How to Check the Condition and Tread of your Tyres

Cars with illegal tyres face a fine of up to £2,500 and three penalty points per tyre.

In addition to that is really is dangerous to drive on tyres that are in poor condition or incorrectly inflated.

If your tyre collapses or bursts at speed you could be in a serious safety situation.

Click here for a very useful Tyre Tread Guide to help you work out if your trye tread is road legal, courtesy of Farmers Autocare

Follow these simple steps every month to check your car tyres are up to scratch. 

Step 1 - Check General Condition
Visually inspect your tyres, make sure there are no lumps, bulges or tyre tears and ensure all tyres have an ‘E’ marked on them.

Step 2 - Check Tyre tread depth

It is important to check your tyre tread, which is basically how deep the grooves are on the tyre which give the tyre its grip. 

When the groove depth reaches 1.6mm you are required by law to replace the tyres. 

Most Tyre and exhaust centres will check your tyres for you for free and advise if they need changed.

Step 3 - Check tyre wear

Check if there are particular areas of your tyre that are looking worn down. 

Tyre wear differs depending on the position where the tyre is located and you can rotate your tyres to different positions around the car to prolong their life.  Move the front tyres to the back and swap their sides. 

Very uneven tyre wear can indicate a problem with the alignment of the car or with the drive system in general so always take it to a specialist Tyre centre to check.

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