Top 10 Tips for Tyre Maintenance

Tyres of your car are responsible for keeping your vehicle in motion. As it is the only component that comes in direct contact with the road, it becomes necessary to maintain its safety. There can be multiple ways to maintain tyres. While you can attempt some of these yourself, you will need assistance from professional services for the others.

Do you wish to know the best tips for tyre maintenance? This article will list some of the most convenient tips for tyre longevity.

The best way to enhance the longevity of car tyres is by constantly supervising these and repairing them at the first chance. Here are some tips for tyre maintenance that can help you maintain tyre quality for a long time.

1. Consider Regular Inspection

It is advisable to inspect your tyres thoroughly at least once a month to check for tears and damages. If you are used to driving in poor road conditions, your car tyres and tread can suffer excessive damage. In cases of cracks, penetrations, bulges, knots, or air loss, consult a tyre expert regarding these damages.

Checking for damages will help you remain updated about the tyre’s conditions and make the right decisions. Usually, a tyre lasts for about six years under favourable conditions. If you are aware of the right time to change your vehicle’s tyres, you will be able to get a smoother riding experience.

2. Check the Tyre Pressure

Proper tyre inflation enhances your driving safety while improving your tyre's longevity. Thus, checking the tyre pressure at least once every 2-4 weeks is recommended. Keep the inflation pressure within the recommended parameters to avoid driving inconvenience.

You can find the recommended parameters for your tyres within your tyre manual. Under-inflation of a tyre is often responsible for causing severe tyre damage and subsequent air loss. Overinflation, on the other hand, increases stiffness increasing discomfort while driving. Therefore, it is essential to control tyre pressure regularly.

3. Maintain Uniform Tyre Size and Type

While considering the tips for tyre maintenance, you should know that maintaining uniform tyre size and type is often useful while maintaining tyre health. Usually, most passenger cars use radial tyres. According to tyre experts, one should use the same size and type of tyres for all four car positions. Unless the vehicle manufacturer suggests different tyre sizes for the front and back wheels, one should avoid mixing and matching for better results.

Using different tyre types and sizes can end up causing damage to tyres. Moreover, not knowing the right ways of using and maintaining a mix and match of tyres in a vehicle can diminish a tyre’s longevity.

4. Try Tyre Rotation

Tyre experts recommend tyre rotation while driving. If you notice tyre wear after every 5000 km, try rotating these. Make sure that each tyre gets equal chances of road exposure while doing so. This will avoid excessive wear on one of the tyres, disrupting your driving flow.

Regular tyre rotation ascertains healthy tyre conditions. As all the tyres are uniformly worn, the riding experience remains smooth. Moreover, tyre longevity also increases in this process.

5. Consider the Size of Wheel Bolts

The wheel bolts are usually provided to the vehicle owner by the manufacturer. This reduces your control over their size. However, in general, you should ensure that the bolts used for tyres are not too short or long. They should be moderate in size to fit the construction of all kinds of tyres.

If the bolts are not the right shape, there are chances of their malfunctioning. As a result, the wheels might pop out. They can also injure your vehicle’s suspension. Therefore, it is always advisable to get the bolts checked by an expert after purchasing a car.

6. Maintain Smooth Driving

Another important procedure for tyre maintenance can be being a careful and smooth driver. It is advisable to remain slightly careful and avoid rash driving as much as possible. For instance, the tyres will undergo major damage if you are driving at high speed and applying emergency brakes.

Driving at a neutral speed is therefore preferable for maintaining tyre quality. This will not require abrupt braking and maintain minimum wear on the tyres. Moreover, avoiding poor road conditions can also reduce tyre damage.

7. Go for a Wheel Alignment Service

Checking wheel alignment and getting proper services are mandatory if you aim to maintain your cars longer. It helps to ensure that all the wheel angles are aligned with the other vehicle parts as specified by the maker. Tyre experts check wheel alignment from the camber, caster and toe angles.

In most cases, tyre experts advise drivers to consider a wheel alignment check at least once every 5,000 km. Otherwise, they can consider it when they find lopsided wear on the tyre. Consistent alignment of the wheels helps reduce tyres' wear and tear.

8. Check Wheel Balance Regularly

As you are probably aware, proper balancing is essential for the wheels and tyres to function effectively. It allows wheels and tyres to rotate without friction, naturally reducing the excessive wear and tear of the tyres. When you drive for a long time in poor road conditions, the tyres are likely to go through wheel imbalance.

In order to avoid this, it is advisable to undergo wheel balancing services. Tyre experts can bring back the balance by applying a counterweight on the opposite side of the rim. Effective balance in the tyres will help you maintain your tyre health for a long time.

9. Consider Tyre Replacement

Tyre life varies based on the vehicle and tyre type. Therefore, selecting a car and its tyres is essential, keeping your driving patterns and practices in mind. If you are more into driving in wet weather conditions or on poor roads, the tyres are likely to wear out more often. In such situations, you must replace the tyres whenever the tread wear indicator becomes visible.

