Understanding Tyre Safety

Sun, Oct 23, 2011

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Tyres (or tires, depending on where you’re from) are a vital part of the car, and are especially so since they are the only form of contact that your car has with the road. Regular checks on your tyres and performing regular maintenance should be the norm, but first you need to know that there are seveeral areas that you need to understand about your tyres.

Tyre Manufacture Date

Tyres have a 4-year lifespan and the manufacture date of the tyre is imprinted on the side of the tyre. Expired tyres face a much greater risk of bursting and will likely result in a serious or fatal accident.

Manufacture dates are 4-digits long, like this: 0709. This means that the tyre was manufactured in the 7th week of 2009.

Optimal Inflation Pressures for Tyres

Different tyres are rated for different pressures. You will find your maximum tyre inflation pressure imprinted on the side of the tire, like so: “(50 PSI) MAX PRESS”. You should never exceed this pressure, but it’s fine to go slightly below it. If your tyre pressure is too low, your tyre will heat up more and cause tyre damage.

The following is a table of maximum pressures and their minimum acceptable pressures:

MAXIMUM	ACCEPTABLE
32 PSI	28 PSI
44 PSI	35 PSI
50 PSI	44 PSI

Besides this, other critical points to take note of is the maximum load capacity of the tyre, maximum speed rating, and traction (on wet surfaces). More information about reading and understanding tyres can be found on the tire code wiki page.

This post was written by:

Alvin - Alvin is a Singaporean who's interested in marketing, techy stuff and likes to just figure out how the two can work with each other. On top of his blog, you can also follow him on Twitter.

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