Team Valley Land Rover Service Centre
Experience the Difference

Tyres

When you're driving - whatever the speed or conditions - your only contact with the road are the four postcard size 'footprints' of your tyres.

Statistics show that almost half of all car accidents are caused when a car skids - tyres are your vital link with the road and it pays to have the best fitted by professional, qualified tyre-fitters.

Team Valley Land Rover can provide a range of tyres for Land Rovers and Range Rovers on request. On inspection we can advise whether your tyre wear characteristics indicate whether your Land Rover needs our specialist digital 4-wheel alignment, we can help identify the reason for any premature tyre wear and try to prevent it happening in the future.

To help you get the best from your tyres, we have detailed the main causes of premature wear to your tyres.

Our Five Top Tips for maintaining your tyres:

• Check your tyre pressure - You'll find them inside your Land Rovers driver's manual. Check your tyre pressure with a tyre gauge when the tyre is cold, as even a short journey can warm up tyres and raise the pressure.
• Check for any damage - Give your tyres a close inspection for cuts and cracks which can lead to slow punctures or cause the steel wires in the tyre to rust. You should also make a visual inspection of your tyres for any screws, nails etc which could cause an unexpected deflation.
• Check your tread depth - Less tread means less grip. The minimum legal depth is l.6mm across the central three-quarters of the tread width and around the entire circumference of the tyre. Your tyre should have ‘wear bars’ to help you judge this.
• Take extra caution in wet conditions - You are twice as likely to have an accident in wet weather as in the dry. The stopping distance of a tyre with l.6mm of tread is double that of a new tyre with 8mm.
• Don't overload your Land Rover - Overloading has the same effect on tyres as under-inflation, causing premature tread wear and in extreme cases, a sudden blow-out.

Tread Wear – how to identify and delay

Tyres often need replacing long before their normal life has been reached usually because of rapid or uneven tread wear. The most common causes of avoidable tread wear are:

• Under-Inflating - Causing rapid wear along the edges of the tread.
• Over-Inflating - Causing rapid wear along the centre of the tread.
• Faulty brakes or shock absorbers - Can cause flat bald spots around the tread of the tyre.

Incorrect wheel alignment - Will cause very rapid wear along the inside or outside edges of the FRONT tyres. If you strike a kerb or hit a pot hole even at low speeds - the delicate settings of your steering gear geometry may invariably become misaligned which will result in this sort of wear. Poor maintenance or wear and tear in the steering components can also knock the wheel alignment out of true - so it's vital that you have the front wheels realigned every 3 months or 3000 miles - especially when you consider the cost of a set of tyres!

Correct Wheel Alignment - Every land rover has a specific steering track setting for its front wheels and rear wheels (both individually and together). If the setting becomes upset, by striking a kerb or hitting a pothole or simply by wear and tear - tyre wear can be rapid. Incorrect wheel alignment becomes obvious when either the inner or the outer edge of the tyre becomes unevenly worn or a "feathering" effect becomes noticeable. If you suspect your alignment has been disturbed - have it checked by Team Valley Land Rover immediately. In any case, have it checked every 6,000 miles or when tyres or steering components have been changed.

Driving Style – How you drive can greatly affect the wear and tear on your tyres. In the same way as fuel consumption increases with speed, so too does tyre wear: the higher the speed the greater the tread wear, especially when cornering. When accelerating, avoid wheel spinning. When braking - brake gently, without wheel lock or skidding.

Damage Limitation

Any cuts, breaks and abrasions to the tyre casing no matter how small, can penetrate deep into the inner fabric of the tyre and can be extremely dangerous - capable of causing high speed blow-outs. However, penetration of the tread by a nail, screw or a shard of glass or metal can often be safely repaired.

Wheel Balance

For a wheel to run true and keep the tread in constant contact with the road, the wheel and tyre have to be correctly balanced and aligned (cast/camber & heel/toe across all four tyres). If your Land Rover /Range Rover was to be raised on a jack and the unimpeded wheel spun by hand, an unbalanced wheel would always stop at the same point - with the heavier imbalance being of course at the bottom of the wheel.

Vibration through the steering wheel is usually the sign of incorrect wheel balance. This vibration causes high-pressure stress in the steering, hub assemblies and suspension, resulting in excessive mechanical wear and high fuel consumption in addition to tyre wear.

Incorrect wheel balance is easily corrected by using a computerised electronic wheel balancer to measure the imbalance, and then by adding small metal weights to even things up. It is essential that you have your wheels balanced whenever you replace a tyre or have a puncture repaired (Alloy wheels require specially coated weights to avoid corrosion caused by chemical reaction between differing metals).

While driving on the road, wheel imbalance can actually lift the tyre from contact with the road creating shaking and vibration through the steering wheel and cause dangerous problems with steering and braking. Damage to the suspension, wheel bearings and steering components is unavoidable if the imbalance is left unattended. This is also true if your wheels are out of balance when you may feel a shake through your seat base.

Valves

Your tyre valve is often the most neglected and overlooked component within the wheel and tyre assembly, yet an efficient valve is crucial.

