Tyres are extremely important for your vehicle. The quality of car tyres influences the level of performance and efficiency while the vehicle runs on roads. Since tyres have to work in an open environment, they face a lot of issues. These issues kill your tyres steadily.
Continental Tyres Harrogate are costly. Therefore, you cannot afford to buy a set of new tyres again and again. So, you have to preserve your existing tyres for a long time. This is not a tough task if you are ready to spend some time in tyre maintenance.
However, you cannot stop damage to tyres completely but you can surely minimize the chances of many problematic issues with the help of proper maintenance.
In this blog, we will talk about the natural degradation of tyres and other factors that damage your tyres.
First of all, let us have a look at the natural tyre degradation.
Natural rubber degradation
Rubber is the main construction material in car tyres. Moreover, tyres contain multiple layers of metallic beading. This construction of tyres is responsible for the strength of the sidewall. Moreover, the required flexibility of tyre rubber is based on this construction as well.
At the time of making a tyre, manufacturers use a mixture of rubber by hardening it with the help of sulphur or other accelerators. This process is essential to create strong bonds between the molecules of tyre rubber.
The process of making tyres uses heat to make the rubber material properly hard and elastic at the same time.
Unfortunately, tyres never end this process of hardening rubber because of environmental factors like sunlight, rubber and heat. Therefore, molecules of rubber break down over the years to make the rubber extremely hard. The hard rubber of tyres shows cracks as a warning sign at a point in time.
The following factors are responsible for natural rubber degradation:
Air pressure:
High air pressure increases the level of stress on the sidewalls of tyres. On the other hand, low air pressure increases the level of heat and friction in tyres. These factors are enough to increase the rate of rubber degradation.
Oxidization:
Oxygen and ozone enhance the strength of rubber material and metallic beading. Moreover, optimum flexibility of rubber is possible in tyres because of these two prime factors. However, at a point in time, oxygen and ozone make the tyre unnecessarily harder to cause sidewall cracks.
Water:
Tyre rubber is waterproof. However, if you use your tyres constantly in wet conditions, water also may degrade the tyre rubber gradually. Tyres lose their strength and are heat resistant because of the contact with water for a long time.
Idle state of tyres:
The rubber mixture of tyres contains protective wax that is active when you drive your car on roads. When you do not use your car tyres for a long time, the protective wall of wax leaves the tyre because of the oxidization process. As a result, the protective shield of wax does not work due to the idleness of car tyres.
As you see, there are a lot of factors responsible for the natural process of rubber degradation.
You can preserve your tyres for a long time with the help of these preventive steps:
Do not wash your tyres with the help of products that contain harsh chemicals. Harsh chemicals increase the ageing process in tyres to cause sidewall cracks.
Respect the limit that is set by the tyre makers. You have to change your tyres after 6 to 10 years because this is the maximum limit of using tyres. After that, the life of the tyres depends on your maintenance level.
When you see minor cracks on the tyres, treat it as a warning sign. However, minor cracks are harmless but they can increase your problems in the future after increasing their size.
Save your tyres from heat and sunlight. You can park your car in an area that is away from sunlight. Moreover, do not drive your car at a high speed. Moreover, take frequent breaks when you drive your car to cover a long distance.
Tyre damage due to impact
Hard and sharp objects are present on roads to damage your car tyres. Tyres have to face issues like cuts, punctures and blowouts due to the impact of these objects.
Cuts are dangerous if they are present on the sidewall. Moreover, sidewall punctures are also not favourable for a car driver.
The sidewall of car tyres is the main area, providing proper strength to the car tyres. Therefore, you must not ignore issues like cuts and punctures in this area.
Hard objects like kerbs and potholes may cause bulges in tyres. The presence of a bulge in the sidewall of the car tyre is a clear indication of serious internal condition.
Whenever you observe signs like bulges, cuts and punctures on the tyre sidewall, you have to change your tyres as soon as possible,
Avoiding blowouts and punctures is not an easy job. However, you can try to avoid these sharp and cornered objects on the road.
Moreover, maintain your tyres efficiently to avoid tyre blowouts.
Tread wear, bulges, and cracks create ideal conditions for blowouts. Therefore, you must save your Cheap Tyres Harrogate from these issues with the help of proper maintenance steps.