Safe & Legal Car Tyres
Car tyres are one safety area that is very heavily regulated in law, so that staying safe is the same as staying legal. With fines of up to £2,500 as well as three penalty points for each illegal tyre, you could easily lose your licence if you aren’t checking your tyres. What’s more, if the driver and owner of the vehicle are not the same person, both are liable and may be summonsed if the case is reported for prosecution. And aside from the legal considerations, illegal tyres aren’t safe and could cost you your life.
- Tread Depth – the legal minimum is 1.6mm, which must be in a continuous band around the tyre and across the central three-quarters of the breadth of tread. It is crucial for keeping you on the road in wet conditions. However, the amount of grip a tyre has in the wet deteriorates more rapidly as it gets closer to the legal minimum. This increases your stopping distances, so it is advisable to change your tyres well before they hit the legal limit.
- Tyre pressure – your car tyres must be inflated correctly according both the vehicle and the tyre manufacturer’s recommended pressure.
- Different types of tyres must not be fitted on the same axle, and in fact, each tyre must be compatible with the types of tyres fitted on all the other wheels. Temporary use spare tyres that are supplied with the car are an exception, but do have limits of their own as regards to the speed they can be driven at and the distance they can cover.
- There should be no damage to any part of the tyre which exposes the ply or cord or which is caused by a partial failure of the tyre’s structure. This includes odd bulges, cuts or tears. It should be fairly obvious that any damage of this sort is potentially extremely dangerous.