Essential Tyre Care Maintenance Guide: How to get the best out of your tyres?

Maintaining an auto engine can take a lot of work! But when it comes to vehicle safety and performance, your tires are literally where the rubber meets the road, and without taking care of them, your car is going nowhere fast. The wheel may be one of humanity’s earliest inventions, but keeping modern-day tires in working order isn’t always so simple. That’s why today we’re going over some essential tire maintenance tips in our complete guide to tire care!

Giving your tyres a quick, monthly check for adequate inflation, even tread wear, and damage is the simplest method to ensure optimal mileage and performance.

1) Keep your tyres’ inflation pressure at the right level.

You need the right inflation pressure to get the optimum tyre performance, safety, and fuel efficiency. Keep in mind to regularly (at least once a month) check your tyres’ air pressure with an accurate tyre pressure gauge while they are still cool.

The recommended level is listed in the owner’s manual or on the vehicle placard. The single most crucial thing you can do to extend the lifespan and maintain durability of your tyres is to maintain optimum inflation pressure.

The most common reason for irreparable tyre damage is under-inflation, which can cause serious breaking and subsequent air loss. The outcome is heat and mechanical damage because it lowers load capacity, permits excessive sidewall flexing, and increases rolling resistance.

Overinflation increases stiffness, which can make driving uncomfortable and cause unwelcome vehicle vibration. Additionally, it raises the possibility of impact damage.

2) Avoid excessive tyre spinning

When your car gets stuck in snow, ice, mud, or sand, try to keep your tyres from spinning excessively. Tyre overheating and irreparable harm could result from this. You may release your car by gently swaying it back and forth. Never stand close to or behind a tyre spinning rapidly, such as when trying to push a stuck automobile or using an on-car spin balance machine.

3) Inspect your tyres for wear & damage

Tires should always be taken out of service when they have 1.6mm of tread depth left. All brand-new tyres contain tread wear indicators, which become visible at the 1.6mm level as smooth banks in the tread grooves. Accidents in wet weather could be caused by skidding on bare or nearly bald tyres. Tyres that have been overly worn are likewise more vulnerable to punctures.
Monthly inspection of your tyres for signs of damage and their general condition is important for safety. If you have any questions, have your tyre dealer inspect them. Impacts, penetrations, cracks, knots, bulges, or air loss always require tyre removal and expert inspection.

4) Don’t attempt to mount your own tyres
Serious injury may result from explosion of tyre/rim assembly from improper mounting procedures. Remember to follow your tyre manufacturer’s instructions and match tyre diameter to rim diameter. Only specially trained persons should mount tyres.

Don’t mix tyre of different sizes and types on the same axle. For the best handling and control, we recommend fitting four tyres of the same type and size as specified by the vehicle manufacturer.

Warning
Before replacing your tyres, always consult the vehicle’s owner’s manual and follow the vehicle manufacturer’s replacement tyre recommendations. Vehicle handling may be significantly affected by a change in tyre size or type. When selecting tyres that are different from the original equipment size, see a professional installer to make sure that proper clearance, load-carrying capacity, and inflation pressure are selected. Never exceed the maximum load capacity and inflation pressure listed on the sidewall of the tyre. When replacing tyres, you must maintain the outside diameter and load-carrying capacity of the original equipment tyre. Inflation pressure may need to be adjusted to avoid overloading the tyre.

Never fit tyres with less load-carrying capacity than required by the vehicle’s original equipment manufacturer
You must make certain that the replacement tyres have a load-carrying capacity equal to or great than what the original equipment manufacturer specifies.

Follow these additional guidelines

· When installing two tyres, fit the tyres with the deepest tread depth on the rear axle.

· If radials and non-radials must be fitted to the same vehicle, fit radials on the rear axle.

· Never mix radials and non-radials on the same axle.

· When fitting snow tyres or all-season tyres to performance vehicles, always fit in sets of four.

· It’s not recommended to fit tyres with different speed ratings.

· If tyres with different speed ratings are installed on a vehicle, they should be with like pairs on the same axle.

· The speed capability of the vehicle will become limited to that of the lowest speed rated tyres.

· When changing tyre sizes, always consult a dealer for optimum rim width and carefully check vehicle/tyre clearances.

5) Don’t overload your vehicle
Check your vehicle’s owner’s manual to determine the load limits. Overloading your vehicle places stress on your tyres and other critical vehicle components. This can also cause poor handling, increased fuel consumption and may cause tyre damage. Never fit your vehicle with new tyres that have less load capacity than shown on the vehicle tyre placard, and remember that optimum rim width is important for proper tyre load distribution and function.

6) Maintain vehicle suspension & wheel alignment, & balance & rotate your tyres
Lack of rotation, worn suspension parts, under inflation, over inflation, wheel imbalance, and misalignment can cause vibration or irregular tyre wear. Rotate your tyres according to your vehicle manufacturer’s recommendations or at maximum intervals of 10,000 km.

Tires are designed to last for tens of thousands of kilometres. Tyres must be properly maintained for optimal advantage in order to prevent tyre damage that could lead to removal from service before the tread has worn to the bare minimum depth. Since service conditions vary greatly, it is not practical to make an exact prediction of the service life of any particular tyre in terms of time.