When should you replace your car tyres?
Do you know exactly when you should replace your car tyres? We honestly wouldn’t know and we’d rather have someone else take a look at it. But did you know there’s a very easy trick to check the profile of your tyres? That way, you know if it’s time to replace them or if you can still get some mileage out of them.
It’s super simple!
Tread wear
Through driving your car, the profile of your tyres gradually wears down. How long it takes before you need to replace the tyres depends on the type of tyre, the driving style of the driver, the tyre pressure and the temperature. Some tyres simply wear more quickly than others. Usually, tyres have a life span of about five or six years, but this can also be both shorter or longer.
Profile
When you’re driving your car, the profile of your tyres slowly wears. When the profile is completely worn, your car won’t be able to grip the road properly and this can have all kinds of horrible consequences. Your braking distance is longer and you might run off the road. This can cause dangerous situations, so it’s very important to regularly check your tyres. Also make sure you check your tyre pressure at least once a month, because driving around on soft tyres can cause even more tread wear.
Check
Do you want to check whether your tyres are in need of a replacement? Then it’s important to know that the profile of your car tyres should be at least 2 millimeters deep. The legal requirement is 1.6 millimeters, but a lot of car manufacturers recommend 2 mm. Tyres can also wear at a slant, so check the depth in several spots along the breadth of the tyre. In the USA they use an American penny for this trick, but you can also very easily use a Euro coin.
Euro coin
Take one Euro coin. The gold-coloured edge of the coin is exactly 3 millimeters. Stick the coin into the profile of the tire. Is the golden edge covered? Then you still have at least 3 millimeters of profile. Can you see a bit of the golden edge? Then it’s time to have your tires replaced.
Read more: These are 5 mistakes everybody makes with the air conditioning in their car
Want to save this article for later? Pin it on Pinterest!
Source: Consumentenbond, Autoscout24 | Image: video still YouTube