It is extremely important not to limp on with a flat tyre to the nearest garage. It’s very serious safety risk and could cause an accident endangering not only you and your car but other road users too.

If your car has a spare tyre you may wish to practice changing a wheel at home on your driveway in the daylight when the weather is nice and dry. That way, if you do suffer a puncture unexpectedly you are well prepared for all conditions.

With that in mind here is a step-by-step guide to safely changing a flat tyre to help keep you moving:

• Switch on your hazard warning lights. Drive your vehicle to a safe spot off the road – providing it is NOT a motorway hard shoulder – no quicker than 5mph.

• If you have an emergency warning triangle in your boot then place this around 50 metres behind the car to alert other road users of your whereabouts.

• Ensure all passengers are escorted out of the car and a safe distance away from the road.

• Apply the handbrake and engage first gear.

• Take off the wheel trim – if fitted.

• Find your car’s recommended lifting point, as per the vehicle’s handbook. DO NOT jack up your vehicle in any other position as this could cause it to collapse and damage the bodywork due to a lack of balance.

• Slowly unscrew the wheel nuts using a wheel brace as supplied in your vehicle. A locking wheel-nut adapter may be required if there is an anti-theft cover guarding locking wheel nuts. Be sure to store these together neatly so they can be refitted for the spare tyre.

• Remove the flat tyre and fit the spare wheel.

• Be sure to tighten the wheel nut at the top of the wheel first to provide initial stability.

• Tighten all of the wheel nuts with your fingers first. Then use your wheel wrench or brace to tighten further (but not fully), ensuring the wheel is firmly secured to the hub.

• Begin lowering the car back to its normal trajectory by turning the car jack handle anti-clockwise.

• Remove the jack and tighten the wheel nuts as securely as possible using the wrench or brace in a criss-cross pattern.

• Store your flat tyre in the same place your spare was previously stored and secure it with a wing bolt.

• Under NO circumstances should you go underneath the car at any point of this exercise.

• DO NOT drive more than 50 miles on a compact, ‘space saver’ spare tyre.

• NEVER use more than one compact spare tyre on a vehicle at the same time.

As part of the general upkeep of your vehicle you should regularly measure the tread depth of every tyre, with a minimum legal requirement of 1.6mm across the centre three quarters of each tyre, and that they are inflated to correct tyre pressures.

Follow these steps and you should be able to safely reach your nearest garage so that a professional mechanic can provide assistance and fit a new tyre for you.

If you’re in the Arnold area, visit Arnold Tyres on Nottingham Road in Arnold for expert advice and assistance. If you’re in Nottingham but not close to Arnold, visit one of the Lindleys Autocentres garages located throughout Nottingham – West Bridgford, Basford & Nottingham City Centre.

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As long as you know the legal requirements when it comes to tyre tread, it is easier than you might think to check the legality of your wheels. The lower the tread, the higher the risk of your tyres failing, and the higher the risk of skidding or aquaplaning due to a lower level of grip on the road.

Legal requirements in the UK are for a minimum tyre tread depth of 1.6 millimetres across 75% of the tyre. If caught with tread that is below the legal requirement, you can expect to face three points on your driving licence, and a fine of £2,500 for each tyre that is illegal.

Although the minimum legal requirement is tread of 1.6 millimetres, most vehicle manufacturers will recommend that you replace a tyre when it reaches 3 millimetres. This isn’t just so that garages can make more money on tyre sales, but for safety: in wet weather, for example, it can take a car with tyre tread of 1.6mm an extra 8 metres to stop at 50 miles per hour than a car with tyre tread of 3mm.

If you use your car on a daily basis, then it is best to check your tread levels at least every two weeks. To check your tyre tread, the best way is to use a dedicated tyre tread gauge. Use the gauge on every single tyre, and in multiple places – the lowest tread measurement is the one you should look at for each tyre. If your tyres are uneven, then take a reading from the most worn part of the tyre.

