What is tyre safety?
Tyre maintenance is essential to the safety of yourself, your passengers and even other road users. After all, your tyres are the only thing connecting your vehicle to the road surface below. A safe tyre allows you to corner, brake and accelerate effectively.
Here, we take a look at some of the regular checks and maintenance that will help to ensure that your tyres are safe. Tyre safety and the overall condition of your tyres may become increasingly important when it comes to planning long haul trips or if you do long distance driving for work.
1. Maintain correct tyre pressures.
It may seem pretty obvious and yet, most people don’t take the time to regularly check and maintain recommended tyre pressures.
Instead, they wait for something to happen, such as visibly noticing that a tyre that looks deflated. This can be extremely dangerous. By the time a tyre looks deflated, it is likely very deflated. When your tyres are under inflated they can become overheated, which can lead to tyre failure.
Maintaining the recommended inflation pressures will not only ensure vehicle safety and performance, but it will also assist with tyre longevity.
Checking and adjusting tyre pressure is a relatively simple task, which you can do yourself. Alternatively, the experienced and friendly professionals at your local Tyrepower store are available to assist.
2. Monitor the tread depth of your tyres.
The combination of correct tyre pressures and effective tread depth results in a well rounded and safe performing tyre. There is a legal tread depth here in Australia of 1.5mm. Anything below this depth and your tyres are not only deemed unsafe, they’re illegal.
Tread depth is important for many reasons:
- Expels water (which greatly assists to avoid aquaplaning)
- Grips road surfaces
- Enables effective cornering
- Assists in effective braking
Most tyres on the market have tread depth bars or depth indicators. These indicators will be reached once the tyre has worn evenly to the minimum tread depth. The bars can be found on the deep longitudinal grooves running parallel with the wheel.
You can also measure the tread depth of your tyres using a tyre tread depth gauge. You should measure the outer and inner sides of the tyre, as well as the middle of the tyre to obtain an accurate measurement.
3. Adhere to recommended wheel alignment and tyre balancing services.
A safe tyre is an aligned and balanced tyre. It’s necessary to have your new tyres aligned and balanced once fitted to the car. It's also a good idea to have them checked after long distance driving or after you may have come in contact with a few nasty potholes.
When you maintain regular wheel alignments and tyre balancing, as outlined in your owner’s manual, your tyres should achieve even wear, which greatly assists in tyre longevity.
You have unsafe tyres - what next?
If you are at all concerned about the safety of your tyres, call into your nearest Tyrepower store for some expert advice and a free tyre safety check.
With over 300 stores located Australia wide, it's never been easier to maintain the safety of your tyres. If the time has come to purchase a new set of tyres, we supply and fit an extensive range from top leading brands, including Toyo, Kumho and Falken.Your old or unsafe tyres will be disposed of environmentally and you can be rest assured that your vehicle will be fitted with the right tyre for you.
