Poor Maintenance Of Tyres Costs Lives & Money

Tuesday, 13. October 2009

This month is Tyre Safety Month! I know I probably didn’t need to mention this as you probably knew already but what it has done is highlight the fact that 80% of cars have tyres that are incorrectly inflated. Incorrectly inflated tyres can affect the handling characteristics of cars and even more dangerously fully laden vans. Vans become far less stable when they carry heavy loads and tyres are incorrectly inflated. The recommendation is that tyres are inflated to that suggested for a full load for vans that start the day fully laden and deliver all day. Michelin have introduced a new green tyre, called Energy Saver (as reported by me a few weeks ago) that claims to shave 4g/km off the CO2 output and cut fuel consumption by 2.5% whilst costing no more than a standard tyre. Goodyear have introduced new Efficient Grip tyres that claim 15% better rolling resistance than their competitors. Along with the manufacturers, looking to improve their tyres, the EU have also jumped in with a raft of new regulations for 2012. The regulations will include many items from rolling resistance to wet grip and tyre pressure monitoring. This will mean, for example, that all new cars will have tyre monitoring fitted as standard to avoid the 80% of all cars that have incorrectly inflated tyres. In recent tests that were carried out on standard hatchbacks when the rear tyres were under-inflated by 8psi, found by ATS as typical, when driven in the wet the car was prone to oversteer and general unpredictable handling when cornering. Poorly inflated tyres also lead to lower tyre life and higher fuel costs. By running tyres at 80% of the recommended pressure tyre life can be reduced by a quarter, if it falls to 60% you can expect to achieve just 35% of the potential mileage. According to Tyresafe, driving on tyres that are just 10psi less than recommended fuel usage increases by 2.5%. The Institute of Advanced Motorists believes that 10% of cars on the road are being driven with at least 1 tyre with an illegal tread depth. This reduces braking effectiveness, increases collision risk and could lead to a fine and penalty points. You may also find that your insurance is either void or you will receive less compensation in the event of an accident if you are driving with one or more illegal tyres. By Graham Hill