Why you should replace your car’s tyres.

Your car’s tyres are the only part of the car that is in contact with the road. With worn out and perishing rubber, your $250,000 Porsche will handle worse and be more dangerous than a $15,000 Great Wall ute with brand new tyres. Think of it as a race between Usain Bolt in flippers against your average weekend warrior wearing the best runners that money can buy.

So how do you tell if you need new tyres?

a) The tread wear bar is flush or level with the tread. This is a signal to tell you that there is not enough depth left in the tread to sufficiently grip the road and disperse water.

b) They were manufactured more than 5-6 years ago. This is actually simple to work out. There will be a four digit number on the tyre. The first two tell you the week (e.g. 52 = the last week in the year) and the second two tell you the year (e.g. 09 = 2009).

As it turns out, rubber goes off like milk. As it ages, it goes hard and does not provide the same level of grip. It might not make you sick if you drink it, but if your tyres let go and your car slides into a tree, drinking milk well past its ‘use by’ date will be the least of your worries.

REASONS3

1. Your safety.

2. More fun and more comfort.

3. You will have to replace them when you sell your car anyway, so you may as well enjoy them!

PRICE: Depends on type of tyre (e.g. performance, comfort, 4WD etc.), wheel size, brand and any manufacturer specials available at the time.

More details: http://www.jaxquickfit.com.au/, http://www.bobjane.com.au/, http://www.beaurepaires.com.au/, http://tyrepower.com.au/

One: Your safety.

Automotive manufacturers often spruik the active and passive safety technologies in their cars. Active safety features, such as ABS and stability control, help avoid accidents by stepping in when your tyres lose traction and you begin to lose control of the car. Passive safety features, such as seat belts and airbags, are designed to minimise harm in the event of accident.

If you were stuck in a fire, the active safety features would be the fire brigade and the passive safety features would be the paramedics. In this situation, if the fire can’t be put out quickly, you’ll be hoping that the ambulance can get you to the hospital really quickly. This whole debacle might have been easier avoided if you had just replaced the twenty-year-old iron that likes to spark from time to time.

It follows that if your brand new tyres provide more grip, there is less likelihood that either of your car’s emergency services will be called into action.

Two: More fun. More comfort.

Put simply, new tyres are the cheapest performance and comfort upgrade that you can make.

Despite some spending a small fortune on upgrades such as turbochargers, sports suspension and exhausts, we all defer the purchase of new tyres. More grip means that you can go around corners quicker!

For those that just shrugged your shoulders, there is something in it for you too. As tyres get older, the rubber becomes harder and less flexible. This means that the tyre doesn’t help the suspension out as much when it comes time absorb the thump from that giant pothole you just hit. To make matters worse, harder tyres create more noise as they roll along the road, which results in more tyre roar seeping into the cabin.

Three: You’ll have to replace them when you sell the car anyway!

Regardless of what state of Australia you live in, you are required to get a certificate of roadworthiness in order to sell your car. Using the example of Victoria, a car will not be roadworthy if any part of the tread wear bars are in contact with the road, there is less than 1.5mm tread depth remaining or the rubber has perished.

For those with old or worn out tyres, this will likely mean replacing your tyres before being able to sell your car. So rather than replacing your tyres two weeks before you sell, why not enjoy the safety and performance benefits for the next year or two?

Why not?

You don’t own a car. Or… You are reading this while your car is having a wheel alignment and new tyres fitted. No excuses. Go get those old and worn out tyres replaced!