The summer holidays have arrived!

The summer holidays are fast approaching and there's no doubt your car, caravan or motorhome will be doing its fair share of miles during the next 6 weeks. Whether you're driving to the airport or escaping to the nearest UK coast line or big city, the legality of your tyres is something that should be at the front of your mind.

There are many parts of your journey you are unable to control, from the behaviour of other drivers to the unknown surprises the weather can throw at you, one thing you can control is the condition of the tyres on your own vehicle. The statistics of the number of drivers with illegal tyres has been worryingly high in recent years, defective tyres have been said to cause 40% of accidents on our roads.

Before you set off on your summer holidays, ensure you and your passengers are safe by taking out the following simple checks on your tyres, it only takes a couple of minutes and could save your life!

1. Check your pressures - the correct pressures for your vehicle can be found in the owners manual, if your pressures are too high it will affect the steering of your vehicle and your tyres will quickly wear in the centre of the tread. If they are underinflated the outer edges will wear much faster which can lead to side wall damage, the steering will also feel very heavy.
2. Check your tread depth - the legal wear limit is 1.6mm in the central ¾ of the tyre. One of the easiest ways to check this is the simple 20p coin depth indicator! Take a 20p coin and insert it into the groove of the tyre tread, the band on the outer edge of the coin is the exact limit, if you can see ANY of the border you definitely need to get those tyres changed. Ensure you check a number of points across the width and circumference and check ALL 4 tyres.
3. Check for bulges and cracks - simply look for any obvious defects in your tyres, from cracks in the rubber to bulges and cuts in the side wall of the tyre.

For more information on checking your tyres, just click here. If you're still unsure whether your tyres are safe and legal, give us a call here at Hometyre! We are more than happy to help and can arrange for a time and date to suit you to have your local fitter come out to your home or work to ensure you're safe and legal ready for those eagerly anticipated summer holidays!