Locking wheel nuts are special nuts that are inserted through your wheels which secure them to the vehicle. To undo the nuts you need the corresponding locking nut, and without it, it is very difficult to take them off. Cars are fitted with these to stop the wheels being stolen as previous to locking wheel nuts, people used to come out to the their car in the morning to find that all four wheels had been taken and the car was left on bricks. This was especially true for cars with expensive alloy wheels that could then be sold on.

If you take your car to a garage to have new tyres, wheels of any part that requires the wheels to be removed, the garage will need this nut to remove them. If you do not have it you may find you have issues getting the repair work completed. Some garages have a universal one, although in my experience there are very few and far between that do.

Always keep it is a safe place ideally in the boot or glove box of the car.

Tyres play a vital role in the safety of your car. There are strict laws about the tread depth and conditions of your tyres and if you do not adhere to them you can expect to get 3 points on your licence per tyres.

The legal limit for tyre depths in the UK is 1.6 mm across the centre three quarters of the tyre’s entire circumference. Most new tyres are sold with 8mm worth of tread depth on them and part worns can be sold with as little as 2mm of tread left.

If you can see the bars your tyres are about to become illegal and unsafe. For optimum safety, most manufacturers recommend that your tyres are changed at 3mm meaning that part-worns can sometimes but below this when your purchase them.

Tyres range in price significantly dependant on size and make, but your garage should be able to advise you which is right for the amount of driving you do and your driving style.

Most people know the importance of checking your tyres for tread and the ramifications of not doing so but so many people don’t realise the damage that can be done for having the incorrect tyre pressure for your journey.

Incorrect tyre pressure will make your journey less economical meaning you can use more fuel, it will wear out your tyres quicker, it will mean that you have less grip on the road and could easily lead to a serious accident.

The ideal tyre pressure for your car is not just dependant on the guide on the tyre wall, as this does not take into account the car manufacturers guidelines. For an accurate guide you need to check in the cars manual and there should be a table that will give you different pressures depending on how many people are traveling in the car AND the type of tyres you have fitted. Following that guide will give you the best drive experience and will also make your journey much more economical and safer.

Bought in in 2012, the current tyre labelling system is designed to assist drivers in weighing up the pros and cons between brands and hopefully encourages the uptake of fuel efficient tyres. The label carries three ratings, with the main two presented in the same way as the energy rating labels on electrical appliances. First is fuel efficiency (rolling resistance) rated from A (the best) to G (the worst) with up to a 7.5% difference between the extremes of the scale. Next is wet grip, rated in the same way, which indicates the stopping distance in wet conditions. The difference here between best and worst is as much as 30%. Finally, there is a noise rating in decibels, with an indication for how much quieter the tyres are than the EU regulations.

This system of labelling is clearly targeted to encourage choices based on environmental concerns and safety but it’s far from being comprehensive. Factors like dry grip, wet weather handling and ride comfort are not considered and the driver will have to look to consumer reviews to get the complete picture when choosing tyres.

A sparkling set of alloys are a great addition to a car but wheels soon get caked in dirt and potentially damaging brake dust. Keeping your alloys in top condition is pretty straight forward and should be done whenever you wash the cars bodywork. Make sure the wheels are cold before cleaning. A jet wash is a good way to blast off the worst of the dirt before you apply a specialist wheel cleaner to shift the grime and brake dust. Blasting off the dirt under the wheel arch is best done before wheel washing and an application of an engine/machine cleaner spray will work well shifting the dirt.

Work the wheel cleaner into all the crevices with an appropriate brush and then rinse off before it dries. Dry the wheels with a microfibre cloth and then apply an alloy wheel sealing compound which helps protect from brake dust build up. Applying a tyre dressing to the tyres will give the wheels a really professional finish

A great way to save on tyres is to regularly rotate them. Rotating your tyres combats uneven wear and will increase the life of your tyres. Depending on the way your wheels are driven, the front and rear tyres will wear at different rates, for example: front wheel drive vehicles will wear out there front tyres in around 20,000 miles, whereas the rears should last twice this distance. All wheel drive systems typically have a bias towards either the front or rear (usually the front on standard vehicles) so rotation of tyres here is also advisable.

