Spring Motoring Checklist: Money-Saving Ways for Car Tyre Care

As the days begin to lengthen, many of us are counting down the days until it is warm enough to go for long day-trip drives. But before you anticipate pub lunches, leisurely coastal walks or even city breaks in the bustling capital, London. You should make sure that your car, and especially your tyres, are in tip-top condition. Here is a spring motoring checklist that will ensure that your car is ready to go – and it may even help you to save some money too!

Tyre Pressure

Keep an eye on your tyre pressure. You can, with a lot of driving, lose as much as 1 psi (pound per square inch of pressure) every month. This means that within a month or two, you may fall below the recommended (and now legal) inflation level. Some garages offer free air to regular customers, while others ask for a modest fee for the service. It is definitely worth paying a pound or two to be sure that your tyre pressure is legally compliant.  Combine it with filling your fuel tank so you are not inconvenienced at all.

 

Know When to Cut Your Losses

Even the best-looked-after tyres will deteriorate with time and use, so be prepared to replace your tyres every five years or so as a rule of thumb. While you might be able to patch up your tyre after one or two punctures, there will quickly come a time when the inconvenience of trying to make your ageing tyres last a little longer becomes a false economy. When you arrive at this point, you are better off cutting your losses and investing in a new set of tyres.  Invest in the best tyres you can afford as it has been proven that good quality tyres last exponentially longer than budget options. DAT Tyres offers car tyres in London – book yours today, no matter if you are a London resident or a visitor who has driven up to take in the sights and enjoy some retail therapy.

Spare Tyre or Patch?

For some time now, manufacturers have not been including spare tyres as standard with new cars. Instead, they provide a patching kit which is lighter, less bulky and (cynically, perhaps) much cheaper than providing another tyre. These kits are easy enough to use, but you might want to decide between carrying the kit or having a spare tyre. You can do this by buying a single tyre, holding onto the best of your old tyres, or perhaps enjoying the best of both so you can patch a tyre or change it, depending on the circumstances! Whichever you opt for, you should do this well before you travel, so it is not an unpleasant surprise to potentially find yourself unable to get back on the road without resorting to roadside assistance.

Swap Out Winter Tyres

If your winter tyres are still on (which they may not be thanks to the unseasonably warm winter we have had this year), it is time to swap them out for their summer alternatives. Winter tyres are very soft, and as such work best in very cold weather: below 7°C. Above this average temperature, they will wear down very quickly, due to the softness and flexibility of the winterised rubber.

Visual Inspection

Give your tyres a regular look-over. Use a torch and take your time to see if you can spot any changes in condition from one inspection to the next. These checks should be undertaken weekly if you drive a lot; fortnightly or monthly if you are only an occasional driver. If you are in doubt about anything you spot during your checks, such as a dark spot., many garages offer free consultations (do check before you commit to accepting a service!) In these consultations they will confirm whether or not something you’ve seen is a potential problem – fixing this problem, will of course need to be paid for. But even if you do find a problem in this way, getting on top of it early can save you a lot of money by preventing breakdowns and blowouts.