What an absolutely incredible summer we’ve had. The country has enjoyed basking in sunshine since June, and our children have been out and about having fun in some of the best weather we’ve had in ages. We imagine the sunshine kept them off their electronic devices for a short time, right?!
But, as we approach the end of August, the new school year countdown is well underway. And while there’s still one last bank holiday to come, before you know it, children up and down the country will be back in the classroom – the long hot summer but a distant memory. With this change comes the return of a parental responsibility – the daily school run.
Whether it’s your kids in the back of the car, or someone else’s kids walking to school, now’s the time to consider a vital aspect of your daily drop off and collection – the tyres that you have fitted to your vehicle.
Having good tyres fitted really matters
That’s right – tyres. You may be surprised to learn that – in our expert opinion – the quality and condition of the tyres fitted to your car, SUV or 4×4 are the most important factor in enhancing both your driver safety, and the children’s safety too. Still unsure? Then consider this; your tyres are the only part of your vehicle that is actually in contact with the road at any given moment, right? And even then it’s a relatively small contact patch – no bigger than a modern smartphone.
Makes you think, doesn’t it? When you see things this way, you begin to realise just how essential it is to have good tyres fitted. If you don’t, how can you possibly be 100% confident that your kids are as safe as passengers can be, when you’re driving them to and from school?
It’s something that the expert tyre team at Asda Tyres, and top premium tyre manufacturer, Continental, have advocated for a very long time. And it’s why we offer you this important tyre safety advice. We both have an excellent track record of vigorously campaigning for driver safety, and we firmly believe that it’s essential for parents – like you – to be as informed as possible of the importance of fitting high-quality tyres to your vehicle.
Ensuring your tyres have good tread depth is vital
Your tyre treads – those long horizontal grooves that run along the central length of your tryes – contribute massively to ensuring that you have the all the grip you need, especially in wet weather conditions. And while it’s been a wonderful summer of hot, sun-drenched days, we all know that sooner rather than later the rain will fall again, returning the road surface to its usual wet and slippery state. Some things never change.
The contribution of your tyre treads – and in particular their depth – can’t be underestimated. It’s the treads that quickly and efficiently disperse the water from between your car and the road. But the only way this can be done successfully and safely is if the treads have sufficient depth.
On the occasion of purchasing a new set of premium tyres, you’ll find that they come with a full 8mm of tread depth. This optimal amount is ideal for clearing water off the road. However, as time goes by, your treads wear down, and as the tread depth diminishes, so too does the tyre’s ability to efficiently clear water from the road. The result of this is a gradual reduction in grip, and is most noticeably felt when you need to accelerate, corner and brake in wet weather conditions.
Maintaining good levels of grip is vital to your driver safety, so to avoid a loss, both Asda Tyres and Continental strongly recommend that the tyres fitted to your vehicle have at least 3mm of tread depth. In our expert opinion, we don’t think it’s wise to let them wear down to the UK road legal minimum tread depth of just 1.6mm.
Why? Simple. There have been – and will continue to be – many, many independent braking tests, all of which conclusively demonstrate that – in wet weather conditions – it can take a vehicle up to an additional two car lengths to come to a complete stop on 1.6mm of tread, compared to a vehicle whose tyres have 3mm. We’re sure you agree that’s a huge difference, with potentially catastrophic consequences.
Think about it for a moment, then imagine yourself doing the school run, and the consequences of not having enough grip to successfully brake, should a distracted child should walk out into the road… It’s an awful thought, and something we don’t wish on anyone, but the simple fact is that this scenario plays out every day around the narrow streets of the nation’s schools. Much of the time disaster is averted, but not all the time.
A statistical release by the Department of Transport in autumn 2017 revealed that in 2016, 23,550 pedestrian casualties were reported on UK roads. Of these, 26% – a staggering 6,123 – were children up to 15 years of age. That’s an appalling amount of young people whose lives have been effected – for one reason or another – by collision with a motor vehicle.
Minimising your stopping distances is vital for safeguarding your children, as well as other kids who may unexpectedly step out in front of you.
If you’ve got any Continetal series 5 or higher tyres – such as their award winning ContiPremiumContact™ 5 and PremiumContact™ 6 products – already fitted to your vehicle, you’ll benefit from having the additional 3mm tread wear indicators that come as standard. These accurately show you when your tyres are down to this level of tread depth, and serve as a prompt to replace your tyres.