A good rule of thumb is to rotate tyres every 6 months for average driving (about 6,000 miles). If you have different brands of tyres, make sure not to mix types of tyre construction on the same axle or have cross ply’s on the rear with radials on the front, this will adversely affect the vehicles handling and is illegal. When rotating the tyres, swap fronts and rears, making sure the driven wheels stay on the same side and the un-driven wheels swap sides. Directional tyres should always stay on the same side of the vehicle. For all wheel and four wheel drive cars, swap all tyres diagonally.

If you have a seldom used vehicle or do low annual mileage, you may find that replacing your tyres due to wear isn’t often a concern. However, it’s worth noting that tyre rubber degrades over time. If you do less than 8000 miles per year your tyres could become unsafe from age before they wear out. Signs to look out for are cracking on the tyres surface and distortion of the tread and tyre carcass. Lack of use can exacerbate the ageing process, as can exposure in coastal areas. Tyres on caravans and trailers often suffer from such ageing as they get very little wear throughout the year.
Degraded tyres are at a higher risk of tyre failure so it’s a serious issue. Reports suggest that tyres that have been used should be replaced after 10 years regardless of tread wear. This falls to 6 years for tyres kept unused in storage. You can find the age of the tyre recorded on the sidewall. Look for the DOT code, the last 4 digits give the week and year of manufacture. (e.g. DOT XXXXXX0212 would signify the second week of 2012)

Part worn tyres can look attractive if you’re on a tight budget and need a cheap replacement, or if you’re looking to get a car through an MOT to sell. That said, do consider whether you’re actually getting value for money. The tyres – which generally come from scrapped vehicles – will always be cheaper than fitting new, but you do need to bear in mind that they will of course wear through much quicker, may not have been subject to detailed checks prior to sale and may not come with any warranty or real consumer protection.

As a result, it can very easily be a case of ‘buy-cheap, buy twice’. To easily check whether you’re getting a good deal, consider this – if there’s six millimetres of usable tread on a tyre, you want to be paying less than a sixth of the price of the tyre brand new per usable millimetre.

If you start to notice that your car is pulling to one side as you drive or that your tyres are wearing unevenly you may have a problem with your wheel alignment, but what causes this?

Curbing the car- catching curb stones when you drive not only scuffs your wheels but can easily knock the alignment out of place. The same can happen from hitting a pot hole in the road.

General wear and tear- this can occur sooner than you think, sometimes after 12-18 months as the springs and suspension components start to wear.

Speed bumps – if you drive over speed bumps too quickly this can cause shock to the suspension sending the wheels out of alignment.

Collision – if you have a bump in the car, especially a side impact it can easily knock the alignment out of place quite dramatically, if this happens the car may not be safe to drive as the wheels can start catching on the wheel arch.

If in doubt it’s always good to pop to a garage and get your alignment checked.

It’s that moment we all dread, you’re parallel parking edging towards the curb and hear that horrible scraping sound followed by many profanities! You get out of the car to see a big scuff down the side of your alloy wheel, so now what?

If left, a deep scuff can not only look unsightly but can (in poor weather) cause the wheel to corrode so it’s really not a good idea to leave a damaged alloy.

That said a professional repair can be costly but will give the best result, depending on the extent of the damage a professional repair could set you back about £90. There are a number of products on the market that allow you to do a DIY repair that if done carefully can be very effective on cosmetic surface scuffs.

So do your research and if in doubt check with an independent garage what would be the best course of action for your damaged wheel.

It sounds like a great idea – better grip in snow and ice. But do you really get your money’s worth out of winter tyres, or is it simply another way of selling you more tyres?

Winter tyres become effective below 7 degrees Celsius. Above that, the stickiness required to make them adhesive in poor conditions causes them to wear much faster. They cost up to double the price of a normal tyre, and are harder to source.

It does go below 7 degrees for about 3 months in the UK, but really the tyres are most useful when the ground is thick with snow or ice. Thankfully, the number of days when that’s the case are still fairly limited – even more so when you consider that most major roads tend to be well gritted.

Also – halving your stopping distance can make you more prone to rear impact accidents, as there’s a good chance the person following you doesn’t have winter tyres.

Replacing the tyres on a vehicle often needs to be done at least once a year depending on how much you use it. You can take you car to a garage or tyre fitter but will generally either have to wait around for it to be done or leave it with them.

Mobile tyre fitters are a great way to get the tyres changed whilst allowing you to carry on with your day to day routine. Most mobile fitters will either come to your place of work or home address depending on what is most convenient for you. They will often say that the price for the tyre includes the charge for them coming out to you as long as it is within a set amount of miles radius to them.

