Improper retreading can prove dangerous

THERE was an interview with a racing car driver on television the other day. One of the quotes read, "Tyres are absolutely critical to performance". This applies to every vehicle on the road. You may have an MPFI engine, a fancy 5-speed gearbox on your car, which is ready to make you almost fly, but keep in mind one fact: The cars only contact with Mother Earth are your tyres. If the car has any mechanical failure, you will coast to a stop. If you run out of fuel, you can easily come to a stop. If your brake fails, you can take help of your gears and handbrake, which is also called the emergency brake. However, if your tyres fail that is lose contact and grip on the road, you may find yourself in serious trouble. Very often the cause of an overturned vehicle or accident is a tyre failure.

It is absolutely essential that the tyres of your car should be in good condition at all times. Even a humble 800 on a hill road, wet with rain needs good tyres for cornering and braking. If you have your wife, children and mother-in-law in the car, you owe it to them to have safe car tyres.

You also owe it to every other road user. A tyre blow-out may cause the car to skid and swerve out of control. It may crash into an oncoming truck or climb the pavement or hit an innocent pedestrian or may just leave the road and go over a precipice.

Last week, at the tyre-wala, while getting my Gypsy tyres checked, a Lancer owner next to me was buying a brand new set of Dounts. Probably one of the best tyres to shod your car with. Horrors? He was using the tubes from the old set of tyres, already two years old.

"Look Sar! No panchar. Tube like new!" said the tyre-wala. Not so! The tube is already two years old. There might have been no puncture but there could be bruises on the tube which are not visible to the naked eyes. This will adversely affect the structural strength of the tube. It will not compliment the brand new tyre the same way as a brand new tube. The best tube does not cost more than Rs 150. A small price to pay to make sure you have the safest tyres available.

An old tube is a very weak link in your wheel system. Avoid it.

The accompanying photograph is of a disaster waiting to happen. It is a re-treaded tyre. Cheaply done. The ‘retread’ is about to part company with the rest of the tyre. Firstly, the shell of carcass of the tyre is of a radial design. Tyre manufacturers will tell you not to retread radial tyres. It can’t be done. The retread has to have perfect adhesion to the shell. The photograph shows the retread has already come off. This tyre, which has a zero safety factor, is the spare wheel of a taxi. I would not ride in this vehicle.

If the driver/owner is so callous about public safety and his own, he is really not trustworthy. The rest of the vehicle will be in the same shoddy condition and not road worthy. Brakes may not be in proper working order. When overloaded and at speed, the vehicle is bound to be a death-trap. The vehicle in question is a Tata-Sumo with an All-India Tourist Permit. It would be good to keep in mind that statistics from insurance companies show that the Tata-Sumo is the most accident-prone vehicle in India.

Besides checking the tyres, change the engine oil every 5,000 km and the filter every 10,000 km. Some oils have a drain period of 10,000 km. A filter costs between Rs 50 and Rs 100. Again, a small price to pay to make your engine last longer. Change the filter every time you change the engine oil. A good policy.

Happy motoring!