“If you use your car for the necessary trips to work or for shopping, you don’t need to stress now. There is no obligation to use summer tires. It is therefore currently not necessary to change wheels, you can continue driving with the tires fitted,” said ÖAMTC technician Friedrich Eppel .
Winter tires at low temperatures
It can also cool down considerably in April and May, winter tires are the better choice at low temperatures. If it is not possible to change the plug quickly due to the restrictions, you should in any case note that winter tires are softer than summer tires at higher temperatures and therefore have less grip on warm roads and longer braking distances, for example.
The wheels themselves only change during practice
If you are planning to change the wheels yourself, you should note a few points. “You should only change the wheels yourself if you have practice in them, because mistakes can be expensive,” warned Eppel. In any case, old summer tires must be checked for damage and tread depth. “For summer tires, a minimum tread depth of 1.6 mm is required. To ensure that this is not exceeded shortly after changing the plug, there must of course be a lot more during assembly,” emphasized the technician.
In addition, screws must always be properly tightened. The direction of travel is specified for many tire models, so they must be reassembled on the same side of the vehicle. If you want to replace less worn tires with more worn ones, you should only do this if the difference in tread depth is not too big. “Otherwise, significantly better tires belong on the rear axle. Otherwise there is a risk that the vehicle will skid in critical situations,” explains the ÖAMTC technician. Expert knowledge requires changing wheels in cars with a tire pressure monitoring system. “You should only do this on your own if you are familiar with the need to recalibrate the system,” said Eppel.
(Source: APA)
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