Check those tyres when buying a used vehicle

Are you looking to buy a new (used) car, or have you already bought one?

I was called out to a customer today who had bought a 4x4 vehicle only last week. He saw a screw in one of the rear tyres and called Hometyre Sussex out to make a puncture repair for him.

As part of the job Hometyre also carry out a quick check on all the other tyres and write a report as part of the job, this is then emailed to the customer once the work is completed.

While checking the other tyres I noticed that both tyres on the offside were winter tyres and both tyres on the nearside were summer tyres. He had felt that the handling of his 4x4 was not quite right, and this may have been partly to blame.

I showed the tyres to the customer, and recommended that I move the tyres around to have both winter tyres on one axle and both summer tyres on the other axle, this is still not ideal as you should really have all four tyres of the same type on one vehicle. Mixing and matching different tyres can effect the handling of any vehicle and is not recommended.

if you are planning to buy any used car, take a look at the tyres not just for tread depth, but for make and type of tyre. It could cost you £££'s to replace all four tyres, on your new car, which is an expense you don't want after just forking out for the car.

I have seen a Mini that someone had bought, where it had three runflat tyres and one normal tyre. The customer was unaware until he had a puncture in the normal tyre and it went flat immediately, whereas a runflat tyre will allow you to continue driving on it for around 30 ~ 50 miles.

Additionally when checking your tyres get on your hands and knees, and take a look at the inside edge of the tyre, as this can often be worn out, yet the outside edge can still look good. This is especially noticeable on cars with wide wheels.