Maintaining Tyre Safety Learn 3 Basic Checks

Article written by Bush Tyres

Making Time For Tyre Safety

In June 2024 The Motor Ombudsman launched the ‘Make Time for Tyres‘ tyre safety awareness campaign. Supported by TyreSafe and tyre safety campaigner Sophie Lyden, the initiative underscores the importance of regularly checking tyre pressure, tread depth and overall condition.

The Motor Ombudsman is the Ombudsman dedicated to the automotive industry and covers all garages and body shops in the UK. The UK Garage and Bodyshop event is run every 2 years at the NEC in Birmingham. This event brings together industry professionals from all over the UK and beyond. The initiative is designed to remind users of all types of vehicles to check their tyres regularly. They should be not only checked to make sure they are road legal, but also safe to use.

The photograph below is of a tyre that was recently removed from a vehicle at our Scunthorpe Branch. The tyre below and the one above are both badly worn on their inner edges making them harder to check. This difficult to spot tyre wear, which is obvious to see now, has resulted in the chorded material which forms part of the casing of the tyre to become exposed. This could have resulted in a dangerous “blow-out” or sudden deflation. This customer now has two replacement tyres and benefited from an Alignment adjustment to prevent this from happening again.

To help avoid a potentially dangerous situation like this, and the fine and penalty points don’t wait for your tyres to wear to this level and make time for your tyres today.

How To Check Your Tyres

We all live very busy lives were there are barely enough hours in the day, but it is really important that we all regular check our tyres. By learning the method outlined below it will become very easy to carry out a tyre safety check on your tyres, and once you’ve got yourself into a routine it won’t take that long at all to complete. Best of all, you’ll know your tyres are safe!

The easy was to do this is to remember A-C-T: Air Pressure, Condition, Tread depth. The best time to carry out these checks is when cleaning your car or whenever your car is parked off the road in a safe place, for example, on a driveway or in a car park.

If you remember to park with your wheels fully turned one way, you will then be able to see the whole of the front tyre. You should start by looking at the tyre for any signs of uneven wear. Check for any cracks on the sidewalls or deep cracks within the grooves of the tread. Many tyres have “wear markers” between the tread, these raised sections of rubber help to see when the tyre is worn close to the legal limit.

You could also use a tyre depth gauge if you have one. Alternatively, a 20p piece can be used as a visual guide. Place the coin into the groove, if the border is still visible, you should call into your local Bush Tyres for a more accurate tyre safety check to be carried out. Our technicians can measure and advise when you need to change your tyres.

If you are not sure about carrying out these checks yourself, all our locations offer a FREE Tyre Safety Check. Our team of tyre experts will check all your tyres including the spare and then reset all your pressures to manufacturers specification.

It Only Takes A Few Moments To Check

With the summer holidays virtually upon us, and with many off us getting away on holiday, spending a few moments to ‘Make Time for Tyres’ becomes all the more important.

If you are concerned about your tyres after performing a tyre safety check, and you don’t feel safe to drive your vehicle, we can come to you. Our mobile tyre fitting service means you don’t have to drive a potential dangerous and illegal vehicle.

To learn more about this Mobile Fitting Service click here or if you’d like to get an expert opinion on your tyres please visit one of our Bush Tyres branches for a FREE Tyre Safety Check. And remember to “Make Time for Tyres” this summer and beyond.

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