No tyre tread gauge? You can use a 20p piece instead. Insert a 20p coin into the most worn part of each tyre: if you can still see the outer rim of the coin, then your tyres need replacing.

Many tyres also now have a tread depth indicators built in, which can help you to see at a glance whether new tyres are needed.

If you have any doubts about whether your tyre tread is legal, then ask a specialist to check: it is better to be safe than sorry. Replacing your tyres may seem like an unwanted expense, but you’ll be improving your car’s safety, and avoiding the risk of three points on your driving licence and a hefty fine.

You may only have one tyre that needs replacing, but from a safety point of view, it is always best to replace tyres in pairs so that you have equal grip on both sides of the car. Poorly balanced tyres on each side of the car can have an impact on the vehicle’s stability – again, it isn’t just an excuse to get you to spend more. When replacing a pair of tyres, fit the new tyres to the rear axle: whether RWD, FWD or AWD, it is important that the rear wheels have the most traction, to keep you safe on the road.

If you’ve got any doubts about the condition of your tyres, pop into Arnold Tyres for free, “no strings attached”, expert advice or give us a call on 0115 926 8368.

The post Safety Tips: How to Check Tyre Wear appeared first on Arnold Tyres.

With more and more people choosing to browse the internet from their mobiles or tablets as apposed to their laptops or computers, it only makes sense to target our website towards both, so that’s exactly what we did!

Our new website is fully optimized to be used on any mobile device, it will re-size and adapt depending on the size of your screen from an Ipad or Tablet, to and Iphone, Android or Blackberry. Our booking system has also been optimized for mobile use for your convenience. We hope you find these features useful and welcome all feedback.

Ipad or Tablet view

Small tablet or large mobile view

Mobile phone view

And finally our mobile booking app which will be launching very soon.

The post Website fully mobile! appeared first on Arnold Tyres.

Tyre labelling for passenger cars and light trucks will take effect from 1 November 2012 under European Regulation (EC) No. 1222/2009.

This new regulation will bring a major advance in consumer information on tyre safety (wet braking) and the tyre’s impact on the environment (rolling resistance and external noise).

The graphics on the label may be familiar as they are already used for household appliances and more recently for new cars, but what are the benefits for consumers?

Compare fuel economy

Use this diagram to see how a tyre performs on fuel consumption.
Fuel-efficiency is graded from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient).

Save up to £110 or 80 litres of fuel over the life of the tyres. That’s for a car fitted with four A-rated tyres driving at 50mph – it uses 7.5%¹ less fuel than with G-rated tyres.
Results can vary with type of car or climatic conditions but the performance gaps are proven.

 

 

Compare braking on wet roads

This chart grades a tyre on how well it brakes in wet conditions. Performance scales from A (the safest, stopping in the shortest distances) down to G (least safe, with longest braking distances).

Stop up to 4 car lengths shorter. For a car fitted with four A-rated tyres driving at 50 mph, stopping distance can be up to 18 metres or 30%¹ shorter than with G-rated tyres.

 

Compare external noise level

This diagram shows you a tyre’s noise level in decibels (dB). The 3-wave pictogram tells you

how it rates in relation to future European mandatory limits. Tyre noise heard outside the car doesn’t necessarily relate to what you hear inside the car.

3 black waves = Noisier tyre. Level greater than the future limit but complies with today’s noise regulation
2 black waves = Average tyre. Noise level equal to or below future limit by up to 3 dB (A)
1 black wave = Low noise tyre. Noise level 3 dB (A) or more below future noise limit

3dB doesn’t sound much but it is actually double the noise level!

What else matters when choosing tyres?

Labelling is a good start, but 3 other performance factors are just as important for you:

Tyre longevity: a longer-lasting tyre can cost you less in the long run. The right tyre could give you more than a year of extra driving compared to another tyre.

Road handling performance: 25% of accidents² are on bends.

Dry braking performance: 70% of accidents² occur on dry roads.

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