The Hindu Business Line : For long-lasting tyres

AFTER looking at the importance of right inflation levels in your car tyres, we will profile the other safety and maintenance tips that should be kept in mind to ensure a long and productive tyre life.

While still on the subject of tyre wear, here are few pointers that need re-emphasis.

Check your tyre tread wear regularly for important indicators regarding its health.

In addition to improper tyre inflation, irregular tread wear can be caused due to the wheels being out of balance, due to steering component errors or the weakening of the car's suspension.

So, checking to see if there is enough tread on the tyres can help you recognise the right time for replacing those rubbers.

Most tyres today are fitted with a coloured band of rubber — the tread wear indicator bar — at the bottom of the tread. The indicator bar is moulded along with the tread, in a number of places around the tyre, and in such a way that when the tread is worn out the coloured bands are visible, indicating the need to replace the tyre.

Tyres also need to be visually checked for other obvious signs of damage such as cuts on the tread or nicks on the sidewalls. The earlier these are detected and corrected, the lesser the chances of a tyre burst.

Dos and Don'ts

Check your wheel alignment at least once a year and before a long trip. Wheel balancing should be checked after every tyre repair, or every time the tyre is dismounted, or if any vibration or drag in the vehicle is detected.

Rotate the tyres of your vehicle every 8,000-10,000 km, with the tyres from the non-active axle being diagonally switched with the tyres on the drive axle. This ensures even wear of all the tyres.

Avoid rapid acceleration and rapid deceleration in city conditions. While stop-and-go traffic is unavoidable in most cities, a consistent speed will, in the long run, preserve your tyres' health.

Avoid patching a puncture or other repairs to the tyres by an ill-equipped roadside mechanic.

While the work may be done more quickly in such cases, the life of the tyre could be dramatically reduced by the use of improper tools for dismounting the tyre from the wheel.

Avoid using retreaded tyres on high-speed expressways and on a long journey.

Do not mix radials and bias ply tyres in the same car.

Do not also mix bias ply tubes with radials and vice versa.

Avoid using tyres of a larger size (than the manufacturer recommended size). Though this might improve the car's external appearance, it could be a drag on its fuel efficiency and may also lead to accelerated tyre wear.

Finally, if you want to try using tubeless tyres for your car, the current experience amongst users on Indian roads has shown that it is advisable to still use them with tubes!

How to read the markings on your tyres?

Some of the markings on the sidewall of a car are:

Brand name of the tyre manufacturer and model number or name.

Tyre type, for example, tube type, steel belted radial, bias ply etc.

Maximum load allowable for the tyre and the maximum cold inflation pressure recommended by the manufacturer mentioned as a certain number of PSI (pounds per square inch).

The number of `plies' that the tyre has been built with, for example, two steel and one polyester in the case of steel belted radial and 8 (+/-) polyester ply in the case of bias ply tyres.

Amongst the abbreviations that are mentioned on the tyre are:

P... — for passenger car tyre, LT for light truck etc.

165/80 — for tyre width and aspect ratio.

The tyre width (165) is mentioned in millimetres and the aspect ratio (80) is the ratio of the height of the tyre's cross-section to its width. The `80' here means that the tyre's height is equal to 80 per cent of its width.

R14 — the alphabet stands for the construction of the tyre, with the R standing for radial. A `B' would have stood for Bias ply tyre construction. The number `13' here stands for the tyre width, this varies depending on the vehicle.

83S — the numeral here is the load index, and stands for the maximum load in pounds per inch that the tyre can support when correctly inflated. The maximum load is also usually mentioned in kg at another spot on the tyre.

To convert the PSI index to kg, multiply the load index with the tyre width and divide by 2.21.

The `S' refers to the speed rating for the tyre. `S' is the minimum speed rating for car radials in the country, and indicate that the tyres can perform satisfactorily at sustained speeds of up to 180 km per hour. T, H and V rated tyres can do higher speeds of up to 240 km.

(Concluded.)

The first part of this article appeared on February 2, 2003.

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