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Highway Driving School

Driving Schools Farnborough - Driving lessons Aldershot - Farnham Driving Lessons - Driving Instructor Aldershot.

Car Maintenence 3

Check your Tyres

1- Tyre tread depth - Legal limit 1.6mm 2- No damage to side walls 3- Correct air pressure

Tyres are the only point of contact between your vehicle and the road. 1.6mm legal limit - ROSPA recommend change at 3mm.

Legal limit 1.6mm Car tyres must have a minimum of 1.6mm of tread throughout the central 3/4 of the tread width and over the whole circumference of the tyre.

tyres are manufactured with tread wear indicators in the grooves. As the tyres wear TOWARDS the inicator REPLACE them.

A regular check of your tyres can help you to avoid 3 penalty points and £2,500 in fines (per tyre) for having tyres worn beyond the legal minimum limit on your vehicle.

Check for Damage to side walls

It is important to visually check the condition of tyres on a regular basis. Lumps and bulges usually indicate the tyre has been damaged internally. Replace immediately. Any cut to the tyre, which is deep enough to reach the internal structure renders the tyre unsafe. It should be replaced or where appropriate repaired. Tyres deteriorate with age and if cracking or crazing is present it indicates the rubber is perished and the structural integrity cannot be assured. The tyre should be replaced. If you are in doubt about the condition of your tyres have them inspected by an expert.

Correct Air Pressures - Always check pressures when the tyres are cold

Correctly inflated tyres give the optimum performance.

This chart shows to inflate tyres to 2.2 bar or 220 kpa for only driver and passanger. Front and rear. but to increase inflation air pressure to 2.4 bar 240 kpa if fully laden with passengers and luggage. Front and rear.

On your tyres you will see some numbers in this case 195/55R16. Located on a placard on the car (MINI on driver door post) will be the manufacturers recomended correct air pressure for this size of tyre. older cars will be calibrated as psi, newer ones with bar or kpa. Most air pumps and gauges are marked with each.

You can check the pressure with a pressure gauge or use a pump with built in gauge

Remove dust cap, attach pump and inflate to correct pressure Check tyre pressures every two weeks and adjust when necessary.

Tyres that are under inflated can overheat, over inflated tyres can lead to poor vehicle handling on the road. Over or under inflated tyres suffer more damage than those with the correct pressure. Vehicles with under-inflated tyres require more fuel to maintain the same speed.

AQUAPLANING

30 second clip of car aquaplaning on a track

The video shows how and why cars aquaplane. 12 minutes (its an old film but well worth watching)

Aquaplaning is the effect of a loss of steering control caused by a film of water building between the tyre and road surface. Most drivers will, at some stage, experience this effect to varying degrees. As the tyre travels in a forward direction it relies mainly on the tread pattern to "evacuate" water from the road surface to enable a contact with the tyres tread pattern. Several factors can affect the resistance of a tyre to aquaplaning such as vehicle speed, depth of water, tyre pressures and, most importantly, tread depth of the tyres.

Learn to drive with one of the premier driving schools in Farnham in a Mini we can offer intensive courses or hourly driving lessons. Book your driving lessons with Highway driving school today. Our instructors cover Ash, Ash vale, Ash Green, Aldershot, Alton, Bordon, Blackwater, Camberley, Deepcut, Elstead, Farnham, Farnborough, Fleet, Frensham, Frimley, Frimley Green, Farncombe, Godalming, Guildford, Haslemere, Northcamp, Sandhurst, Tongham and surrounding areas.

Contact Highway Driving School, 10 Wey Close, Ash, Aldershot, postcode GU12 6LY. Phone now-07989 979 115 or 01252 313972.