Tips to check your tyres so you stay safe on the road

When was the last time you checked the tyres on your vehicle? If you haven't done it recently, then motoring experts are urging you to do so ASAP.

It's after Abu Dhabi Police revealed that two people were killed earlier this year because of exploding tyres.

Matthew Davidson, Head of Motors Services at dubizzle, told ARN News that tyre problems are the most common they come across when checking vehicles.

"We do a car inspection service and tyres are normally the one thing that most customers will find an issue with. I would actually rank it as number one, as the most important thing on a car in terms of safety. We see problems with tyres time and time again coming up."

He explained that the hot conditions across the UAE currently make it even more important to get tyres checked: "We're now in the hottest period of the year, the middle of the summer, and this is when tyres are most vulnerable."

But how do you inspect the rubber around your wheel? Matthew gave us three tips for doing so:

Tip 1. "You need to check your tyres regularly and the first thing you can do is look on the outer parts of the tyres for any cracks, any signs that the tyres are starting to get dry and worn out."

Tip 2. "In the centre of the tyre, where you've got the middle groove, if you run yours fingers in the groove you'll come to a raised bar. That's called a wear marker. When that marker is in line with the tyre at the top of the tread, that means your tyre is worn out."

Tip 3. "When you're looking at a tyre, the date is very important. Here in the UAE you get five years from the date of manufacture. Not from the date you put the tyres on the car but from the date of manufacture. You'll find four numbers on the outer part of the tyre. The first two are the week number and the second are the year (so 5216 would mean they were manufactured in the last week of 2016). Once a tyre is more than five years old you need to change it, it will fail an RTA test, and of course it's not very safe."

However, that's not all as it's not really possible to check every part of the tyre at home (unless you have a hydraulic car lift lying around in your garage), so Matthew had one more crucial bit of advice:

"The thing that is the most concerning is cracks on the inner part of the tyre that you can't see. My recommendation is at least two or three times a year stop by a fuel station - you've got your AutoPro's and your Fasttracks - just ask them to have a quick look at the tyres. It's completely free of charge and they'll even top the air up and make sure they're at the right pressure. But just ask them to check the inside of the tyres for cracks, because that is where certainly you're most vulnerable."