Motor Transport & Travel / Car Tyres 175/65 R14T

The point is often made that four patches of rubber, each about the size of a human hand, is your only contact with the road when you are driving along – so your car tyres need to be up to the job in terms of safety and performance. Our rigorous tests look in detail at how tyres cope with both dry-road and wet-road conditions, with testers assessing directional stability, steering response and braking performance as well as providing independent ratings for fuel consumption and interior and exterior noise levels. We also evaluate how long a tyre will last by mounting tyres onto a weighted test rig, measuring the rate of wear after 5,000km and extrapolating the results to predict how far the tyres will be able to travel before tread depth falls below the legal limit of 1.6mm.

Regular tyre checks

Given that your tyres are the only point of contact between your car and the road, it is important that they are kept in tip-top condition to help ensure safe driving as well as to preserve quality and performance. According to experts, doing a regular safety check every two weeks takes a just few minutes and can even save you money by reducing fuel consumption.

1. First, perform a visual check, looking for anything unusual in the way of bulges, cuts, lodged debris, signs of age deterioration or other abnormalities, which, if not dealt with, could lead to lead to more serious problems whilst driving.
2. Next, check the tread depth of your tyres. As your tyre tread wears down, you have less control when driving and stopping in wet weather. The tread grooves disperse water from underneath your tyre, helping maintain control, and the more tread depth a tyre has, the more water it can disperse, reducing the risk of aquaplaning. Make sure to replace worn tyres before the tread depth reaches the minimum legal limit of 1.6mm, at which point tyres and brakes may only be 55% effective in the wet.
3. Lastly, it is important to check tyre pressure to make sure your tyres are not over- or under-inflated. Tyre pressures may vary depending on the vehicle model and the load being carried. Your car’s handbook will tell you how much air you should have in your tyres. Correct tyre pressure reduces the risk of losing control of your car and it even saves fuel. If the tyre pressure is too low, you will use more fuel and cause premature wear to the edges of the tyres, shortening their life. Over-inflating tyres, on the other hand, can lead to unpredictable handling and accelerate tread wear along the centre of the tyre.

In addition to these regular checks, the Road Safety Authority recommends that you ensure that your wheels are correctly aligned and balanced for the proper upkeep of your tyres and vehicle. Wheel alignment involves adjusting the angles of the wheels so that they are perpendicular to the ground and parallel with each other. This can help to maximise tyre life, reducing uneven or rapid tyre wear, and ensures that your car will drive straight and true on level surfaces. Wheel balancing allows the tyres and wheels to spin without causing any vibrations. A “scalloped” or “cupped” wear pattern on tyres indicates that the wheels are out of balance.

Part-worn tyres

Cash-strapped consumers may look to minimise their motoring costs by buying part-worn tyres instead of brand new products. Ireland’s Road Safety Authority (RSA) has some advice for those considering such a move to ensure that the second-hand products bought will be sufficiently safe and fit for purpose.

1. Check that the tyre has an E mark, as this is a requirement for the NCT.
2. Check the tread depth of the tyre. Your car’s safety and performance, particularly in wet conditions, are reduced as tyres wear. The minimum legal requirement is for a depth of 1.6mm but, for safety, tyres should have at least 3mm of tread depth. At the NCT, you will be informed if your tyres have a tread depth of less than 3mm and your car will receive a “pass advisory”, so it will not fail the NCT but you are advised that your tyres may soon need to be changed. You can measure the tread depth of a potential purchase using a tread depth gauge or the handy pop-out card that comes in the RSA leaflet entitled Your Guide to Tyre Safety, which you can pick up in a range of locations including NCT centres, NDLS centres, driving test centres, pharmacies, and social welfare offices. Tread depth should always be measured at the centre of the tyre and not at its edges.
3. Ask the seller to confirm that the tyre has been through a condition check to ensure that it satisfies the minimum legal requirements and that it has no defects – such as tears, lumps or bulges – either externally or internally. You will not be able to see any damage that has occurred on the inside of the tyre but the seller may be able to show that the tyre was x-rayed to prove there is no internal damage.
5. Make sure that the tyre is the correct size and design for your car and that it has the proper load and speed rating for its intended use. You can obtain information on the correct tyre for your particular vehicle from the manufacturer or from the owner’s handbook.
6. Ask the age of the tyre and ensure that it is no more than six years old. At the NCT, a six-year-old tyre is again a “pass advisory” item and you will be informed that the tyre will need replacing soon. The risk of tyre failure increases as tyres age and tyres may begin to exhibit signs of aging – such as crazing and cracking on the side wall – after they pass the six-year mark. The serial number on the sidewall of the tyre will indicate the year in which it was made. See the box below for what to look for.
7. Be sure that you are getting value for money by buying a part-worn tyre instead of a new tyre. Much will depend on how much tread depth you are getting for your money. As the RSA points out, if you buy a second-hand tyre with 3.6mm of tread depth for €30, it will provide 2mm of usable tread depth before reaching the minimum legal limit of 1.6mm and end up costing €15 per millimetre. In contrast, a brand new tyre costing €80 and typically offering 8mm of tread depth, has 6.4mm of usable tread depth and will ultimately cost €12.50 per millimetre. So in the RSA’s scenario, buying new represents better value.

Thus, there are a number of aspects to consider when buying part-worn tyres – so check them out carefully before handing over any cash and do your homework and some mental calculations to see if buying new would be a better deal in the long run.

How to tell the age of your tyre

Whether you are thinking of buying part-worn tyres or checking the existing tyres on your car, it is important to know when your tyres were manufactured and how far they are into their life cycle. Fortunately, the date of manufacture should be visible on the tyre itself. Among the many markings on a tyre sidewall is its serial number, the last four digits of which refer to the date the tyre was made, with the first two of these digits indicating the week of manufacture (from 01 to 52) and the final two digits indicating the year. So, if the production date code is 1512, that means the tyre was manufactured in the fifteenth week of 2012.