How to Check if your Tyres are Legal

Fuel Doctor

With the weather picking up we’ll be spending more time outside, enjoying leisurely drives, dropping off the kids, and many other interesting activities. It’s not always noticeable when one’s tyres start to wear down, so it is best to know how to check whether they are safe or not to use. If a single tyre is found to be worn down to the point that it is illegal, you could be charged £2,500 per tyre plus 3 points on your license, this amasses to £10,000 and 12 points if each tyre has become bald. Here are a couple of tips and tricks that everybody who drives should know, it is imperative that the driver, passengers and others are safe, so using this simple trick will allow you to determine if they are in need of replacement. By placing a 20p coin in-between the main indentation of the tyre, you can gauge whether the wheel has worn down to an unsafe or illegal state. The outer band of the 20p should be fully covered, and if not, then the tyre is beyond the legal limit. The minimum amount of tread across the central three quarters of the tyre is 1.6mm, but it is recommended to change the tyres of your vehicle when they have approximately 3 mm of tread left. Testing should be carried out monthly to make sure that your tyres are within the legal limit.
How to Check if your Tyres are Legal
Due to a decrease of tread, the stopping distance of a vehicle is drastically increased. The purpose of tread on the tyre is for water to be diffused away, which allows there to be more contact between the wheel and the road. As the tyre becomes warn down, the lack of tread results in less water being expelled and thus skidding could occur.

If you find that you need new tyres, consider looking at Tubby’s Tyres in Copthorne. They offer performance tyres at sensible prices. Or, if you need a mobile tyre solution, maybe ASAP Tyres in London can help.

Useful tips regarding tyres would be to also check the pressure monthly, each type of vehicle makes use of a different pressure for their tyres, so make sure that they are inflated to the right amount. Your tyre has to take the brunt of the work that occurs to your vehicle such as bearing much larger amounts of weight compared to itself as well as any road issues, it’s very important to keep them in the best condition.

Another importance is the pressure of one’s tyre, if it is incorrectly inflated many issues could arise, such as the wearing of tyres. This can lead to a decrease in the vehicle’s control, braking, acceleration and an increase of the use of fuel and uneven wearing. By balancing all of the tyre’s pressure, it will prevent odd vibrations and the degradation of the tread, by doing so the vehicle’s suspension is protected from being damaged.

All of us here at Fuelfixer hope that this information was of value to you, and that it will contribute towards the maintenance of your vehicle and others.

So, make sure you do occasionally check your tyres, as the penalties are far worse than most people tend realise!

The legal depth of the tread on the tyres is 1.6 millimetres,

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