Winter Tyres Advice

In many part so Europe it is advised or in some countries, a legal requirement to have two sets of tyres for your car, winter tyres and summer tyres. Most people have two sets of wheels so they can swap the complete wheel over each season without having to bother swapping the tyres.

Winter tyres use a tread rubber compound with a high silica content, and a tread pattern that is specifically designed to retain flexibility in low temperatures making them ideal in the cold wintery ice and snow. They also give good breaking distance on snow and ice at temperatures below 7 degrees.

Winter tyres are not great for performance in the high temperatures and therefore you would need two sets, this can be costly and often it is hard to justify the additional cost unless you are going to be using the car quite a lot in bad weather.

 

 

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Shopping around for best tyre prices

Tyres are something that almost all of us will have to buy at least once a year. It may be that your tyres are worn down or that you have managed to get a puncture, but either way you have a few options. You can opt for part worn tyres which can be as little as £15 per tyre. The only issue with part worns are that sometimes they are quite close to the legal limit when you buy them so they may not last you long.

If you opt for new tyres, then do your research. You can often save yourself a hefty bundle by calling up a few garages prior to ordering tyres. Decide what range of tyre you want i.e. top end, mid rang or budgets and ring round to get a few quotes.

Some garages will charge you to dispose of the old tyre so check to see if the price quoted includes this and also includes any VAT.

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Handsfree phone kits

It is illegal to use your phone whilst driving in the UK unless you have a hands free kit. In the past, if you wanted a hands free kit you would either have to add it to the build of the car as an optional extra at the factory or you would have to have an aftermarket one installed, which could be pricey, but over the last ten years or so there has been an influx of hands free kits on the market meaning the prices are significantly lower.

Some stereos have Bluetooth built in to them to allow you to link your phone and then make and receive calls through the car speakers, these are a great way to stay safe whilst driving and can cost as little as fifty pounds. With Bluetooth connection you can also play music from your phone through to the car speakers and sometimes even have a sat nav read out directions to you.

 

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are part worn tyres really worth it?

Part worn tyres are tyres that have been taken off other vehicles to sell on. It may be a tyre that has come off a car that is being scrapped, a car where new tyres have been fitted but there is still tread on the old ones or even from other parts of Europe where tyres have to be changed sooner than they do in the UK.

New tyres have 8 mm of tread on them and all part worns should be sold with a minimum of 3mm. the legal limit for tyres in the UK is 1.6mm but many garages recommend changing them at 3 mm. With this in mind you may buy a set of part worns that need replacing almost as soon as you have them fitted. If you can get some with over 5mm of tread then they are often a good buy, but anything less and you may be forking out for new ones a month or so later.

 

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Replacing steels with alloys

I recently had a situation where one of my steel wheels got damaged and I needed to replace it. I scoured the internet and was surprised to find that it was going to cost about £40-£50 for a new one. I did manage to find a few used ones online but was dubious about the condition of them. After visiting a few scrap yards I found that they often had sets of alloy wheels in that would fit on my car. After finding a set that I liked I. was pleasantly surprised to be quoted £50 for a set of alloys with tyres and 3 of the tyres had a decent amount of tread on the.

If you do add alloy wheels to your car, you may need to notify the insurance company as they will often class it as a modification. This may increase your premium so it is worth checking this prior to adding them on.

 

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