Everyday habits that help your tyres last longer and reduce the risk of a breakdown.
Plenty of tyre problems that end up as a roadside breakdown started out as something small and missable. None of the habits below take long, and together they catch most of the common causes before they turn into a flat tyre at the worst possible time.
Under- and over-inflated tyres both wear faster and unevenly, and low pressure in particular increases the risk of overheating and structural damage. A monthly check, done cold, is enough to catch a slow drop before it becomes a problem — your vehicle's handbook or the sticker inside the driver's door will have the correct figure for your car.
Tread depth matters, but so does the condition of the tyre itself. Cracking, bulges, cuts or anything embedded in the tread are all worth having looked at, even if there's plenty of tread left — a tyre can be structurally compromised well before it looks worn.
If a vehicle pulls to one side, or you notice a tyre wearing unevenly across its width, it's usually a sign the alignment needs checking. Left alone, poor alignment wears tyres unevenly and can shorten their working life considerably.
Every tyre has a weight it's rated to carry, and regularly loading a vehicle beyond that adds strain that shows up as faster wear and a higher risk of failure. Your vehicle's manual will have the recommended load limits.
Harsh braking, rapid acceleration and hard cornering all put more stress on tyres than smooth, steady driving. It's not about driving unnaturally cautiously — just being aware that an aggressive style wears tyres down faster than it needs to.
Your vehicle and tyre manufacturers' own recommendations — on pressure, rotation intervals and general care — are worth following rather than a generic rule of thumb, since they're specific to your actual vehicle and tyres.
A tyre that's slowly losing air is worth getting looked at promptly rather than continuing to top it up. See our puncture repair service if that's what you're dealing with.
