Busy Parents’ Guide to Tyre Care: Prioritising Safety First

*Collaborative Post

In cities like London and Southampton, the roads can be tricky to negotiate. When you are on busy city streets, the speeds may not be fast but you have to have your wits about you with so many safety considerations from pedestrians stepping into the road to motorbikes weaving through slow-moving traffic. Even if you do most of your driving on motorways like the M3 or M25, safety should be the number one priority. There is often debris on dual carriageways and motorways that can cause damage to tyres, even leading to blowouts which are hard to control when you’re moving at 70mph. What should parents do to make sure their car is safe in all traffic conditions? A big part of the answer lies with tyre maintenance.

Keep Your Tyres Inflated

To begin with, you cannot tell whether your tyres are partially flat by looking at them alone. Of course, very flat tyres will spread out on the road and they are clear and obvious. However, even a few PSI beneath the recommended inflation level could be dangerous and this is something you cannot determine through a visual inspection alone or by simply kicking the tyres. Partially flat tyres don’t perform as well as fully inflated ones. For one thing, you cannot brake to a standstill as quickly when tyres are a little flat. Secondly, you cannot corner as well when tyres slew on the tarmac through under-inflation. Either way, you run the risk of hitting something you could have otherwise avoided if your tyres aren’t properly pumped up.

Replace Tyres With Sidewall Bulges

Although a visual inspection of car tyres isn’t always helpful for spotting ones that are under-inflated, it is still a good idea to look at your tyres carefully once in a while. In particular, pay attention to their sidewalls, the outer section that forms a circle around the hub. When tyres have been exposed to too much UV light, they can start to deteriorate. This tends to occur if you always park the same way facing the sun. When rubber compounds are affected by UV light, they start to break up and the air inside them tries to force its way out. This typically leads to unsightly bulges and means your tyres will eventually burst which isn’t just dangerous but could be fatal to any children playing nearby. Tyres with bulges should be replaced without delay. Find the best tyres in London at Elite Direct and remember that time is of the essence with sidewall bulges. Left unchecked, you will suffer a blowout.

Check the Tread Every Few Thousand Miles

All motorists should check the wear and tear on their tyre tread more often. For parents who use their car for the school run, this is imperative. Remember that checking tread depth isn’t merely about ensuring you are legal on UK roads but making sure everyone is safe. Tyres that are approaching their legal limit cannot shift so much water, so they’re especially problematic in rainy conditions. Don’t skimp. Replace ones that are approaching the end of their lifespan before you are forced to by law if you want to stay safe. After all, you may only need to buy two if you move the back ones to the front and continue to rotate them in this way, something that makes sense for most front-wheel-drive models.

*This is a collaborative post. For further information please refer to my disclosure page.

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