The longer the journey you make, the more you will inevitably spend on fuel. Of course, if you are driving from North Yorkshire to another part of England only to return home later the same day, you may never notice how inefficient your car is. However, when you get onto arterial routes like the M6 heading to the Southwest of the country for a break in the  Bristol, for example, the extended distances – particularly on faster sections on which you can drive up to 70mph – will highlight any problems your car has. Basic tyre maintenance can help you to prepare for such journeys. What should you be doing to your tyres to make sure they’re not causing you to burn fuel needlessly?

Inflation is the key to fuel efficiency. If your tyres are pumped up properly, they won’t lose their shape on the road as much as they otherwise would. In turn, this means your engine needs to produce less energy to rotate them due to a lower level of rolling resistance. Although the margins might be quite tight, think of how many times your tyres would rotate on a journey between York and Bristol for example. They’ll spin tens of thousands of times over the course of such a drive. Consequently, even changing your tyres’ settings by a couple of PSI can make a big difference to your overall fuel economy.

Balding tyres which are still legal to drive on won’t clear water from underneath them as well as newer ones with more tread depth. By fitting new tyres, you’ll typically gain better control in wet or greasy conditions. This affects fuel consumption as well because, with more control, you need to use your brake less. In turn, this leads to less needless speeding up and slowing down. That’s why it’s essential to replace your tyres when they show signs of wear to maintain performance and safety on the road, especially during frequent long trips. Even If you’re driving in nearby areas like West Yorkshire and notice your tyres aren’t performing as they should, you can choose Reg Greenwood for tyre fittings in Pontefract or a similarly reputable dealer when your tyres are approaching the end of their working lives to ensure your fuel efficiency isn’t adversely affected by the weather.

Finally, have your tracking checked. Wheels that aren’t aligned properly wear down tyres prematurely. What’s worse is that they also cause a problem with fuel consumption. When one set pulls your car to the side due to misalignment, you will need to keep fighting your car’s steering wheel to keep the vehicle in a straight line. In turn, this will lead to an undesirable rise in fuel consumption because misaligned tyres never work in complete harmony with one another.