We interrupt your browsing for the best used cars in Australia to make an important public service announcement to all car owners: please check your tyres regularly!
At Tony Lahood Motors, we have found that while car owners know their tyres play a vital role in the performance and safety of their car, they often neglect to check the condition of their tyres.
Keeping an eye on your tyre tread and inflation isn’t difficult – in fact, there’s only a couple of checks you need to do and they take no time at all.
So even if you are completely oblivious to anything mechanical, our team at Tony Lahood Motors are here to help you learn some basic tyre checks that you can do yourself.
Each tyre on your car has a certain amount of tread to help your car connect to the road, particularly in wet or slippery conditions.
In Australia, tyres manufactured for and applied to passenger cars are required to comply with national legislation regarding the amount of tread on each tyre. Tyre tread depth is determined by measuring from the tread surfaced to the bottom of the tread groove; any tyre with a tread depth of 1.5mm or less is considered illegal and no longer roadworthy.
Most tyres come with a tread depth indicator to help you visually determine how worn your tyre tread is. As your tyre tread wears down, this indicator becomes visible, giving you an indication of how much tread is left on your tyre/s.
A handy guide to acceptable tread depth is as follows:
As the tread on your tyres wears down, the braking distance of your car increases; this means that in the event that you need to apply brakes suddenly, it will take your car longer to come to a complete stop. The lack of tread may also impact your handling of the car as you brake too!
If you want your car to run more efficiently, it is important to check the tyre inflation pressure on regular basis. If you drive your car every day, we recommend checking the pressure at least once every two weeks.
Incorrect tyre pressure impacts the way a car handles steering, braking and turning corners, as well as increasing fuel consumption. Over and under-inflated tyres also cause your tyres to wear down unevenly.
You should find the recommended inflation levels both in your vehicle owner’s manual and on the driver’s door pillar.
To inflate your tyres, we recommend buying a portable tyre inflator for your car. These products generally include a gauge for checking tyre pressure, as well as enough air flow to pump your tyres to the required pressure.
The rate that your tyre tread wears down will largely depend on whether you have a rear-wheel drive car or a front-drive car.
On a rear-wheel drive, the rear tyres experience more wear and tear, whereas front-drive cars experience faster wear on the front tyres.
To reduce the frequency that your tyres need replacing, you can ask your local tyre specialist or mechanic to rotate your tyres. This practice can help to even out the wear on each of the tyres so that they all need replacing at the same time, rather than one by one.
Tyre rotation is generally recommended at 5,000km intervals to reduce the amount of wear between the different tyres.
If your tyres have extremely low tread depth, other tyre issues or are around five years old, we encourage you to replace your tyres – particularly because tyres have a use-by date!
Tyres should be replaced every five to six years, even if the car has sat unused for most of that time, as tyres that are past their use-by date may experience sudden and unexpected blow-outs. Much like fresh produce, you can find your tyre manufacturing on the sidewall of your tyre following the letters ‘DOT’ (Department of Transport).
Regularly maintaining your tyres is crucial to lengthening the lifespan of your tyres and improving the safety & performance of your car.
At Tony Lahood Motors, we are passionate about cars that have been kept in good condition by their owners, which is why we enjoy spreading our knowledge about car and tyre maintenance with our customers.
If you’re in the market for a used car from a reputable dealer, you can’t go past our two car yards in Lidcombe and Croydon, where you can browse great quality used cars to your heart’s content.
Contact our team today to find out why the best used cars in Australia can be found at the best prices at Tony Lahood Motors.
