Tyres: rotation, pressure and the three-minute check that prevents blowouts

Rotation exists because wear is uneven by design: driven wheels wear differently from undriven ones, and front tyres scrub through steering loads. Rotating on a regular interval — commonly every 5,000 to 8,000 miles, following the pattern specified for your drivetrain and whether the tyres are directional — keeps the set wearing evenly and extends its usable life.

Pressure is the cheapest safety system on the car. Under-inflation increases sidewall flex, which generates heat, and heat is what turns a tyre into a blowout at highway speed. It also degrades fuel economy and braking. Check pressures cold, monthly, against the placard in the driver's door jamb — not against the maximum number moulded on the sidewall.

The three-minute check: pressure on all four plus the spare, tread depth with a gauge across the inner, centre and outer bands of each tyre, and a visual sweep for sidewall bulges, cuts and embedded objects. Uneven wear across the bands is an alignment or pressure story; feathering across the tread blocks points at toe angle.

Age matters independently of tread. Rubber hardens and micro-cracks over years, and a tyre that looks new but was manufactured a decade ago has lost meaningful grip. The four-digit code on the sidewall gives the week and year of manufacture. In a sun-heavy climate, treat six years as the point to start scrutinising and ten as the hard stop regardless of depth.