Wear on the valve seal, damaged screw threads, dirt and grit in the valve itself can all lead to a dangerous failure of the tyre at speed. Even a poorly sealed valve can cause fairly constant under inflation of the tyre which will reduce the life of your tyre by 25%. As it is impossible, to replace the valve without renewing the tyre casing from the wheel we recommend that the valves are replaced EVERY time a tyre is replaced.

You must check your tyre valves' condition to ensure an airtight seal. As the tyre has to be removed from the wheel to replace a valve - it's safer and cheaper to have them renewed when your tyres are being replaced. Make sure each valve is securely sealed with a cap.

Tyre-Tread

Tread on tyres is to allow the tyre to grip in the wet. The tread removes huge volumes of water from the surface of the road, squeezing it out by the tread grooves. For example, at 60mph, with a water depth of only 3mm, the tyre has to clear over 2 gallons of water per second!

3mm of water on a rainy day is not unusual. In rain puddles, you will often find as much as 8 to 10mm. If this water is not rapidly dispersed, the tyre will begin to "aquaplane" - a sheet of water builds up between the tyre and the road - and the tyre loses all contact with the surface of the road.

This is exceedingly dangerous. The capacity to disperse water is drastically reduced with low and worn tread depth - so carefully monitor the depth of tread on your tyres.

Tyre-Tread & the Law

Tyre tread is extremely important and the law demands that tyres have a tread depth of 1.6mm in a continuous band around the centre three quarters of the tyre. This level represents the absolute minimum and tyres as worn as this must be replaced immediately. To help you judge how much tread you have on your tyres, manufacturers often mould tread bars at roughly 1.6mm. If you can see these bars your tyres are about to become illegal and unsafe.

Tyre Inflating

Wrongly inflated tyres will greatly shorten your tyres' life, and could make your Land Rover dangerous to drive. Check every two weeks - including the spare - and only check when the tyres are cold, as the pressures increase after the land rover has been run due to the air inside warming up.

If you have a heavy load - for example before going on holiday - check your handbook and increase tyre pressures as per Land Rovers recommendations. Remember to reduce the pressures after removing the heavy load.

Brake Condition

Binding brakes however slight will considerably increase tyre wear – and brake wear! A wheel that heats up in excess of the other on the same axle indicates a binding brake, usually caused by a sticking cylinder or caliper. This causes the particular tyre to drag along the road rather than roll smoothly and tyre wear is rapid and excessive.

Steering Assembly Condition

Worn steering joints or wheel bearings will prevent the wheel and tyre from running true and tyre wear can be fast. Although steering assembly checks are part of the MOT test, damage from curb strikes, potholes or high mileages can cause rapid steering assembly wear. A steering check is always available to be carried out by our Land Rover Technicians - so have your steering checked regularly.

Shock Absorbers

A worn or inoperative shock absorber will also affect tyre wear and overall vehicle safety, as the wheel will not be kept in constant contact with the road. Apart from being very dangerous, the tyres are unevenly "scrubbed" along the road surface and rapid wear takes place. It only takes a few minutes to have your shock absorbers checked - have this done at Team Valley Land Rover on a regular basis either during your Land Rover / Range Rover service or during your 40 point Vehicle Health Check.

Tyre Sidewall codes for regular and low profile tyres

Have you every wondered what all the letters and numbers on the sidewall of your tyres mean – they are critical to your safety. Every tyre shows information which details its manufacturer, size, model etc. The following is an explanation of all the terminology used. Understanding this information is critically important when you replace your tyre as it will affect its suitability for your car and the use to which you put your car to – and ultimately your safety and that of other road users.

165R13T

• 165 - means the tyre has a nominal section width of 165 millimetres
• R - means radial
• 13 - means it fits a 13" diameter wheel
• T - means it's rated for speeds up to 118mph (l90kmh)>
• Other common speed ratings are: S = 113mph
  • T = 118mph
  • H = 130mph
  • V = 149mph
  • Z = Over 150mph
  • W = 168mph
  • Y = 186mph

You should always replace a tyre with the same or a higher speed rating. In general, the higher the speed rating, the better the quality of the tyres and the more advanced the technology. This is especially true in areas such as steering response, wet grip, cornering power and braking adhesion.

Low profile tyres have a slightly different marking for instance:

185/60R 14H

• 185 - 185 millimetres nominal section width
• 60 - sidewall height is 60% of tyre nominal section width
• R - Radial
• 14 - Means it fits 14" diameter wheel
• H - Rated to 130mph

If you are fitting larger tyres to your Land Rover / Range Rover, reducing the % of sidewall height to tread nominal section width (the 'aspect ratio') enables tyres to be wider and put more tread on the road.

Troubleshooting - quicklinks

• Tyres feathering or wearing on the inner or outer edges.
• Tyres wearing unevenly in patches.
• Tyres constantly lose pressure.
• Wheel vibration - either constantly or at certain speeds.
• Tyres wearing in the Centre.
• Rapid tyre wear on driving wheels.
• Rapid Tyre wear on front wheels.
• Wear in the tyre shoulder area
• Patchy tread wear
• Wear on one side of the tyre

Troubleshooting

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