Safety Guide on Buying Tyres

ROAD SAFETY

Jonas Agwu

In just two weeks, it will be another Christmas. I do not know how heavy traffic will be across most of the major corridors even though we are ready to promote safe travel. In my usual practice during this season, I would be focusing on specific safety issues that should interest the average traveller.  Some of the issues include excessive speeding, tyre, night travel as well as fatigue.

However, my focus this week is on tyres because of the yearly worry by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) on the increasing cases of tyre burst and the need to address this. For the records, I must remind you that several avoidable road traffic crashes have been recorded since the beginning of the year. We can collectively spot the trend by applying lifesaving safety measures as well as common sense in their driving.

Interestingly, available  reports indicate that tyre related crashes are still a major concern especially with the current increase in night travels.

Tyres are among the most important parts of a vehicle but unfortunately the least understood. Without tyres your vehicle is useless. You need them to start, move and stop the vehicle. So buying tyres is a task you need to undertake very carefully otherwise your safety and that of others could be put in great danger.

Before you buy any tyre, give serious consideration to the size, age and its physical condition. Let us start first with the size of a tyre . On the sidewall of your tyres, you will see figures like 215/75/15r, 195/65/14r and so on. These are designations for your tyre sizes. Check your own tyre to know what is written on it. The first figure from the left is the width (from sidewall to sidewall) of the tyre in millimetres; the middle number is what is known as the aspect ratio used to calculate the height of the sidewall of the tyre.

The last number is the rim diameter. When you go to buy tyres you will mention all of these figures to the seller so that he will give you exactly what you want. There are various sizes of tyres in the market that can fit your type of vehicle but that does not mean that those sizes are good/safe for your vehicle.

Every vehicle has tyre sizes specified by the vehicle manufacturer.

If you check the tyre placard by the end of the driver’s door, hood or the vehicle’s manual, you will see the specification for your vehicle’s tyre sizes, please stick to these specifications while buying replacements. Don’t let the tyre seller give you something else. Your vehicle’s manufacturer has taken a lot of factors into consideration before specifying the tyre sizes.

If you change that, your vehicle may not handle well and may be risking a blowout and a crash. Changing to fatter tyres like some people do may look better but not safer. In most cases, the manufacturer provides alternatives should you not find the original sizes the vehicle came with. The tyre placard will specify these alternatives.

However, there are some calculations you can make to get sizes apart from what the manufacturer specifies that will give you the same result as the original specification, but you need to know how to do the calculations otherwise stick to the original.

Next is on how to determine the age of your tyre. Even more important than the tyre size is its age. Unfortunately, most motorists as well as tyre sellers don’t know how to check for the tyre age; they depend only on visual inspection of the physical conditions. Some will invite a vulcanizer who will do a press up (or is it press down?) on the tyre to certify if it is okay; what a wrong and dangerous thing to do! the emphasis on age? Just as age can disqualify an otherwise promising marriage mate or job applicant in some cases , age will disqualify a tyre even if every other thing seems alright from a visual inspection. Do not be deceived by looks, every tyre has an effective lifespan beyond which you will be entering the danger zone. As a general rule, any tyre that is more than six years old should be discarded. This rule, however, applies to quality tyres with known brand names. Less quality tyres of course, may not last that long.

So how do you determine the age of a tyre? Unlike humans who can hide their ages, every tyre provides information about its age but in a coded form. Look at the side walls of your tyre and check for the letters dot. Look around the dot (to the left or to the right) until you get to either a three digit or four digit number boldly imprinted on the tyre without any alphabet attached to it.

Some tyres though, may not have the letters DOT printed on them.Just look around the side wall you definitely will see a three or four digit number clearly imprinted on the tyre; that is the code designating the date of manufacture of the tyre. Since it is a code, you need to decode it to get the age of the tyre. So let’s decode it. If it is a three digit number, check to see if it has a triangle sign attached to it. A three digit number without a triangle means the tyre was manufactured in the 1980s; the first two numbers from the left tell you the week in the year while the last number tells you the year in the 80s.

My counsel to you if you plan to travel within these season to go to a qualified and professional for them to assess your tryes including your spare. Once they conclude, please made the extra effort in ensuring that every substandard tyre is replace for your safety, Don’t and I repeat like a Clergy, attempt to manage any substandard tyre on the trust that the blood of Jesus for those who are Christians will preserve you