Your car tyres are the only part of the car that has direct contact with the road. Tyres affect your vehicle handling, ride, braking, and safety. For optimum performance, tyres must have the correct air pressure, tread depth, balance and the wheels of the vehicle must be properly aligned.
Checking your tyres on a regular basis is an important step in protecting your safety and your automotive investment. Ideally, tyre inspections should be performed monthly. If you drive over potholes and debris in the road, live in a cold climate, or drive long distances regularly, then you should inspect your tyres more often.
Tyre Problems to Look For During a Visual Inspection
Over inflation: Too much air pressure causes mostly the tyre’s middle section to contact the road. This creates wear primarily in the centre of the tread, with less wear at the tyre’s edges.
Under inflation: Too little air pressure causes mostly the outer edges to contact the road. This creates wear primarily on both edges of the tyre tread, with less wear in the centre.
Tread wear on one edge of the car tyre Singapore: This typically occurs when the wheels are out of alignment.
Erratic tread wear: This is often called cupping, and may mean the wheel is out of balance, or that the shock absorbers or other suspension components need to be replaced.
Raised portion of the tread or sidewall: May indicate that one of the belts in the tyre carcass has separated from those next to it.
Unusual vibration or thumping noise: Vibration or thumping noises can indicate an out-of-balance tyre, one with tread that has a flat spot due to locking the wheels in a panic stop, or a tyre with a separated belt.
A pull to one side: While driving at a steady speed, pulling to one side may indicate an underinflated or damaged tyre on the side of the car to which the vehicle pulls. If this is not the case, a brake problem or poor wheel alignment may be causing the pull.
There are several tyre maintenance procedures that automotive repair professionals should do because they require special tools and knowledge.
Tyre Rotation
Tyres on the front and the rear of vehicles operate at different loads and perform different steering and braking functions, resulting in unequal wear patterns. To gain maximum life and performance from your tyres, it is essential to rotate your vehicle’s tyres. Usually car tyres rotation is performed between 5,000 and 7,000 miles.
Tyre Balancing
Properly balanced tyres help minimize uneven wear and extend their life. When tyres are balanced, small weights are attached to the wheels to limit vibration of the tyre and wheels as they turn.
Wheel alignment is the measurement of the position of the wheels compared to specifications that the vehicle manufacturers recommend. Each vehicle has specific wheel alignment settings. If any alignment measurement falls outside the specified range, uneven tyre wear can result, vehicle handling may be affected and fuel economy can be diminished.
A vehicle’s wheels are properly aligned when the car will drive down the road in a straight line without drifting or pulling to either side.
Spending a few minutes with your car tyres every month can help protect your family, improve your vehicle’s performance, and lengthen the life of your car tyres.
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