Understanding Tyre Wear
Fitting new parts to your car is usually fun. New stereo, driving lights, roof rack, bullbar, wheels and more all have that instant satisfaction, either from a comfort level, usability, style or functionality.
Fitting new tyres to your vehicle is often one of the least fun parts of vehicle ownership and maintenance. You drop your car off, hand over money, pick your car up and it looks exactly the same, apart from the tyre shine.
Why do we need to buy new tyres anyway? Why do they wear out?
What is Tyre Wear?
Tyres wearing out is by far the most common reason for replacing your tyres. But what is tyre wear? Why do tyres wear out? How can you slow down tyre wear?
Tyre wear occurs naturally whenever you drive and unfortunately can not be completely avoided. Tyre wear is a side effect of the way rubber grips the road surface. You don’t even need to drive aggressively to wear your tyres out.
The main forces working on a tyre are:
- The weight of the vehicle
- Longitudinal (acceleration and braking forces)
- Lateral (turning/sideways forces)
- The elasticity of the tyre compound conforming to the road surface.
You can see that even if you’re Driving Miss Daisy, forces 1 and 4 still fully apply. Aggressive driving will see forces 2 and 3 become a more significant wear contributor.
So what causes tyre wear?
As you drive, the forces listed above work together to slowly erode the surface of your tyre. Over the course of many thousands of kilometers, there is a measurable loss of material from the surface of the tyre. The reason we replace tyres is because when the tread depth becomes too little, wet weather performance, tyre predictability, road noise and puncture resistance all become worse as tyres wear down.
It’s not just your tyres wearing out, over time, road surfaces will wear away too, however it’s much slower.
Driving at higher speeds tends to wear out tyres more quickly, as well as carrying heavier loads, so it’s in your best interests not to leave your vehicle fully loaded with items such as tools, camping gear, and sports equipment when at all possible.
Avoiding Premature Tyre Wear
Tyres wearing out is as certain as death and taxes, but there are steps you can perform to ensure they last as long as possible.
Regardless of what vehicle you drive, or what tyres you have on, periodically having a wheel alignment performed, as well as a tyre rotation, will go a long way towards getting the most out of your tyres.
Wheel Alignment
Simply put, a wheel alignment ensures that all your wheels point in the same direction and are parallel to each other. If you’ve ever seen a vehicle in front of you that appears to be ‘crab-walking’ down the road, you’ll know what we mean, even though that’s an extreme example.
With modern wheel alignment machinery, we measure your wheels into one-tenth of a degree of accuracy so oftentimes, any changes before and after a wheel alignment are indiscernible to the naked eye.
What you can’t miss though, is how well your vehicle will drive after a wheel alignment. If your alignment was a fair way off factory specs, you’ll notice a change in character, less wandering on the highway, and a more confidence-inspiring vehicle over bumps and corners.
Tyre Balancing
Tyre balancing, or wheel balancing, is the process of ensuring that your wheels and tyres are perfectly balanced independently through the use of a tyre balancing machine.
A balancing machine will spin your wheel and tyre up to speed and measure any vibrations, before letting us know exactly how many counterbalancing weights to add to your wheel and where to optimally install them.
We will balance your wheels and tyres whenever we install new tyres to your vehicle, but occasionally it’s a good idea to check them, especially once your tyres reach about halfway worn.
Tyre Pressures
You might have heard that underinflated tyres can wear out faster than correctly inflated tyres, and it’s absolutely true. Driving on underinflated tyres will aggressively wear out the two outer edges of your tyre tread, as well as cause the tyre to get much hotter during use than usual.
Overheating tyres are a leading cause of tyre blowouts, which can be a dramatic and dangerous experience.
Overinflated tyres are also not ideal. An overinflated tyre has less contact patch with the ground and will wear out the centre of the tyre tread prematurely. Overinflated tyres are also at higher risk of damage from potholes, impacts with debris and puncture damage, thanks to the tyre being less flexible.
Tyre Rotation
Your tyres rotate every time you drive, right? Seriously though. Each end of your vehicle serves a different purpose and will wear out your tyres at different rates. For example, in a front-wheel-drive car, your front tyres handle all your acceleration and steering, as well as a majority of your braking forces, while your rear wheels mainly see sideways forces from cornering.
A tyre rotation is the process of removing the wheels from your vehicle and reinstalling them on alternate corners in order to spread this wear out evenly amongst them. Usually this can be done at any service or inspection.
Measure Your Tyre Tread Depth
In Australia, the minimum legal tread depth is 1.5mm, and you can measure your tread depth easily with an inexpensive gauge available from any parts store, or a small ruler. Measure your tread depth in at least 3 places, towards the inside of the tyre, the middle of your tread, and the outer side of the tread.
While the minimum tread depth is 1.5mm, you may want to begin considering new tyres at 3mm or less, especially if you drive in wet conditions frequently. At lower tread depths, wet weather performance will experience a steep dropoff, increasing the likelihood of aquaplaning.
Reach Out to the Experts at Midas Narre Warren
Whether you live in Narre Warren or the surrounding areas, or you’re passing through, book your vehicle in to see Joon and the expert team at Midas Narre Warren.
Our workshop is located at Unit 2/1 Len Thomas Pl, Narre Warren, just a short walk from the Max Pawsey Reserve and the Westfield Fountain Gate Shopping Centre.
Booking in for a wheel alignment, rotation, or a tyre inspection is quick and easy, and our qualified team will give your vehicle the attention it deserves.
Call us today on (03) 8738 4741 to book in today!
