Note - Tyres are health checked by taking three readings across the width of the tyre, starting with the outside tread depth measurement. Any excessive variance in the three readings, for example 6 5 4 may indicate the need for a wheel alignment check to avoid further excessive wear.

As a rough guide a millimetre (1mm) of tyre tread lasts from approximately 1,000 - 4,000 miles, Dependent upon driving style, road and weather conditions and tyre rubber compound.

• The recommended tyre pressures for your vehicle will be found in the vehicle handbook or on a placard mounted on the vehicle e.g. behind the petrol filler cap or on the drivers door pillar.
• Check tyre pressures every two weeks, more often if you cover high mileage, and before long journeys. Adjust when necessary. Don't forget to check your spare too.
• Always check pressures when the tyres are cold. Never adjust tyre pressures during or immediately following a journey as they will be hot and this may lead to them being under-inflated once they have cooled down.
• Low tyre pressures reduce the tyre's performance as well as increasing fuel consumption and wear.
• It is advisable to obtain a reliable pressure gauge which can be purchased at most motorist centres at a reasonable cost.
• Remember too to increase your tyres pressures if your vehicle is heavily loaded, for example if you carrying holiday luggage or additional passengers.

• Increased fuel consumption
  A vehicle running on tyres at 80% of recommended pressure will use 3% more fuel.

• Rapid and/or uneven tread wear
  Running a tyre at 80% of recommended pressure will reduce the tyre service life by 20%

It is important to visually check the condition of your tyres (including the spare) on a regular basis. Check for signs of irregular wear, ie due to mis-aligned wheels and for signs of damage.

An unused tyre, which is 6 years old or older, should not be placed into service.
Replace any tyre when it reaches 10 years old.

If you are in doubt about the condition of your tyres, Gates will carry out a tyre safety check, free of charge.

Tyres are the only contact a car has with the road and are therefore vitally important to your safety and the safety of other road users.

Figures produced by the Department for Transport suggest that around 3% of fatal road crashes and 2% of all crashes leading to serious injury are caused by defects on vehicles. Of these accidents, it is estimated that over a third of the vehicles had tyres that were either under-inflated or defective in some way.
Make sure you are safe on the roads and follow our simple tyre safety advice. Alternatively call us on 0845 310 9000 to arrange a free tyre safety check.

In wet conditions braking distances increase. And if your tyres are worn, stopping may take longer than you think.

With tread depths on or near the legal limit of 1.6mm, that could be more than three bus lengths from a driving speed of 50mph.

Independent research performed by the Motor Industry Research Association (MIRA) has provided convincing new evidence that worn tyres significantly increase the chances of having an accident on wet roads by increasing the stopping distance.

The test results showed that significant increases in stopping distance began to appear when the tyre was worn down to 3mm. Although the legal minimum UK tread depth is only 1.6mm, this new research showed that tyres with a 3mm tread had a 25% better performance than those at 1.6mm in wet conditions.

In terms of stopping distance this represents an extra 8 metres (25ft). In one test, where a new tyre with a tread depth of 8mm was compared to one with only 1.6mm the stopping distance increased by 13 metres (42.25ft) - the equivalent to double the length of a typical living room.

In short, when you let your tyres wear down to the legal minimum of 1.6mm, it will take you nearly a bus length extra to stop from 50mph.
Don't chance it.

Misaligned wheels run at a higher rolling resistance - meaning higher fuel consumption - and accelerate tyre wear. A 1 degree wheel misalignment leads to 15% increase in vehicle rolling resistance. This equates to an increase of between 3% and 5% of the vehicle's fuel economy.

Misalignment develops over time and is the price the driver pays for bad driving habits, for example, kerb mounting.

If you notice one-sided wear on your tyres, it may be down to misaligned wheels and you should pop into your local Gates dealership for a quick check

Tyres deteriorate with age, which can dramatically affect performance abilities. The production date of the tyre can be found in the on the sidewall.

In this example the tyre is marked 4806, indicating that is was manufactured in week 48 of 2006.

Gates recommend replacing tyres that are 10 years or older with new ones. Regardless of outward appearances, tyres over 10 years old can develop internal faults due to their age.

Tyre size
When buying replacement tyres, you will need to know the tyre size in order to get a proper quote.
The tyre size can be found on the sidewall of the tyre and will look something like this 205 / 55 / R16 91V.

205 is the width of the tyre in mm 55 is the ratio of height to width 16 is the rim diameter in inches 91 is the load index* V is the speed symbol*

*The speed symbol of a tyre is not only an indicator to the tyres maximum speed capability but also to its ability to cope with the acceleration and handling associated with the vehicle. Vehicle handling, safety and refinement may be adversely affected if unsuitable tyres are fitted. We recommend that replacement tyres have at least an equal speed symbol and load index to the original fit tyres

Tyre brand
You might also want to note the tyre brand you currently have on your vehicle, eg. Continental, Uniroyal, so that you can be sure to get a tyre of similar or equal quality. We do recommend you always fit the same tyre brand across the axle, and for best performance and handling we recommend all four tyres are the same brand.

Running in new tyres
Remember also that newly fitted tyres should always be "run in" for the first 100-150 miles to "roughen" the tread surface, allow them to get conditioned to the vehicle and to operate in an "inflated state". Tyres do not achieve their best performance until after this "running" in period.