Safety Checks

When was the last time you took a long, hard look at your tyres? They can tell you more about your car’s condition than you think. Your tyres are one of the most important aspects of your vehicle. The wear down quickly and many drivers don’t take the time to care for them. New drivers are particularly oblivious to their tyre condition. Did you know, for example, that there’s an optimum tyre pressure that you must stick to? Did you know there’s a legal limit when it comes to tyre wear and tread depth?

These are the things you should be looking out for on your vehicle. The tyres themselves also reveal some deeper secrets. They can help you diagnose problems in the steering alignment, and even the suspension. The state of your tyres indicates the first signs of trouble within the car. In this post, we’ll show you how to pay more attention. We’ll teach you to understand exactly what your tyres are trying to tell you.

1. Heavy central wear

When the tyres are heavily worn down in the centre of the tyre, it means just one thing. Your tyres are overinflated. It means that only the central part of the tyre is coming into contact with the road. Overinflation is bad for a number of reasons. First of all, it gives you a distinct lack of control over the car. The less contact there is with the road, the less grip you have on the tarmac. Secondly, it can seriously impact the efficiency and performance of the vehicle. Always stick to the recommended inflation pressure.

2. Heavy outer wear

As you would expect, lots of wear on the outer parts of the tyre suggest the opposite problem. Your tyres are significantly under inflated. You’re running close to flat. All the strain of the car is being forced to the outer part of the tyres, causing excess wear. Running on flat tyres puts a lot of pressure on the engine. Just think about how hard you have to pedal when biking on a flat tyre. Your engine is under the same strain. This is a clear example of how the tyres can indicate a much bigger problem developing under the bonnet.

3. Cracks and bulges

Cracks along the outer wall of the tyre usually occur as a result of under inflation. When the tyres aren’t pumped up, the structure of the tyre collapses, causes cracks to appear at the edges. If there is also heavy outer wear, you’ve got a serious case of under inflation. This makes it much more likely that damage from road bumps, kerbs, and debris will occur. If there is serious impact damage, you’ll see a bump or bulge under the rubber. Unfortunately, there’s only one solution, and that’s a replacement! You can buy tyres from your local garage or online via a type shop such as tyre-shopper.co.uk

or visit a reputable dealer to carry out the change. Type specialists such as National Tyres are the UK’s No.1 fast fit retailer for car tyres so if you have any problems or questions then head to our nearest garage.

4. Feathering and cupping

Lastly, look out for uneven wear, as it spells trouble inside the system. Cupping is when there is ‘mountainous’, up-and-down wear. It means the suspension is in trouble. Feathering is when the edges of the tread are smooth, but the inside is raised. It means your alignment is drifting.

As you can see, your tyres tell you a lot about the condition of your car. Learn to read them, and take action.

Severe wear on just one side? You’ve got trouble! Image Source

Cars across the UK are not being checked for vehicle recalls during their service at local garages. After the recent global recall crisis, OSV Ltd were shocked to find that 92% of garages do not check for potentially life threatening recall notices on your vehicle.

After the news that Toyota and Nissan were adding 6.5 million vehicles to the recall list over airbags, OSV Ltd wanted to find out if local garages were checking for potentially dangerous recall notifications whilst your car was in for a service. After questioning 100 local garages, OSV Ltd found that only 8% would check for any recalls on your vehicle as standard.

43% of the garages explained that they would check for recalls if asked to by the cars owner but a whopping 49% of local garages do not and would not check for vital vehicle recalls.

OSV Ltd then decided to take the report one step further and find out how many people use local garages to service their vehicle over approved dealerships.

Overall, 45% of the UK would take their vehicle to be serviced in a local garage, only 22% would take it to an approved dealership and then 33% did not have vehicles so could not take part.

Interestingly, women were more likely to take their car to an approved dealership. When comparing the results OSV Ltd found the figure rises to 29% for women but shrinks to just 15% for men.
The survey also suggested that Northern Ireland potentially have the safest amount of cars on the road, with 33% of participants from Northern Ireland stating that they take their car to an approved dealership. Only 25% from Wales, 23% from England and 22% from Scotland admitted that they take their car to an approved dealership for servicing.

Maybe not so surprising is the fact that OSV Ltd found that 18-24’s were less likely to book at an approved dealership. Only 11% of the participants in that age range take their car to an approved dealership. This could be down to a number of factors such as monetary constraints.

OSV Ltd surveyed 200 local garages and 500 UK residents.

4 Things You Car Tyres Are Trying To Tell You

Local Garages Ignoring Unsafe Motors