Your car has several components, such as engine, brakes, steering, exhaust, suspension, and tyres. Among these components, only tyres make direct contact with the road surface. Car tyres function in unfavorable driving conditions. Therefore, they lose their strength and efficiency over time. In these conditions, they are not safe for the vehicle.
There are several factors that are responsible for wear and tear in car tyres. These issues include heat, friction, bad weather, sharp objects, driving mistakes, and bad wheel alignment. Because of these factors, car tyres become unsafe, causing issues like blowouts. A vehicle may fail its MOT Test Leicester due to worn car tyres because of safety concerns.
The MOT test is an annual test that is carried out by MOT technicians in authorized centers. During the test, MOT technicians check vital components of the vehicle. If the vehicle has dangerous or major defects, the driver will not get the MOT certificate. So, you must keep your vehicle in good condition if you need the certificate.
MOT technicians check your tyres as well during the test. Healthy tyres let the car driver get the certificate but faults in car tyres will be responsible for a clear MOT failure.
Let us have a look at the mechanical defects that may lead to failure in the test.
Worn tyres:
Treadwear is the most common issue in tyres. Tyres come with optimum tread but they lose it due to unfavorable driving conditions. Tread is an essential part of car tyres. Tyres hold the road surface with the help of optimum tread depth. Worn tyres lose their gripping power. Therefore, they become highly risky, especially in wet conditions.
Legal guidelines of the Government have set the minimum limit of tread depth. According to these guidelines, you cannot drive your car if its tyres reach the tread depth limit of 1.6mm. Below this limit, your car reaches the red zone.
Before the MOT test, you can measure the tread depth with the help of a coin. Moreover, you can use a tread depth gauge for more precise results. Furthermore, you can observe the tread wear bars to have an idea about the tread depth. These bars are visible only in the condition of tread wear.
Bald tyres would not please the MOT technicians. Therefore, check your tyres for tread depth before you reach the MOT center.
Cracks in the sidewall:
Cracks in the tyre sidewall are responsible for negative results in the MOT test. MOT tester will tread sidewall cracks as a serious fault. Indeed, cracks are risky for car tyres.
Tread rubber of car tyres is a carbonic compound. It degrades naturally or due to the triggering effects of factors like heat, friction, and UV rays. You can observe the results of the rubber degradation in the form of sidewall cracks. Cracks occur when the tyre rubber becomes hard and brittle after many years. Hard rubber shows cracks in the sidewall of a car tyre.
Cracked tyres do not hold the road surface effectively. Moreover, they are more prone to issues like blowouts and leakage.
Therefore, MOT centers would not let your car run on roads if cracks are present in tyre sidewall.
Bulges:
Bulges are also dangerous for car drivers and passengers. These structures are formed in the tyre sidewall due to impact damage. Hard objects like potholes and bumps are responsible for this impact damage. The internal structure of car tyres is seriously damaged due to these hard objects forming tyre bulges.
An area with a tyre bulge is weak and it cannot hold the air pressure for a long time. As a result, this area may explode at any time to cause a blowout. Blowouts are more likely to happen due to a tyre bulge if car tyres run on the road at a high speed. Moreover, high air pressure also creates favorable conditions for tyre blowout if a bulge is present on the sidewall.
Due to the risk of blowouts, the MOT technician would not allow your car to run on the roads. Bulges are not repairable. Therefore, you must change your bulged tyres before the MOT test.
Punctures and cuts:
MOT technicians do not like punctures and cuts in car tyres. These issues reduce the strength of internal parts. Deep cuts and punctures are surely dangerous for the car driver and other road users. These issues are not repairable. Therefore, you should change your tyres before the MOT test. Sometimes, your tyres lose their air pressure regularly due to slow punctures. You must detect the signs of slow punctures before the test to avoid MOT failure. Only an efficient car mechanic can detect slow punctures to fix the issue permanently. Therefore, visit a garage if you observe under-inflation in your car tyres repeatedly.
Wheel alignment:
Wheel alignment is not a part of the MOT test. However, you should check your car tyres for wheel alignment issues before the test. Indeed, tyres face tread wear issues due to bad wheel alignment. Since your tyres may lose the MOT certificate due to the tread depth issue, you should consider wheel alignment before the test when you visit the garage for Car Servicing.
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