Four Ways of Extending the Life of Your Vehicle Tyres
Besides enabling a vehicle to move from one point to another, tyres play a huge role in ensuring safety and stability on the road. Failure to take proper care of your tyres can lead to faster wear and tear, extreme fuel consumption, and even accidents, especially if the road is wet and slippery. Seeing that replacing even a single tyre is not cheap, how can you extend the life of your tyres and keep them in proper working condition?
Monthly tyre pressure checks
All vehicles operate on a different tyre pressure, so it's important to know where your car is most stable and comfortable. Ideally, you should check your tyre pressure once monthly, but if you travel a long distance or use bad roads, it might be better to check the pressure twice a month. Over-inflating or under-inflating your tyres can cause uneven wear and make your vehicle tremble when you are driving. It's essential to know the correct pressure for your car and balance all the tyres, so all of them have the same pressure.
Wheel alignment
Have you ever felt like your car is forcing you to go one direction when you are trying to drive straight ahead? That is an indication that the wheels are not correctly aligned with the suspension and it is very dangerous especially in wet climate. Wheel misalignment can cause the tyres to wear down faster and use up a lot of your energy because you have to keep the car in line physically. You should have you're the wheels aligned at least once a year by an auto mechanic.
Tyre rotation
Though most people know that the front and rear tyres don't wear down at the same rate, very few people actually have them rotated. The only way to ensure the treads on your tyres are even is to move the front tyres to the rear side and vice versa once a year. Ideally, you should do this when changing the oil since the car is already at the service shop.
Wheel balancing
Wheels that are out of balance tend to wear down on one side only and eventually you will have a puncture on that side. One way you can tell that the wheels are out of balance is if you feel a specific vibration on your steering wheel or drivers chair while driving at around 70kph. You must take the car to the shop where the auto mechanic will mount it on a balancing machine and attach a lead weight or locking lugs on the opposite side of the heavier part.
Over and above everything auto mechanics can do to maintain your car tyres, it is important to drive carefully and avoid potholes where possible. This will enable you to extend the life of the tyres and avoid costly repairs.