Unfortunately, not all tyre manufacturers do, but Continental believe in providing drivers as much information and protection as possible. It’s a mindset born of their global Vision Zero driver safety initiative, whose aim is to achieve zero fatalities, zero injuries and zero accidents on the road. But they can’t do it all alone, and we all have a part to play in making this ambition come true. So before you find yourself back on the daily school run, make the time to check your tyre tread depth, and if they’re not as deep as they could be, get new premium tyres fitted.
Unsure how to check your tread depths? Discover how to do so quickly and easily, with the “20p Test”.
Tyre pressures make a big difference. Make sure yours are correct
Can you remember the last time you checked your vehicle’s tyre pressures? If the answer is no – let alone ‘never’ – then it’s essential that you do so, before the kids are back at school. Your vehicle’s pressures have a direct bearing on how well your tyres perform, no matter the tread depth.
If your tyres are correctly inflated, they’ll be at their optimal shape, and, as a result, they’ll be better able to perform as they’re intended to – providing you with the grip you need to stay in control. However, if they’re either under or over inflated, it’s a completely different story.
If your tyres are under inflated, you increase the risk of incurring uneven tyre wear. This occurs at the outside edges of the tyre, and is due to the (incorrect) shape of an under inflated tyre – which bulges at the sides, increasing the tyre footprint, but in the process reducing contact between the road and the main tyre centre. The wrong part of the tyre makes contact at the expense of the correct area – just where you need grip the most.
A softer, flatter tyre also makes too much contact with the road. This unnecessary contact results in your vehicle requiring a lot more fuel to burn, simply to turn the wheels. As a consequence, you’ll need to spend more on fuel and nobody wants to be hit in the pocket, right?
There’s also a problem with uneven tyre wear for over inflated tyres. However, in this instance, the wear occurs along the main centre of the tyre – just on the area where your tread grooves are positioned. This type of uneven wear takes place because the shape of over inflated tyres is more pointed at the centre, thus reducing contact with the tyre edges. This results in unnecessary contact with the road in this crucial area of the tyre, increasing tyre wear, and ultimately reducing grip.
If this steady, premature erosion comes to a head in wet weather conditions, your tyres won’t perform optimally, and you’ll end up experiencing longer stopping distances. That means and increased chance of collision, and with children heading back at school, there’s every chance it could be with one of them.
Another consequence of over inflated tyres is an increased risk of sustaining a tyre blowout, or puncture. Why? Because over inflated tyres become too taut, and that means they don’t have sufficient flex and give in them to better absorb any shocks, bumps, and impacts they may experience on the road – such as from contact with the kerbside, or potholes. A blowout at any speed is problematic enough, but at any kind of high speed, potentially fatal. For all these reasons, and more, be sure to check your tyre pressures – before the new school year begins.
Be vigilant for any tyre damage
Your tyres undergo a pounding whenever you drive, so it’s inevitable that they may incur some damage. If you maintain the correct pressures, you’ll help to reduce the chances of a tyre blowout, as well as minimise the possibility of getting any tears, cuts, nicks, bubbles or bulges in the sidewall.
There’s also the possibility of sustaining a tyre puncture. Very sharp objects, such as pieces of metal, and fragments of glass, are very common on our roads. As such, there’s a strong chance that one or other could easily become embedded in your tyres. This can be avoided if you regularly check your tyres for damage, though there’s no guarantee.
Protecting yourself from the consequences of a puncture
If you do sustain a puncture, there are immediate consequences to deal with. However, Continental’s superb ContiSeal™ technology instantly negates them. Thanks to ContiSeal™, there’s no need to stop driving, or change tyre.
This brilliant extended mobility solution automatically seals any puncture – up to 5mm in diameter – from the inside of the tyre. This stops the outflow of air, and preserves your ability to carry on driving. There’s no need for an immediate stop, or roadside tyre change. If you’ve had to do so before, you’ll already know what a difficult and intimidating experience it can be. And if that thought isn’t scary enough, imagine having to change a tyre on a road with fast moving traffic, with your children also in the car…
You can find ContiSeal™ technology across many of Continental’s tyre range. To learn more about, Live Chat with the experts at Asda Tyres for impartial, expert tyre advice.
