Your car's tyres are vulnerable to damage from all sorts of sources, and if they're defective, it's critical. Few parts of your car are so heavily prone to sudden catastrophic failures - and if it happens, the effects can be fatal.

Happily, it takes a lot to throw a modern tyre off track. Even the cheapest brands are far stronger, and offer much more grip, than the flimsy rubber of old. That doesn't mean you can get away with not looking after them, however - though by keeping an eye on their condition and making sure they're well looked after, you can reduce the chances of a serious failure to near-negligible status.

Of course, you can't legislate for a freak occurrence, like running over something that rips a tyre to pieces. But by taking a weekly look at the state of your tyres, you'll give them the best possible chance of surviving an encounter with a broken bottle or stray piece of barbed wire.

Checking the sidewalls....

The tyre's vertical faces don't get the same wear and tear as the tread (see below), but that doesn't mean they're invulnerable. Check them for large cuts, bulges or missing lumps of rubber, all of which point to an unsafe tyre. Bulges in particular indicate weak spots and should be taken as a sign to head straight for D. & R. Motor Services.

Checking the tread....

The tread of the tyre is the part that makes contact with the road - and with all the debris that happens to be lying on it. Once again, check for surface damage or deformities. Of course, this is the part of the tyre that wears away as time goes on, too. The raised blocks of rubber that make up the tread should be wearing evenly across the width of the tyre - any sign that they're not, and you know something's wrong.

Alignment Problems....

Normally, uneven wear will be seen either in the middle of the tyre or at its edges. In each case, the likely cause is that the tyre is not correctly inflated, or more likely the cause is probably the front or rear wheel alignment needs checking. As you've caught it early, this shouldn't be a big problem - you can buy pressure gauges very cheaply at any decent car accessory shop, or just pop in to D. & R. Motor Services and we will do it for you while you wait. Your car's handbook will tell you the correct tyre pressures to use - if you've lost it, most filling stations have a big board by their air lines with all the most common makes of car listed. It's essential for both front tyres to be at the same pressure, and the same with the back, but the front and rear can be different. In particular, you might want to stick an extra five pounds in the back if you're carrying a heavy load in the boot or towing a trailer.

Strange patterns of tyre wear can also be caused by faults in the car's steering or suspension. In extreme cases, it can be the only visible sign of major accident damage that hasn't been fixed as well as it needs to be. The good news is that this scenario only crops up once in a while - if you've got tyres that are wearing unevenly, it's almost certainly down to a worn track rod in the steering or a rubber suspension bush that needs replacing . None of these are a DIY job, but neither will bankrupt you.

At the end of its life, the tyre's tread will be worn right down to its depth bars. These are raised blocks running across the tyre from right to left - when the tyre's new, they're hidden in the 'valleys' between the tread blocks, but they become easier to see as the tread wears away, until finally they're the same height as it. To be honest, the tyre should have been replaced well before this - but once you get to this stage it's no longer legal. Definitely time to check out our feature on choosing the right tyres for your car!

Did you know that the legal limit is 1.6mm, and that the maximum fine is £2000 per faulty tyre, get your’s checked today at D & R Motor Services, it’s free, but it could save you £££££s.

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

Welcome to our Interactive Game!

CYBERTIRE is the new Pirelli Game in which a player can test his/her knowledge on tyre safety, driving skills and emergency situations. By selecting one of the two game levels, players will be challenged by a set of 5 questions, each one to be answered in 10 seconds. Don't worry: if you don't know the answer or you go "over the time limit", we will guide you right through the end ! Are you ready ? You will be surprised how much you can learn from us !

To play you need to have Macromedia Flash 3 installed on your PC, and find the 'PLAY IT' button.

PLAY IT