Tyre service
The tyre is the only connection between car and road, and the contact area is about the size of four palms. In the EU the legal minimum tread depth is 1.6 millimetres — for winter, specialists recommend considerably more, because a winter tyre gets its grip mainly from the sipes in the tread.
What it covers
- Measuring tread depth at several points, not just in the middle
- Checking age via the DOT code: the rubber compound hardens over the years
- Balancing and, where needed, replacing the valves
- Re-registering the tyre pressure monitoring system
- Torquing the wheel bolts to spec — and having them re-checked
What tells you it is due
- Uneven wear — that points at the alignment, not the tyre
- Heel-and-toe wear on the tread blocks, audible as a drone
- Cracks in the sidewall or a visible bulge
- The car follows ruts more than it used to
Worth knowing
When buying a used car, look at all four tyres together: four matching tyres of the same brand and age are a good sign, four different ones suggest only the bare minimum was ever done. And on an all-wheel-drive car, a new tyre paired with an old one is a real problem — differing rolling circumferences load the centre differential.
Find a workshopOther services
- Servicing and inspection
- Oil change
- Brake service
- Air conditioning service
- Timing belt
- Timing chain
- Clutch
- Transmission service
- Fault diagnosis
- Electric and hybrid service
- Battery and starter
- Exhaust and emissions system
- Wheel alignment
- Bodywork and accident damage
- Paintwork
- Glass and windscreens
- Periodic roadworthiness test