Do you have a long road trip coming up?
No matter whether you are heading to: Nottingham for business, Stirling in Fife for leisure or Blackpool for leisure, there are some steps you should take to prepare your car and tyres for the long drive that lies ahead of you.
Let’s take a look at the basics before you go.
Book an Interim Service
Many similar articles are packed with details such as: check the spark plugs; keep an eye on your oil and so on – but booking an interim service, and letting your mechanic know that you are going to be heading off on the road soon, is an excellent way to make sure that all these small – but significant – checks are done for you, all included in the price of your service.
Do the Checks the Service Doesn’t Cover
However, the interim service will not cover everything and it is up to you to make sure you do.
First of all, every driver should know what their car drives like when it is in good condition – this will allow them to quickly notice when things begin to go wrong.
Keep an eye on your vehicle, and also listen to the sound the engine makes in motion, as well as how the tyres sound on the road (poorer quality tyres are noisier), and even use your sense of smell: can you smell oil, petrol or something akin to burning that you have never noticed before?
If so, consult your mechanic as a matter of urgency.
Check Your Tyres
Before any long trip, you should take extra care to examine your tyres.
The tyre pressure and the state of the tread depth are perhaps the two most important factors that you should check out.
New tyres are designed to work best at optimal pressure levels, so allowing them to fall below these levels of overinflating them – perhaps with the thought of fending off any potential slow leak – can be harmful, not only for your tyres, but to other people on the road as it affects your roadworthiness – and not in a good way.
If you do have a slow puncture and if you are looking for your tyres in Stirling – a popular recommendation is Fife Autocentre.
You can book your appointment online today, and enjoy driving with even greater peace of mind.
Align and Balance Your Tyres
As well as ensuring your tyres are in great condition, you should look at the way they are mounted onto your car.
Having your wheels balanced and tyres aligned should be a standard practice, completed whenever you change your tyres.
This is also worth checking when you have your annual or interim service to ensure that your wheels all carry equal weight and that the tyres are minutely aligned on their axes so as to pull evenly and in exactly the right direction.
Don’t Overload the Vehicle
A point for both your tyres and the general vehicle as a whole is to keep an eye on the weight you are subjecting your car to.
Overloaded vehicles suffer from increased friction and wear and tear on all the moving parts, and too much weight can also affect your tyres, causing them to buckle and break in extreme circumstances.
But even if you are only a little overweight, the cumulative effect on your car is overall a harmful one – maintain sensible weight limits at all times by decluttering your car in between journeys and only taking what you need.
We hope you found these tips for preparing your car and tyres for a road trip helpful.
Safe travels.
Featured Photo by Megan Capewell on Unsplash
