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Quentin Willson's guide to Checking Your Tyre Pressures

Checking Your Tyre Pressures
You don’t need me to tell you how important tyres are. You should really give them a visual check for wear and damage at least once a month and check the pressures once a week. Buy a good tyre pressure gauge and one of those small electric pumps you plug into your cigarette lighter. Don’t rely on forecourt pumps, as they’re not always accurate. Let the tires cool before checking their pressure (tires are more inflated when warm, less when cold) and pump them up to the manufacturer’s recommended figures, which are in the handbook or can often be found on a sticker on the fuel flap, glove box lid or inside one of the doors. Take off the plastic valve dust cap, push the pressure gauge firmly on the valve and look at the reading on the dial. If it’s lower than it should be, plug the pump into the cigarette lighter, clip the nozzle over the valve and leave it running for a few minutes. Then check with the pressure gauge again. The pressures for the front tyres may be different to the rears, so check them in pairs. And don’t forget to put the valve dust cap back on and to look at the spare tyre too. You never know when you’ll need it.
Checking Your Tyre Pressures

Checking for Tyre Wear and Damage

Checking Your Tyre Pressures
If you’re in any doubt about the condition of your tyres it’s always best to get them checked at a tyre specialist. But there’s a lot you can tell about their condition just by looking yourself. Buy a tyre depth gauge that measures tread wear. The legal minimum is 1.6mm in a continuous band around the tyre across the central three-quarters of the tread width. Hold the gauge above one of the gaps between the tyre tread and push the centre section down as far as it will go. The calibrated shaft of the gauge will tell you how much tread is left. If it’s below the legal minimum, change that tyre as soon as possible.

And while you’re on your hands and knees, look at the whole surface of the tyre for any worn or flat areas (particularly round the edges or shoulder), embedded nails or damaged tread. A small nail lodged in the rubber might not have actually punctured the tyre carcass, but it could later, so get it removed and the tyre repaired. Look at the sidewall too. Any bulges, gouges or indentations in the wall of the tyre from curbing or pothole damage could weaken the sidewall and cause a blow out at speed. And give the wheel rims a look over too. A cracked alloy wheel or bent steel wheel rim can affect the tyre’s performance at speed and even cut into the rubber on cornering. Visually check each tyre and wheel in turn, and if you’re in any doubt get it professionally examined.

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