BAD habits that will DESTROY tyres

Tyres are the only connection between you and the road. Taking utmost care of the tyres also increases the safety of your car. We list out bad habits that can destroy your car tyres, and how to avoid these.

Proper Inflation

Tyre manufacturers spend a good amount of money on research and development of new tyres that will last longer and perform better. One of the common things that we forget about the tyres is proper inflation. Tyres that are not properly inflated can prove to be a disaster. Always read your car manual or check the car side for the optimum pressure of tyres.
If you over inflate the tyres, the air inside will expand when the tyres become hot. The expanded air exerts pressure on the tyre walls which may cause tyre burst.
Under inflated tyres are just as dangerous. Without proper pressure in the tyre, the walls of the tyre take the load and over the time, develop irreparable cracks. These cracks can also lose pressure quickly, again becoming the reason of tyre burst. Under inflated tyre can also make handling of the car difficult and steering very heavy.

Overloading

All the tyres are tested within a certain load limit on them. If the load is exceeded, the tyres go through excessive pressure and gain temperature rather quickly. During such situations, the tyre may wear a lot quicker and may also burst. All the modern tyres come with side markings that tell you how much weight can you carry. Overloading can do sudden damage to your tyres and cause accidents.
Tyre markings can give you a lot of information, we will bring a guide on how to read tyre markings properly soon.

Burnouts and Donuts

Yes, they may seem like a good show off to your peers but burnouts and donuts are the biggest enemies of a tyre. Burnouts and donuts make your tyre screech against the surface and heat them unnecessarily, often causing them to burn. Tyres are made to roll on the surface, not slide on them. Doing burnouts and donuts will decrease the life substantially and may also damage relatively new tyres beyond repair.

Balance, Alignment and Rotation

You maybe saving a little money while refusing to do wheel balancing and alignment during your trip to service centre but ignoring this may call for bigger problems. When a car goes through bad road surface, the tyres may lose their alignment. Modern service centres have sensors which are put on all the four wheels to align them in a straight line. Aligning tyres properly reduce the wear and improves handling.
Balancing is done during the replacement of tyre. Balancing of the tyre makes sure that the weight is equally distributed when the tyre rotates. Balancing involves in putting small weight around the rim or alloy of the car to put everything in optimum balance.
Tyre Rotation is a process through which tyre position is changed to maintain even wear. The front tyres wear more on the outside as they take on the turns by rotating on their axis. To maintain an even balance of wear between the front axle, the rear axle and the left side and the right side, they should be rotated after every 5000 to 7000 km.

High Speed

Maintaining high speed for a long time causes the tyres to heat up quickly. The excessively hot tyres are more susceptible to wear and sudden damage. Concrete roads cause more friction and hence, more heat is generated while driving on such surfaces. Always keep an eye on speed limits on the highways, if you are driving at more than 50% faster than the mentioned speed limit, chances are, your tyre would not support the run for long.

Use of wrong tyres

Tyre compounds are specifically developed for terrains. If you are using Mud Tyres on the highway or Highway Tyres during your off-road venture, the tyres would not take them on a good note. Mud terrain tyres have bigger blocks to provide more friction on the road, they will be damaged very quickly if used on the highway. Similarly, the road tyres are not designed to work on high slippery surfaces like mud, they will struggle to get a grip and will be destroyed in the process.