Most tyres are able to withstand a fair amount of wear and tear while still being safe to drive on. However, certain types of damage can seriously impact the structural integrity of your tyres. Therefore, knowing when to keep driving on your tyres and when to urgently replace them is important for your safety. Below are just a few signs that tyre damage could be dangerous.
Bulges
It is normal for tyres to have small indentations or undulations. These are often not a sign of damage – in fact, some tyres are supposed to have dimples as a safety design feature.
Noticeable bulges on the other hand are not normal. These are a sign of damage within the interior of your tyre wall, and they can grow over time. The most common cause of bulges is driving over potholes, hitting curbs or driving over speed bumps too fast.
Tyre bulges can increase your risk of a blowout and could cause a serious accident at speed. It’s therefore advised that you don’t drive on a tyre with a bulge – consider calling out a mobile tyre fitting service to replace the tyre as soon as possible.
Splits
Tyres can get cut up as a result of all kinds of debris found on the road. Shallow cuts are generally not a hazard. However, deep cuts – or splits – could put you at increased risk of blowout.
If you’ve noticed a cut in your tyre and you have already started losing pressure, this could be a sure sign that a tyre replacement is needed. Some punctures can be repaired without having to replace the whole tyre. However, this only applies to fissures less than 6mm in diameter that are located on central three quarters of the tread. If a puncture is bigger than this or located elsewhere on the tyre, you must replace the tyre.
It is worth noting that tyres can also get objects stuck in them such as glass or nails. It is sometimes better to leave these objects in the tyre, as removing them could cause a puncture or larger cut. Let a professional inspect the object and see if they are willing to remove it.
Excessive tread wear
All road tyres are built with a certain amount of tread. This is the layer of rubber that makes contact with the road surface. As this layer wears down and becomes thinner, your tyres can become more dangerous to drive on. There could be a risk of a blowout, plus your tyres may lack grip leading to a greater risk of skidding. It is therefore essential to keep an eye on the tread depth so that it doesn’t get too thin.
Every tyre contains grooves, which help provide grip while also notifying you when the tread is becoming too thin. The legal minimum tread depth in the UK is 1.6mm across the central three quarters of the tyre. You can test this by measuring the tread depth with a ruler or by using the 20p test (this involves placing a 20 pence coin in one of the grooves and checking that you cannot see the band around the outer edge of the coin).
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
