Tyre Maintenance

The maintenance of tyres is usually much neglected field. Car owners usually fit the tyres and forget about them till a problem arises. Visible signs of abnormal tyre wear or other such failure manifestations are usually over-loaded. The result is that performance of tyres is affected adversely.

Two important steps for maintenance are suggested by tyre manufacturers. However, the most important mint in tyre maintenance is to maintain a proper inflation pressure. As mentioned earlier, both under-inflation and ovar-inflation result in unsatisfactory tyre performance. The two important steps are; Tyre rotation and Tyre inspection.

Fig 1: Tyre rotation [1]

Tyre rotation: In general, car manufacturers recommended tyre rotation in such a way that the tyres do not run in the same position for more than a specified mileage, say 7500 to 15,000 km. Rotation equalises wear and minimises tyre noise. The tyres should be rotated in a definite pattern and the same pattern shold be followed every time rotation is being carried out. Normally all four along with spare wheel (five wheels) tyres should be rotated. However in case the spare tyre is in poor condition, the other four wheels/tyres should be rotated. Figure (1-a) shows cross-ply or bais belted and belted bais tyre rotation while figure (1-b) shows radial-ply tyre rotation for good life span of tyre.

Tyre inspection: A regular inspection of the tyre for wear is very essential to extract maximum service life. Tyre tread should not wear out to a depth less than 1.6mm. this wear should even throughout the tread. Any abnormal tread wear should be checked and the fault should be diagnosed. Tyres have tread wear bands which appear when the depth reduces to less than 1.6mm. When these bands appear on tyres in two or more adjacent grooves the tyre should be replaced. Careful inspection of thread wear in fact almost pinpoints the cases of wear and if remedial steps are taken early, the tyre life is prolonged. The tyre should not only be inspected for thread wear but also for side wear and damage. The tyre can be damaged or excessively worn by mechanical faults, bad driving or inadequate maintenance. Whatever the reason, they can be a danger to the driver, passengers and anyone else on the road.

Next Article: "Factors Affecting Tyre Life"

References:

[1] Automobile Engineering By Ttti, © Tata McGraw-Hill Education