How to get the most mileage out of your tyres

Once you’ve got a new set of tyres on your your vehicle, I bet you don’t even think about them until you have to replace them again but one of the most common questions we get asked is “How to get the most mileage out of your tyres?”

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Sound like you? Alright you should keep reading… I’ll try and keep this short.

I’ve said it before but it is really important to be safe while driving. Yes, that’s a cliche I know. Sorry. But in all seriousness, have you thought about it? You probably know someone (maybe even have a family member or close relative) that has been killed in a car accident and it’s no joke. Why don’t you do your bit to help? It’s really easy.

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3 Things...

• Keep your tyres pumped up
• Check their tread depth
• and rotate them

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Inflation/Pressure

If you’ve got the right pressure in your tyres, this keeps the tyre in correct shape and ensures the right part of the tyre is in contact with the road.

“If you keep the pressure at about 30 – 35PSI you should be good.*”

*Obviously this totally depends on what you’re driving and what tyres you’ve got. NZTA have got a good tool for working this out, check it out here.

Here’s the thing, if you pump your tyres up too much they become too rounded and not enough of the tread is in contact with the surface. Conversely, if they aren’t inflated enough, the side wall comes down and starts touching the surface and the center of the tread tends to arch away from the road. I probably don’t need to state the obvious but I will – if the tread isn’t in contact with the road surface, it can’t grip on. There I said it! That’s the reasoning.

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Tread Depth

You know those grooves in the tyres? Yeh, they’re meant to disperse water from between the road and tyre. This helps the tread block stay in contact with the road. This does two things; it helps the tyre grip to the surface and it stops the car from aquaplaning.

“There is a minimum tread depth in the main grooves is 1.5mm here in New Zealand.”

You can run your wheels through a puddle and then onto a dry surface and look at the pattern they’re creating. If the pattern shows quite clearly you should be alright but if some of the detail of the tyre pattern is smudged or just not there it might be a good idea to check the tread depth.

If you’ve got a 20c coin, you can place this into the tread grooves with the number ’20’ at the bottom and facing you. If you can see the complete number 20, you know it’s about time to replace your tyres. If the number 20 is covered, you can be pretty certain the tread is deep enough.

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Rotation

Some parts of the vehicle are heavier (i.e. in a car the motor is at the front ) which can cause uneven wear front-to-back or even left-hand and right-hand sides may be heavier.

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So there you have it, 3 ways to keep your tyres cared for and maintained. You don’t have to do these thing every week but just so long as you do them every now and then you’ll good to go.

Oh and where can you get great tyres? Start right here!