If you develop a puncture, then you do not want to have to worry about trying to recover the vehicle to a garage. Many mobile fitters will even come to you on the roadside and fit the new tyre there and then allowing you to get on your way.

If you are interested in meeting new tyre suppliers, viewing the latest workshop apparatus in action and squatting up on the most current tyre industry business issues then you really need to visit the Brityrex Exhibition in Manchester next month.

“Brityrex is the UK’s only expert tyre and equipment exhibition and a day spent at the show will be time very well spent,” says Paul Farrant of show organiser SingEx-ECI. “It’s a low-cost, high-return business investment we think everyone involved in the trade should consider making.”

Since the 1970’s, the Brityrex tyre exhibition has been the place to go for many garages, business owners and car enthusiasts. There is more and more added to the show every year and people do not seem to be disappointed with the range of products and displays on offer.

If you are a mechanic at a garage who offer tyre fitting, why not ask your boss if you can attend.

Many of us are aware that we should be checking our tyres regularly for damage and to ensure they all have the correct pressure, but how many of us ever check the actually condition of the wheels? This is harder to do and you will need to jack the car up and remove each wheel to check it properly, but doing this can not only save you money but could also save your life.

I recently discovered that my tyre had gone completely flat so I inflated it again to the correct pressure. A few days later I found it was flat again, so thinking I must have a slow puncture I again inflated it. It then appeared that every time I drove the car the tyre needed air again. I took it in to a local garage and left it with them to replace or repair the tyre. Upon my return I was shocked to be shown 4 cracks in the wheel inner wall, something I would not have seen from the outside. It was too damaged to be welded so I ending up having to fork out for a whole new wheel which is extremely expensive as many people do not want to sell just one.

With the UK having quite harsh winters in recent years, people are choosing cars that are better for driving in the snow. Many of us still need to do day to day chores and travel to and from work when the snow falls and cannot run the risk of being stuck in for days on end. There are many types of vehicles that have a reputation for being better in this type of weather than others. 4 X 4 vehicles are always thought to be one of the best you can have with the extra grip of the other two wheels; it is hard to lose control of one of these. It is not always just the make and model of the car that makes a different in snowy conditions, tyre are also a big player. Firstly your tyres should be well within the legal limit, slightly under inflated (refer to your handbook) and generally in good condition.

There comes in time in most of our lives when we get a puncture in one or more of our car tyres. This can be frustrating and costly if it is in the wrong place. Many tyres can be repaired if the puncture is in a certain position otherwise it means that you will need to replace the tyre. If the tyre does not have much tread left on it, then it is worth considering if it may be more cost effective to actually replace the tyre anyway instead of repairing it. You can also get something called tyre form which when filled in to the tyre, expands and makes a seal over the puncture. The tyre can then be inflated and driven on. If you are using this type of foam check on the label as to how far you can drive on it and what maximum speed it recommends you drive at.

There are plenty of tires out there to choose from, but when you have an SUV, the range tends to be a bit more limited. There are certain benefits that you will often want from an SUVB tyre; you’ll want it to be durable, economic and comfortable, and that’s exactly what the Bridgestone LM-80 can provide.

It’s designed to perform in all weather conditions, while it includes advanced tread technologies to provide optimum levels of safety. This really is a quality product that’s designed to last, and you even get excellent responses in terms of braking and handling when you’re driving on snow and ice.

Some would say that this is a proper winter tyre but it performance well in all kinds of conditions and that’s why more and more people will go for this option. If you only want a hot weather tyre then this may not be the idea product, and the sister version, the H/P Sport would be more suitable.

It’s all well and good buying a quality set of tyres for your vehicle but no matter how good the product is, you’ll only reap the rewards if you get a professional fitting service. The world finest tyres will not last long if they are installed incorrectly and you’re guaranteed optimum performance when you go to a fitting centre.

The main benefit is that you get accurate wheel alignment. This ensures that your wear remains even, and it basically means that your tyre is likely to last a lot longer than it would if you opted to install them yourself using basic equipment.

If you’re going to pay the extra money to have quality tyres, then it’s probably important to consider making sure you get a professional installation service, and that’s always possible with a quality fitting centre.

For some drivers, gone  are the days when they’ll have to manually check the pressure of their tyres, and some vehicles now include tire pressure monitoring system. These systems take real time tyre pressure information and share it with the driver of the vehicle, usually in the form of a pictogram display or with a warning light.

