Tyre Care

Correct tyre care is as important as picking the correct tyre to begin with. Correctly maintaining your tyres will ensure your tyres maintain the correct level of performance, maximise tyre life, improve fuel economy and always be safe for you to drive on. With tyres being the only thing between your motor vehicle and the road, ensuring they are always at there optimum is the biggest thing you can do to ensure your car is as efficient and safe as possible.

Tyre Maintenance

Inflation

To achieve maximum performance from your tyres and the handling of your vehicle it's important that you have the tyres properly inflated. Over-inflated tyres have smaller 'footprints' and produce less traction, but on the flip side under-inflated tyres have decreased durability and life.

Although both cases have their negative side effects, it's important to remember that a minimal variance of 6psi will significantly impair performance. In order for the tyre to have optimum ground contact and to transfer power effectively, a vehicles tyres must be inlflated properly and aligned

For the correct tyre pressure in your vehicle please refer to the manufacturers handbook or call Goodspanner and they will be more than happy to give you the right advice.

Tyre inspection

Performing a routine tyre inspection yourself cannot only save you time and money it can also save you from having an accident.

Tyres experience a pretty hard life with the whole weight of your car and all the loads they can generate not too mention the conditions of your local roads all mean that the need to continually check your tyres for damage, uneven wear and correct inflation has never been more important.

Tyres that have uneven tyre wear (tread that is wearing in an uneven pattern or more on the outside than the inside) can be signs of under inflation, incorrect wheel alignment or possible suspension damage/wear. If uneven wear exists on your car and the tyre pressures are correct, drop in to one of our centres to have them inspected.

Due to increasing wear and tear on our roads, potholes have become more prevalent. If your tyre hits a pothole this can cause severe sidewall damage. This will generally look like a bubble in the tyre. This is literally a hernia of the sidewall and is extremely dangerous to drive on. If you notice a bubble in the sidewall of your tyre we recommend having it looked at immediately.

Tyre pressures can also be a sign of possible damage to your tyres. If one of your tyres is much lower in pressure than the rest it could be a sign that you have a puncture or a slow leak. These days most punctures can be repaired safely and easily however the most common cause of un repairable punctures is when the car has driven on the flat tyre. This can damage the tyre in a matter of seconds. Be sure if you notice a flat tyre that you either replace it for the spare or pump it back to correct pressure immediately and have the tyre inspected as soon as you can.

Spare tyre inspection. This is something that is very often overlooked and is so important. When you are performing your routine inspection of your tyres be sure to inspect the spare tyre, this includes condition, pressure and all the tools are there required for changing the wheel. We so often see people who get a flat tyre and cannot get it to be repaired because they either don’t have a tool kit or the spare tyre is also flat.

Wheel alignment

In a nut shell, wheel alignment consists of adjusting the angles of the wheels so that they're perpendicular to the ground and parallel to each other. The purpose of having the correct adjustments is to maximise tyre life. In short, you want a vehicle that tracks straight and true when you're driving along a straight and level road

Camber

Camber is the inward or outward tilt of the wheels when viewing the vehicle from the front/ If the top of the wheel is leaning out from the centre of the vehicle, then the camber is positive, if it's leaning in, the camber if is negative. Excessive positive or negative camber causes wear on the outside or inside of the tread of the wheel - one side wear.

Caster

Caster is the degree (as represented by the angle) to which a wheel is situated ahead of or behind the top mount. It ensures the force, which attempts to restore the wheel directions to the straightforward direction when the steering wheel is turned.

Toe

Toe is the degree (as represented by the angle) to which the tyres are pointed inwards or outwards from a top-down view. When the front tyres are pointing inward it is described as a positive toe, when they are pointing outward the toe is negative. Correct toe can have a major impact on tread wear, as well as the stability of your vehicle.