- Tyre pressures are affected by temperature (e.g. summer vs. winter temperatures).
- Wear and tear and slow punctures can cause the pressure to fall without you noticing.
Keeping your tyres correctly inflated is simple – to learn how, click here for our tyre inflation guide.
Understanding Tyre Sizes & Ratings
Your car’s tyres have been carefully specified to provide the best and safest driving performance.
This means that when they are replaced, it is important to make sure that the replacement tyres are of the same size and rating as the manufacturer’s specification.
The make and model of the tyre isn’t necessarily important – but the size and rating is.
Any reputable garage or tyre centre will make sure that they fit the correct tyres, but if you would like to learn more about tyre sizes and ratings for yourself, click here for our tyre sidewall guide.