If you’re the type of driver who’s always had issues with tyre wear then this could be the system that saves your bacon, and reminds you that your tyres need pumping before they become an issue. Without the right pressure levels you can wind up with dangerous uneven tyre wear, and this is likely to mean forking out on new tyres more frequently than you would if the right pressure level was maintained.

Many models will now include a tire pressure monitoring system and it’s certainly something more and more manufacturers are looking into.

You’ll often hear about luxury tyres being ‘quiet tyres’ but why is it so important? Cheap tyres tend to be significantly louder and that’s mainly due to the fact that the level of handling is not quite as good. A tyre that fits performs as a comfortable on the road surface will be quieter, and the quieter your tyres are the smoother it will sound.

Quiet tyres tend to last longer, and that’s because they’re designed to last, with carefully constructed grooves that adapt perfectly to various road surfaces. It must be said that all tyres in the UK have to meet certain noise levels, and even budget tyres must meet these legal requirements.

A quieter tyre tends to mean a better tyre, and one that will last a lot longer, but this is not always the case, and if you’re not too fussed about having a luxury tyre then quietness may not be too much of an issue.

Making sure your tyres all have the right amount of pressure is an important job, and it’s something that is often needed every couple of months. There are many different reasons why you should make sure your tyre pressure is correct, but one of the main reasons is to cut down costs on fuel.

The price of fuel has escalated considerably in recent years, and a nice amount of pressure will ensure you car does not waste fuel. Tyres that are under-inflated by around 25% will damage tread life and also lose around 10% fuel economy.

The fact is there is no point in having a brand spanking fuel efficient car if you’re not thinking fuel efficiency with your tyres. Check your tyre level today and make it a monthly task to check your level. You will then save money and improve your tyre life.

Many people will opt to buy their car tyres online and have them delivered, and while this means you’re likely to have the tyres quicker, it can be beneficial to get them fitted at a local fitting centre.

One of the main reasons a professional fitting service is alignment. If you fit your tyres at home but do not correctly align your wheels, then you may end up with uneven wear and ruined tyres in just several months.

Another reason is because you can save yourself time. Garages will have specialist equipment that ensure the job is done quickly but correctly, and without this equipment you can find yourself in a bit of a sticky situation.

Finally it’s the experience you get with a fitting garage. These individuals are used to fitting tyres on many different individuals, and they probably know more about your car then you do, meaning they’re a lot less likely to run into any problems or cause any damage when they’re fitting a new set.

If you’ve ever been fortunate enough to see a tiger up close. You may have noticed that the level of wear is even, and that’s where this Uniroyal tyre got its name from. The Tiger Paw Touring TT tyre is just like a tiger’s paw; it is extremely durable, particularly wide and it performs exceptionally well in all weather conditions.

One of the main benefits of this tyre is its wear life, and this tyre is one that’s designed to last, while it can perform exceptionally well on bigger vehicles where fast speeds and sharp braking is a must. If you’re looking for a tyre that offers a smooth ride and a desirable level of handling, then this is certainly worth considering.

The Tiger Paw is designed to last, and you’ll struggle to find a better product on the market if you’re looking for excellent handling and stability.

Some tyres on the market are a little bit more special than others, and Michelin Primacy HP tyres are certainly some of the best in terms of high performance for luxury motors. These are not the type of tyres you can thoughtlessly add on to a rusty Fiat Punto; they’re designed for special saloon cars that require longevity on the road.

This tyre is not only well suited to dry roads and warm weather; it can also thrive in the wet, and that’s one of the main reasons it’s become popular tyre in Europe, especially the UK. It’s a tyre that doesn’t exactly come cheap, but the money your pay is certainly worth it. The Michelin Primacy HP Tyres do not just wear out in a matter of months, they’re meant to be used for the long haul, and that’s why their branded as a ‘luxury product’.

If you have a really beautiful saloon car that’s deserving of high quality tyres, then it’s important to make sure that you spend the time to choose a reliable and expertly designed tyre, after all it is the only part of a vehicle that’s in contact with the road surface, and that means it’s well worth considering if you want a smooth ride.

Welcome to your new information resource, tyre and wheel centre, where we provide information about tyres, cars, car parts, and car maintenance. Car tyres have huge impact on your cars performance, and we can provide everything you need to know to make your car perform to its highest standard.