TYRE SAFETY BEFORE CHRISTMAS

It’s Christmas time. The silly season. It’s a little crazy, plenty busy and there’s lots to think about – planning what you’ll be cooking for Christmas lunch, those last-minute gifts, did you remember to RSVP to that BBQ?

The weather’s getting warmer, you’re probably taking more frequent, longer trips in your car to visit friends and family – so you owe it to the safety of yourself, your passengers and other road users to ensure that your tyres are in their best condition. In amongst all of this craziness, it’s easy to overlook one very important thing – the condition of your tyres.

While our team here at Bosman Tyres Archerfield cannot help you with that last-minute gift for your Secret Santa (or maybe we can with a gift voucher), we can give you some handy tips regarding how best to care for and monitor the condition of your tyres this Christmas silly season.

Visual Inspection

You can conduct a visual inspection of your tyres when you’re carrying out a tyre pressure check. Look for signs of damage that may be the result of a sharp object such as a nail or stone, which may have penetrated the tyre. Also keep an eye out for cuts, tears or bulges that may be the result of contact with road hazards. If you spot something that may be of concern, or aren’t sure about the condition of your tyres, come into your local tyre specialist, Bosman Tyres Archerfield and we can assess your tyres for you and advise you of any potential findings.

Tyre Pressure

Checking and adjusting your tyre pressure can be done by either yourself or the professionals here at Bosman Tyres Archerfield. Tyre pressure influences many important characteristics of the vehicle performance, such as: driving comfort, directional stability, cornering and braking grip, plus the general handling behaviour.

Always follow and maintain the manufacturer’s recommended inflation pressures to ensure the safety and performance of your vehicle, as well as tyre longevity. These recommendations can be found in your vehicle handbook, inside the fuel filler flap or on the driver’s door post.

Tread Wear

As your tyres wear by driving on them, the tread wears down. The less tread on your tyres, the worse your vehicle’s braking performance and handling are. In wet conditions, these characteristics are further worsened. The legal minimum tread depth is 1.5mm, but handling and braking performance begin to be compromised from less than 3mm of tread depth. Therefore, it is important to replace your tyres far before they reach the legal minimum.

A simple method for checking how much tread is remaining is to use a 20c coin – place it into the tread of your tyre and if it doesn’t reach the bill of the platypus that means there’s less than 3mm of tread remaining. Alternatively, you can assess your tyres using a tread depth indicator, which are available for purchase from an auto parts store.

Tyre Rotation

Front and rear tyres do different jobs, so they usually wear at different rates. Regular tyre rotation is therefore needed to ensure maximum tyre life is achieved. We always suggest following the vehicle manufacturer’s rotation recommendations as outlined in the car’s handbook, or alternatively taking advice from your experienced tyre technician here at Bosman Tyres Archerfield.

Many manufacturers recommend tyre rotation at least every 10,000km. However, in practice some cars are harder on tyres than others and more frequent rotation will be needed to ensure maximum tyre life.

You need to complete a tyre rotation according to your vehicle manufacturer’s recommendations, or at maximum intervals of 10,000 kilometres. This process involves the moving, or rotation, of your tyres so that they trade places on your vehicle in a systematic way to achieve as even a wear as possible. Completing regular tyre rotations will help you to get the most life out of your tyres.

Wheel Alignment

A wheel alignment is vital when it comes to ensuring that you get the best wear and performance out of your tyres. The alignment of your vehicle’s wheels can affect the way it handles, as well as increase the wear and tear on your tyres, and cause it to pull in one direction or the other.

When your wheels are correctly aligned – your vehicle handles better.

When tyres become misaligned you can experience irregular tyre wear as well as compromise the safety of your vehicle.

If your vehicle is pulling to one side of the road, or your steering wheel starts to vibrate or shudder when driving at higher speeds, it could be a sign that you may need a wheel alignment.

The holiday season increases the chances of an incident or a collision – due to more people out and about on the road. Also, you’re taking more frequent trips in your car – Christmas celebrations, shopping trips and holiday sightseeing.

Aligning your wheels is a relatively simple process, which requires the vehicle to be placed on a wheel alignment machine. This machine uses laser guided measurements to allow the mechanic to set and adjust the suspension components back to the factory specifications.

So, before push comes to shove and if you think your tyres could do with a little love, come in and see our friendly and experienced staff here at Bosman Tyres Archerfield. Whether you want to book your vehicle in for a tyre rotation and wheel alignment, or if you think you could do with a new set of tyres – we stock a great range, including Kumho, Sailun, Nankang, and Maxxis to name just a few. Perhaps you could even ask Santa for an early present……to get you where you need to go safely.