Holiday Road Safety

With winter now upon us and weather conditions changing for the worse, we need to ensure that our tyres are able to deal with Australia’s vast and varied road conditions to ensure the safety of ourselves and loved ones.

Completely bald or balding tyres on wet or damp roads are similar to driving on ice.

The tyre tread pattern provides grip in the wet and if your tyres are lacking in this area then you are severely compromising your safety.

For legal reasons, you need to ensure that your tyres are not worn beyond a 1.5mm minimum tread depth and ensure that this depth is visible over the breadth of the tread pattern area. Tread wear indicator bars placed at several positions around the tyre’s circumference show when the tyre is worn to 1.6mm providing you with a indication of when it’s coming up to the time to replace you tyres to stay on the right side of the law.

Whilst respecting the legal limit is of paramount importance, many leading tyre producers point out that as soon as the tread pattern is worn beyond a depth of 3mm, then the tyre’s wet grip, aquaplaning performance and ability to pull up safely are all adversely compromised.

A good tip always is to get your local tyre dealer to check over your tyres, who will be on hand to provide you with sound advice on the best replacements to suit your type of motoring.

Another tip for safety is to check & adjust your tyre pressures regularly – at least once a month and when your tyres are cold, which should be pretty easy during winter! Don’t overlook this important point prior to setting out for the holiday season.

You should also adjust your tyre pressures in accordance to the indications on the vehicle tyre placard and adjust them if extra load is carried in your car – a luggage-packed vehicle usually requires higher tyre pressures.

Correct pressures will improve handling and prolong life, whilst under-inflated tyres increase fuel consumption and cause you to replace them prematurely.