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A Guide to Car Tyre Safety

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One of the most important aspects of staying safe on the road, is having a road worthy safe vehicle which is properly equipped. One area that some drivers fail on is having the right tyres for the job. In the latest SG Tyre Wholesale blog, we advise about how to be road safe when it comes to looking after your tyres.

Safe tyres are extremely important to you and to others protection on the road. After all, your tyres are the only point of contact between your vehicle and the road. Although the contact space is extremely small, safe tyres enable the driver of the vehicle to stop in an emergency if needs be and to remain stable even in extreme conditions. Bald tyres can be extremely dangerous as they have little to no grip and therefore it takes a great deal longer to stop (if at all) and they are nothing but hazardous. Below we will give a guide to car tyre safety and numerous steps you can take to ensure your vehicle is both safe and legal.

What does the law state regarding tyre tread depth?

To begin, the law states that your vehicle must be fitted with tyres that are both the correct size and type for your vehicle. This information can be found from the car manufacturer. Secondly, the law requires you to ensure that your tyres are above the legal tread depth limit at all times. After time and use, tyres will begin to wear down and deflate. This is when they begin to lose their grip and tread, thus becoming a threat to the safety of yourself and others.

The legal tyre tread depth for cars in the UK and Europe is 1.6mm across the central three-quarters of the tyre, according to law. The tread must meet this minimum requirement across its complete circumference. However, a tyre in this state does not guarantee safety and therefore it is widely recommended that you should replace your tyres at 3mm to increase stability and more importantly improve road safety.

For more information regarding tyre tread depth, check out our blog on the legal tyre tread depth:

http://sgtyrewholesale.com/checking-legal-tyre-tread-depth-one-important-checks-can-make-car/ 

The importance of proper tyre inflation

Proper inflation of your tyres is a vital aspect of road safety. What you may not know is under inflation can lead to heat building up, which causes the internal structure to become damaged. On the other hand, over inflation can cause your tyres to become more fragile than normal, with hard impacts potentially leading to punctures. The importance of proper tyre inflation cannot be stressed enough as poor tyre inflation can cause serious incidents that could lead to injury or death.

A common mistake made by many is that they look at their tyres and decide on whether the inflation is correct or not visually. You cannot identify an under inflated tyre by just looking at it.

 How do you monitor your tyre pressure?

Tyre pressure can be monitored several ways. You can monitor the pressure manually or by using sensors that are attached to your vehicle. These will alert the driver when the pressure of the tyre begins to vary from the set tyre pressure. Getting a tyre pressure monitoring system installed in your vehicle may be extremely beneficial to you as it will inform you when the tyre pressure drops which could potentially prevent you from having an accident, or even save your life.

Things you should know about tyre ageing

Tyres deteriorate with age and some more quickly than others. An ageing tyre can potentially lead to a complete failure which can lead to a serious incident causing injury or death. Here are several ways you can identify an aging tyre:

  • Deformity of tyre body
  • Tyre wall cracking
  • Distortion of the tread
  • Vibrations through tyre as driving

If you find yourself in this situation, your tyres should be removed from your vehicle and put out of use immediately for the safety of yourself and others. Also, any tyre which has been in your possession for six years or more should be disposed of due to tyre ageing and deterioration.

 What causes a tyre to deteriorate?

There are several reasons for tyre deterioration, below you can find some of the common reasons:

  • Tyres used in coastal areas (due to amount of saline)
  • Tyres used on caravans and trailers
  • Tyres left in garage for several years
  • Tyres on old and unused cars
  • Tyres that have incorrect cleaning products used on them
  • Tyres fitted as spare wheels
  • Always inspect your tyres for signs of ageing regularly.

 

After reading this blog, you may feel it is time to replace tour tyres. If so, get in contact with us and find out how we can fulfil your car tyre road safety requirements.

Contact Us Today

We are stockists of all premium manufacturers, mid-range brands and have an extensive range of budget brands for you to choose from. We service the whole of Ireland and offer nationwide delivery. We also aim to be as responsive as possible and so we offer an out of hours’ delivery upon request.

To discover more about our wholesale tyre range and services visit our website www.sgtyrewholesale.com email: info@sgtyreswholesale.com or call us on: +353 (0) 87 6088030

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