Motoring corner : “The Right Tires”

The most important item on a vehicle is the engine, that engine is as good as the tires that cause the vehicle to move places and back safely. Without good and safe tires, the possibility of that engine keeping your vehicle on the road and safe are less than 3 out of ten. We can conclusively say that, tires are the most important item on any vehicle in as far as safety is concerned. We can say clearly that, a vehicle without the right tires is no vehicle worth being road worthy. Decide which brand of tires you want. It is very important to religiously follow the manufacturer’s instructions on how to use the tire and where to use them. It not a matter of wearing new tires and hitting the roads. Different road conditions and weather conditions will dictate having suiting tires. Though it is fashionable to wear some brand of tires, it is useless having them in as far as safety and utility is concerned. Many times we see people cruising on the best roads in the comfort of their so called “OFF ROADERS”; what a ridiculous phenomena! Those vehicles are designed for the jungles, deserts or where there are no roads, but here we are using them in cities, isn’t that quite ridiculous? That applies to many of us that rush in to buy very huge tires, fit them on our vehicles and the vehicles look like spacecrafts from the aliens’ world! Tires are meant to take the transmission’s power and apply it to the roads (propel the vehicle). The best and most efficient tires are those that will give you more kilometres and safety and not those that will leave the onlookers agape! Wearing too big or too small a tire size could be dangerous as it could wear out too fast or get stuck in the mud guard and burst. Every vehicle has the recommended tire sizes, these are normally on a stick glued on the side of the driver’s door. There are normally two or three different size combinations. The ream size is fixed, the height is normally a percentage of the width. The width and height must always be of a certain proportion depending on the reams. The smaller the reams, the higher the height width proportion, the wider the ream, the lower the width height proportion. Normally, when you increase the ream size, you must reduce the tire volume to accommodate that increase. As tires hold the air that serves as a cushion between the road and the vehicle, reducing the tire volumes may greatly reduce the comfort and safety as well. As a cardinal rule, whenever you fit new tires onto your vehicle, please make sure that you have a wheel alignment as well as a wheel balance carried out. Wheel alignment ensures that, the tires are properly in line with each other, that way, they will move in a straight line and in harmony, giving you a smooth drive as well as maximum tire life. Wheel balance on the other hand is about the weight of the tire on the ream. Sometimes, in the manufacture process, some sections of the tire could get more rubber than others, this makes the tire to have uneven weight, this is corrected by adding some metallic weights on the reams to counter such unevenness. Don’t try doing this yourself, there are experts with specialised equipment that will help you for a reasonable fee. motoringcorner@live.co.uk

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Motoring corner : “The Right Tires”