10. Plan to Avoid Monsoon Hydroplaning

Tyres are more prone to premature wear and tear during the monsoon season. Particularly, it becomes difficult to drive through water-logged areas with such tyres. It involves a risk of hydroplaning. Therefore, it is advised that the drivers plan and avoid such situations with preventative measures.

The best measure to take here is to avoid tread wear. If your tyre tread is worn out, try to replace it before the start of the monsoon to avoid hydroplaning. This way, you can drive in poor road conditions without facing major interruptions.

11. Use a Car Jack

Make sure to use a hydraulic car jack every time you are swapping your vehicle’s tyres. it is always safer and more reliable to do so if you are not taking professional help. If you cannot find a hydraulic jack, simply use the regular jack that you received from the manufacturer. In addition, make sure that the base where you are swapping the puncturer tyre is rigid and even.

12. Store Tyres Safely

If you are planning to maintain your tyres for a long time, it is essential to store them in the right places. Cool and dry places away from chemicals and substances like grease and petroleum are considered ideal for storing tyres. Furthermore, these areas should be free of heat, sunlight and electric pipes. make sure to avoid stagnant water while storing tyres.

Additional Tips to Maintain Tyres

Here are some additional tips that can assist you.

• If you are fitting both radials and non-radials in your vehicle, avoid using them in the same axle.
• tyres with deeper tread should be fitted to the rear axle.
• Avoid fitting tyres of different speed ratings in one vehicle.
• While changing tyres, take advice from the dealers and professionals regarding the rim width and choose the product wisely.
• Always use sets of four when fitting snow tyres or all-season tyres to performance vehicles.

Now that you understand the tyre maintenance guide better, you must be curious to know the importance of tyre servicing. Here are some unavoidable reasons to consider tyre servicing for maintaining tyre health.

Optimum working conditions: Regular servicing of the car tyres helps maintain efficiency and an optimum working condition. The tyres can get a better road grip, and the driving safety of the riders increases considerably.

Braking performance: The tyres are in direct contact with the road and are therefore responsible for braking. When you consider regular servicing, tyres will perform braking perfectly without skidding. On the other hand, your control on braking will reduce with poorly maintained tyres.

Tyre longevity: As discussed already, regular maintenance will naturally increase the longevity of the tyres. Their durability increases when there is low wear and damage to the tread. This will help you lower your expenses on car tyres.

Road safety: Tyres are one of the major reasons behind road safety. Regular services will reduce damages in these, ascertaining their high-performance quality. It will reduce any risks or threats of driving on the road with risks of tyre performance and road grip.

Vehicle maintenance: Damages and diminished performance of car tyres are likely to affect the other parts of a car as well. For instance, they can affect the suspension of your vehicle. The rims of the wheels are also affected due to the performance of the tyres. Therefore, tyre servicing can help you save money on repairing your vehicle.

If you notice the following issues in your vehicle, it indicates that you should change your tyres instantly for road safety.

Worn-out marks in the tread: Treads are the grooves on the tyre surfaces which enhance the connection between a tyre and the road. These are designed to avoid water formation between the tyre and the road, reducing your control while driving. Therefore, worn-out marks on the tread indicate a need to change tyres immediately.

Excessive and uneven wear: If you frequently ride across poor road conditions, tyres will likely suffer from uneven wear and tear. Moreover, poor wheel alignment and high-speed cornering can also cause this issue. Consider changing your tyre if you observe that the tread depth on one side is more than the other.

Tyre grip: Multiple factors in the tyres are responsible for maintaining the right grip on the road, which enhances your road safety. These include the tread pattern, steering linkage, inflation pressure and type of rubber compound. Moreover, wheel alignment and balancing are also essential here. Thus, if you feel that there is a drop in the tyre grip while driving, you must go for a quick check up.

Extensive usage: If you use your vehicle extensively daily or through tough terrains, the tyres will likely undergo heavy damage. You must check for signs in this case. For instance, if the tyres keep puncturing frequently, it indicates that they are being worn out. Moreover, keeping track of the kilometres done is also essential. if your tyres serve more than the recommended distance, it indicates an overuse.

Sidewall damages: The area between the tread and bead of tyres is called the sidewall. If you find signs of damage such as crack, dent or bubble in the sidewall, you need to change your car tyres. It can cause tyre leaks or tyre bursts at highway speed.

Reduced performance: If you feel that your tyre cannot provide efficient functions, it might be time to replace it. It can include skidding while braking or frequent punctures even in moderate road conditions.

Therefore, tyre maintenance should be one of your priorities if you are a vehicle owner. Make sure to keep track of the tyre conditions through regular inspections. If you cannot do so, get help from the service centres. Ultimately, this process will help you save money on your car's performance quality.