Holiday Get Away Car Tyre Safety
With the holiday season in full swing, we thought you might be celebrating the New Year in style. With some long journeys ahead for many people it’s time to check your car and make sure it does not let you down. We don’t want you to have to celebrate the New Year on the hard shoulder! With a few simple checks you can reduce the chances of this happening.
- Check your tyres – Changing a flat tyre is no fun, especially if it is raining. So check the side wall of your car tyres for cuts and cracks. Older tyres tend to crack as the rubber beings to perish over the years. 4×4 tyres with lower mileage can suffer this fate as they are not worn out and just start cracking. Make sure that you check the tyres for tread. The legal limit is 1.6 mm and the police will issue a fine and three penalty points per tyre on top of the fine if they are not up to the legal standard.
- Check your oil – No you do not need a mechanic or your next door neighbour. Make sure that your car has a cold engine and is parked on a level surface. Grab some clean kitchen roll, pull out the dipstick and clean the dipstick. Re-dip the dipstick and check the oil level. It should read between the minimum and maximum marks.
- Check your water levels – Your car has two water bottles to check, the washer bottle and the coolant tank. Your washer bottle should be filled with a suitable winter screen wash. Your coolant tank is filled with anti freeze this should be at a suitable level so that it can not freeze. The coolant flows around the engine to cool the engine temperature down. If this froze at night whilst the vehicle is parked up the engine block could crack as the water forces it to expand.
- Final checks – Visual check of lights to make sure all the bulbs are working. You will probably need some help with this part to make sure that your brake lights work etc.