Merityre Article Archive

Car tyres don’t generally ask too much of you. However, neglecting them can prove expensive and, in some circumstances, dangerous. These ten tips will enhance car tyre life, reduce your spending and perhaps save your life.

1. The wrong car tyre pressure is costly. Running on overinflated tyres accelerates wear and reduces both grip and ride comfort. Underinflated tyres also wear more quickly, and can worsen fuel economy by as much as ten percent. Check your tyre pressures regularly.

2. Cuts in car tyres are obvious. Lumps or bulges may be less so but they tend to indicate damage inside the car tyre’s carcass. Check for any such damage while correcting tyre pressures. If in any doubt, avoid the risk of a blowout by having a tyre specialist examine the damage.

3. A spare wheel with a flat tyre is worse than useless. Check the spare tyre pressure regularly, unless you have run flat tyres or an onboard tyre pump and repair kit. Remember that space saver spare tyres generally have speed and distance restrictions.

4. If, at car tyre checking time, you find a stone embedded in a tyre tread, you can lever it out before it causes damage. However, if you find a nail in a tyre, leave it alone. The nail will be temporarily keeping the air in – have a tyre specialist take a look. He may be able to repair the tyre.

5. While using the tyre inflator at a garage, or a tyre pump at home, look after the tyre valve dust caps. They keep dirt and grit away from the delicate valves, and are a line of defence against tyre pressure loss. Always put them back carefully.

6. Potholes can damage more than your car tyres. Hit a large one hard enough and you could be facing a bill for the repair or replacement of one or more wheels. Should you be unlucky enough to encounter a big pothole and suspect damage has occurred, stop and examine the affected wheel(s) and tyre(s).

7. Never straddle a speed bump. Instead, let the wheels on one side of your car pass over the bump. This will prevent damage to your car’s tyres, steering and suspension. When negotiating speed bumps and road-width speed pads, slow down or face the cost of repairs.

8. When you’re manoeuvering, curb your enthusiasm so you don’t kerb your car tyres. Kerb impacts can wreck not only tyres, they can scratch, chip and even dent your car’s wheels. Steering misalignment can also result from kerbing.

9. Keep your car in a garage, if you can. Car tyres suffer from prolonged exposure to ultra violet light. This leads to cracking and crazing of the car tyre sidewalls’ structure.

10. When the time to buy replacement tyres rolls around, think about replacing all four. Should this be too costly, always have new tyres fitted in pairs. It’s accepted that the new tyres should be fitted to the rear wheels.

Article Resource

Merityre.co.uk are one of the leading UK independent suppliers of car tyres. Why not visit their website for an online tyre quote or contact your nearest fitting centre.

All car tyres have them but not everyone knows what the markings moulded in a tyre’s sidewall means. At the very least, it is necessary on many cars to check the sidewall as the tyre pressure to be used can relate to the tyre size. However, this little trip through the meaning of the markings will inform, especially when the time to buy new tyres arrives.

Here, we can use a theoretical, typical car tyre. Let’s say it’s marked 185/55R13 91 H. Confused already? Don’t be, things will become perfectly clear! Take the tyre markings one by one….

185 – This is the width of the tyre’s section in millimetres, i.e. the width of the carcass of the tyre, not its tread’s width. 185 millimetres is a little over seven and a quarter inches.

55 – This figure refers to the tyre’s aspect ratio, which is the height of the tyre height expressed as a percentage of its width. 55 is a low-ish profile but aspect ratios can go as low as 30%. Low profile car tyres grip well and deform little but the cost is reduced ride comfort and poor protection against potholes, kerbs and road debris.

R – This couldn’t be simpler. Here, R means radial.

13 – This number refers to the diameter of wheel the tyre will fit. Why this is expressed in inches rather than millimetres isn’t clear but it is standard practice.

91 – This is the tyre load index, a code for the maximum load capacity of the tyre when driven at its maximum rated speed. The figure 91 means a rating of 615 kilograms.

H – This final marking shows the tyre’s speed rating. This H rating means the tyre can cope with extended use at a maximum speed of 130 miles per hour (210 kilometres per hour). The highest possible speed rating is Z. Car tyres thus marked are capable of maintaining 150 mph (240 kph).

There are numerous other markings on a car tyre’s sidewall, some of which are for the tyre fitter’s information. For example, if the tyre has a specific direction of rotation, there will be an arrow. A ‘TWI’ marking denotes where the tread wear indicator(s) are moulded into the tyre’s tread. A coloured dot will show the tyre fitter where the tyre casing should sit on the wheel in relation to the valve. There will also be ECE (not EEC) type approval markings, possibly special construction markings, such as M&S (Mud and Snow), and a maximum pressure marking.

One marking that could be of interest to you is the DOT code. The last four numbers in this show the tyre’s date of manufacture. Four-digit codes began after 2003 so if your new car tyre has the code 2 5 0 9, it was made in the 30^th week of 2009. Tyres over 6 years old must never be used.

All very interesting but do these markings matter to you? Apart from the aforementioned tyre size vs. tyre pressure element, the speed and load ratings are extremely important. Why? Because at best, using under-specified tyres is illegal and can invalidate your car insurance. At worst, the wrong kind of tyre can fail and cause a potentially lethal accident at high speed.

Article Resource

Merityre.co.uk are one of the leading UK independent suppliers of car tyres. Why not visit their website for an online tyre quote or contact your nearest fitting centre.