Hoot Guide to tyre maintenanceBearing in mind that Hoot is a car insurance firm, you'd be amazed at the range of questions we get asked day to day by our customers.
Most, at least, are related to motoring, but as this broad subject encompasses a plethora of laws, car parts, driving tips and buying advice we are kept constantly on our toes.
However, this kind of information has a way of rubbing off on you, and with each new question we learn a little more for future customers' enquiries. Accordingly the average Hoot employee has become something of an expert in a lot more than finding cheap car insurance, and as a team we doubt there's many motoring questions left that we can't answer. Recently, we've started writing Hoot Guides as a way to make better use of all this knowledge. Each one packs in dozens of useful facts and tips on a given subject, and they've already helped thousand of our customers and other web users get the motoring advice they need. After car insurance, possibly the most common topic for customers' questions in the past has been vehicle maintenance, and as a result we've decided to devote a special section in the guides to that very subject. Here we'll cover everything from flat batteries and breakdowns to diagnosing faults by listening to your engine, besides the focus of this Hoot Guide: tyre maintenance. Why tyre condition is so important
Your tyres are the first and only point of contact between your car and the road, and the state they're in will have an enormous impact on handling, stopping distances and your rate of acceleration.
Driving with tyres that don't come up to scratch is both illegal and highly dangerous, so it's very important to make regular checks for wear and damage. By making sure you always have a good set of tyres you'll stay on the right side of the law - and the right side of the road, too. Checking tyre pressure
Under- or over-inflated tyres will have seriously adverse effects on your car's performance.
The average car tyre is an engineering marvel, much more complicated that the doughnut-shaped balloon most of us imagine it to be. It's internal structure and load-bearing properties are highly dependant on there being a certain level of pressure exerted inside the tyre, and it's up to you to keep that level constant. Tyres lose pressure naturally over time, not just when they get a puncture. You won't notice this gradual loss of air by looking at them until it becomes a serious problem, so instead take your car to a garage with an air pump and check the pressure there. Make this trip at least fortnightly, and any other time your tyres look 'saggy' or your handling feels sluggish. Obviously if your tyre pressure turns out to be under the required level (specified in your vehicle handbook), top it up with the pump. And if you over inflate by mistake, let some air out and try again, as driving with bulging tyres is almost as dangerous as driving on flats. Checking tread depth
Look closely at a tyre and you'll see a series of groves running around it, called treads. These help the tyre to grip a wet road surface by channelling water away from the point of contact.
Over time, a tyre's rubber surface is worn down by the road, and the depth of these treads gets correspondingly shallower, making them less effective. Once that depth reaches 1.6mm, the law states that they are no longer safe for use in the UK and must be replaced. You can buy simple tread gauges for not much money at most garages. Check your tread depth every fortnight along with your tyre pressure, and don't wait to reach 1.6mm before fitting replacements - 2.0mm is a better cut-off point. Other tyre faults
Besides flat or under-inflated tyres and worn-out treads, there are a couple of other common tyre faults to look out for.
The first is a long, deep cut or tear in the rubber. While this may not have lead to an immediate flat, it will significantly weaken the surrounding area of the tyre, making a blowout much more likely. Get the tyre replaced immediately if you spot one. A lump or bulge in the tyre wall is the second fault to watch for. This indicates that something is wrong with the tyre's internal structure, and again is grounds for an urgent replacement. Mixing tyre types
One last thing to be aware of, particularly in older cars, is the danger of mixing radial and bias ply tyres on the same vehicle.
These two types account for different arrangements of reinforcing cords within the rubber of each tyre, which are largely responsible for maintaining its structure and load-bearing ability. Radial bias describes the modern-day standard cord layout, which is reckoned to provide a more responsive, hardwearing tyre than the older bias ply type. However, if your car is currently fitted with bias ply tyres and you need just one or two of them replacing, don't be tempted by radials unless you're prepared to fork out for a complete set. Driving with mixed tyres leads to unpredictable handling and rapid wear, and on top of that it's a criminal offence. Cheap car insurance from Hoot
Tyres are pretty expensive, and if reading this Hoot Guide has made you realise you could do with replacing two or three of yours, you'll probably be up for saving a little money right about now.
It's handy, then, that a car insurance quote from Hoot could knock pounds off your old premium. Our prices make other car insurance companies look silly because we don't believe in promoting ourselves the way they do. Take TV adverts for instance, which cost millions and annoy pretty much everyone but the car insurance firm that commissioned them. We think the people who should be most annoyed by the ads are that firm's existing customers - because the money it cost to make should actually have been spent on them. At Hoot, we spend all our customer's money on things that benefit them personally - that's why we can offer such a high standard of cover at such ridiculous prices. So for a really cheap car insurance quote, just click below. 
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