Essential tyre care tips

A tyre is the only part on a vehicle that makes contact with the road. It is made of synthetic rubber and products that are soft and offer grip, so naturally, wear and tear is bound to happen. But what can be done to reduce the wear. To start with, the average life of a regular car tyre is about 35,000kms depending on how gently the car is driven and tyre rotation also.

Tyre Rotation: On a front-wheel-drive car, the front tyres are prone to wearing out more than the rear tyres as power is put out through the front tyres. A similar concept applies to rear-wheel-drive cars. So, every 10,000kms if we interchange the front tyres with the rear tyres, it will ensure even wear and tear of the tyres. Four-wheel-drive cars, however, do not need to bother with tyre rotation as all four wheels put out power onto the road.

Uni-directional Tyres: These days tyres can be used only in a specific direction. This can be told from an arrow that points out to the directional flow the tyre should have. Make sure to fit tyres only in the direction it points to as fitting a tyre towards the opposite side may lead to loss in mileage and control of the vehicle.

Tyre Pressure: The pressure or amount of air your tyre has is a vital part of tyre maintenance as sometimes this is the sole reason for accidents due to loss of control. The tyre pressure on all four of your tyres should be visually checked every time you start your car and are heading out.

Spare tyre check: Conduct a routine check on the tyre pressure of your spare tyre as you never know when a puncture can occur and a spare tyre can act as a life saver sometimes.

NOTE: The most important visual tyre check is looking for bubbles developed on the sidewall of the tyre. This is a sign of tyre injury leading to blow-outs at high speeds and loosing control over the car. Ocassionally, look for bubbles on the inner walls of the tyres also, which are not visible otherwise. These bubbles are caused due to impact injury inflicted by potholes with razor-sharp edges.