Blog / Tyre life

Maintenance · 4 min read

How to Extend the Life of Your Tyres

Tyres are one of the more expensive routine costs of running a car, and also one of the most directly affected by how the car's actually driven and maintained day to day. A few consistent habits make a genuine difference to how long a set lasts.

Keep pressure correct, and check it regularly

Under-inflated tyres wear unevenly on the outer edges and increase fuel consumption; over-inflated tyres wear more in the centre and reduce grip. The correct pressure for your specific car is usually printed on a sticker inside the driver's door or in the handbook, not a generic number. Pressure drops naturally over time and with temperature changes, so checking monthly catches drift before it causes uneven wear.

Get wheel alignment checked if wear looks uneven

Tyres wearing unevenly, particularly more on one edge than the other, are a classic sign of misaligned wheels, often caused by hitting a pothole or kerb harder than it seemed at the time. Left unchecked, it accelerates wear on the affected tyres significantly and can affect handling.

Rotate tyres periodically

Front and rear tyres wear at different rates because they do different jobs, particularly on front-wheel-drive cars where the front tyres handle most of the steering and power delivery. Rotating them periodically, often recommended around every 6,000 to 8,000 miles, evens out wear across the set rather than wearing the front pair out much faster than the rear.

Drive in a way that doesn't accelerate wear

Harsh acceleration, hard braking, and taking corners too fast all increase tyre wear noticeably compared to smoother driving. This isn't about driving unnaturally cautiously, just avoiding the habits that grind rubber off faster than normal use would.

Check tread depth yourself

The legal minimum is 1.6mm across the central three-quarters of the tyre, but a simple 20p coin test gives a rough early read: insert the coin into the tread groove, and if the outer band of the coin is still visible, tread is getting low and worth having properly measured. Catching this early means replacing tyres on your own schedule rather than being forced into it by an MOT failure.

Store correctly if a car isn't driven for a while

Tyres can develop flat spots or perish faster if a car sits unused for extended periods, particularly with pressure too low. If you're laying a car up, checking and correcting tyre pressure before storage, and moving the car occasionally if possible, helps avoid this.