Properly maintaining your tyres is just as important as maintaining the rest of your car. It is possible to extend its life by following a few simple steps. Trust us, a regular tyre maintenance routine can save you a lot of money and keep you and your family safe while driving even on the tough roads. Not following these tyre care can lead to problems ranging from excessive wear to premature failure, and investing in a new set of tyres can turn out to be a costly affair.

Although now you can get the best tyres for Indian roads that are quite durable, here are a few things that you can do to further prolong your tyre’s life:

Tyre Pressure

The most important aspect of maintaining car tyres is checking and maintaining the correct tyre pressure. Tyres lose air pressure whether they are used or even if they are parked and are needed to be refilled at least every month. Regularly check the air pressure of all the tyres including the spare. The best time to do so is before starting driving when tyre temperature is the same as ambient temperature or “cold condition”. Proper inflation pressure not only increases tyre life but also results in good handling, comfort, and safety, including fuel efficiency.

Regular Wheel Alignment

Regular wheel alignment has many benefits. For starters, it will ensure an even tread wear on all the tyres resulting in longer wear life. Secondly, any malfunctioning component of the suspension will come to your notice. Hence, wheel alignment is an important way to ensure your tyres and your car’s suspension components are in good shape. Proper Wheel alignment not only helps in increasing tyre life , it also helps to improves overall vehicle handling performance and optimize driving stability.

Tyre Rotation

This is another way to ensure even tread wear between all the tyres. The tyres of the front wheels are prone to faster wear and tear due to more traction and braking forces on them. The tyres on the rear axle experience less wear and tear, mostly because of less friction generation during acceleration. Hence, one should make sure to rotate the wheels at regular intervals. Also, even the spare wheel should be put to use at regular intervals. This will help with ensuring even tread wear on all five tyres. Another benefit of using the spare tyre is that any issue with the Stepney will come to notice immediately.

Wheel Balancing-  An unbalanced wheel may cause vibration to the vehicle as well as results in uneven tyre wear. It is recommended to balance the tyre rim assembly along with tyre rotation or when vibrations are felt. Proper wheel balancing helps in reducing uneven wear thereby extending the tyre life.

All the abovesaid maintenance practices should be followed as per the frequency and the patterns recommended by the OEM or if any irregular wear, pulling, or vibrations are felt.  

Driving Style

Apart from maintenance of the vehicle and tyres, driving style can affect the life of tyres to a great extent. Hard acceleration that causes wheel spin, as well as aggressive braking and cornering, can cause even the best tyres built for Indian roads to wear out quickly. Avoiding too many sudden braking and accelerations will not only get you even wear and long life from tyres but also the best fuel efficiency from the vehicle.

When to replace?

Even after following these steps, tyres need to be replaced once the tread wears out. It is not only unsafe to use worn-out tyres but can be life-threatening especially at high speeds or in wet road conditions.

When the tyre reaches to TWI level i.e. 1.6 mm height, its time to change the tyres.

Conclusion

If the tyres are maintained well, they will wear evenly and will last long. Well-maintained tyres are safer to run and provide an optimum ride and handling performance.