Are My Car Tyres Roadworthy?

Tyres are for obvious reasons a very important part of car maintenance.

And can have a bearing on how much you can sell your car for – because they are expensive to replace.

Even for a small 4 cylinder car, cheap Chinese tyres will still be circa $70 fitted and balanced each.

More commonplace and reputable brands such as Pirelli, Michelin, Good Year, Yokohama, Kuhmo just to name a few, will be 2-5 times more expensive than this.

And if your tyres are bigger, e.g a 4WD or have low profile specifications, the price can go up again.

Some good quality 4WD tyres can be circa $500 each.

For the rest of this article, I will be referring to the average small to medium size car tyre which is typically around 185mm wide, 60 mm high and between 14 and 18 inches in diameter. Why we use inches for only the diameter and not the rest of the specs is odd, but that is the way it is!

If you drive your car “harder” than average, i.e. brake harder, go faster than average around corners, etc, you will wear your tyres out much faster.

The depth of the tread when tyres are new is around 8mm.

To achieve roadworthy, they must have at least 1.5mm tread thickness.

For most of the cars I sell, even if there is 1.5mm tread left, they still fail.

Why?

Uneven wear.

Tyres can wear unevenly for a number of reasons, but most commonly because of incorrect tyre pressures and/or problems with steering/front end alignment of your car.

Always check your car’s specifications and inflate tyres to the recommended pressure given your driving conditions, and check them at least every fortnight.

Obviously if pressure is being lost in this time, get your tyres checked by a tyre outlet.

It is good practice to rotate your tyres at every service or at least every second service.

You can check the tread depth by comparing the levels of the moulded indicator bars on the tyre. If they are flat with the tread, it is time to replace them.

Cars I buy in Brisbane may have unroadworthy tyres that look fine, but will fail and inspection.

As well as uneven tyre tread, there may be cracks on both the tread and/or the tyre wall indicating that it is too old.

Front tyres need to have the same tread pattern also.

Rear tyres it doesn’t matter if they are different, but it is best practice anyway to reduce tyre/road noise.

Speaking of road noise, sometimes tyres are directional which means they need to be installed the same way for forward motion.

Give me a call on 0411 362 229 if you are selling your car, and I can certainly have a look at your tyres and even if I don’t buy your car, give you some advice on how and where you can go to get them replaced for a competitive price.