With winter in full swing, it is essential that motorists make sure that their tyres are adequate and in good condition. Read our 5 tyre care tips for winter below:
1 – Check your tyre pressure regularly
Lower temperatures can cause your tyres pressures to drop, making it even more important to check your tyres during the winter months. When your tyre pressures drop, the contact patch with be bigger, making it harder to gain traction on snow and ice.
2 – Check your tread
The legal limit for minimum tyre tread depth in the UK is 1.6mm, around the whole tyre and across three quarters of the tread. Having adequate tread is important in all weathers, but even more so when trying to grip in winter conditions.
3 – Consider suitable tyres
Most cars come with summer tyres as standard rather than winter or all-season tyres. Summer tyres tend to remain hard in cold conditions, yet winter and all-season tyres mould to shape of the road to maintain grip. Winter tyres are recommended for temperatures below 7°C.
4 – Be aware of braking distances
When braking on icy roads at 20mph, A car using winter tyres will stop after around 57m, but the same car with summer tyres will stop at around 68m. As a result, you may need to re-evaluate your braking distances.
5 – Look for cosmetic damage
As well as carrying out all of the above checks on your tyres during the winter season, you should also be aware of any cosmetic damage to your tyres. Look out for things like tears, bulges, rips or chunks missing from the tyre as these could compromise the strength and stability of the tyre.