Are my tyres still safe?

Your tyres are the only contact your vehicle has with the road and they play a vital role in ensuring that your journey is a safe one.

Tyres are the essential point between your vehicle and the ground. If the tread is not deep enough, there will not be enough grip. Your car will loose traction and suffer extended braking times. It will also make it harder to control your vehicle in wet weather and the chance of aquaplaning increases. To ensure your safety, make sure to check the tread depth or your tyres on a regular basis. 

Tread is the rubber on your tyres that touches the road. Throughout a tyres lifetime the tread will wear down, which can affect the braking distance and your vehicle control will be impaired.

To help you identify whether a tyre is still safe to drive, here an overview: 

Tyres wear at a different rate. It's best to have your better tyres at the rear of the vehicle and the less worn at the front. The grip of the rear tyres is crucial to directional stability. If a tyre bursts at the rear, this usually leads to an uncontrolled slide however when losing grip at the front means the vehicle continues to skid in a straight line. 

We recommend that front and rear wheels are swapped about every 10,000 kilometres. This allows all four tyres to wear evenly and can then be replaced at the same time.

Tyre tread depth gauge

If you have a tyre tread depth gauge, use it to measure the depth and to make sure the tyre is still safe. In the case, that you do not have a tyre tread depth gauge, you can also use a €1 coin. 

Place it in the groove of the tyre and see if the gold border shows above the tread. If it does, the tread is less than 3mm thick. It is time to consider replacing them. 

Make sure to check several areas of the tyre, as it might not wear off evenly. This can be a result if misaligned tyres. 

If you are uncertain about the measurement, get in contact with us and we will check it for you. 

Summary

• Worn tyres reduce the effectiveness of braking, steering and acceleration particularly in the wet.
• The minimum legal tread depth is 1.6mm
• Worn tyres are not only dangerous, they are illegal and could bring penalty points your way.
• If you are involved in a crash with bald tyres, your insurance company may not pay out on the basis of dangerous driving.

To get prices or more information on tyre, please contact a member of our team today.