You walk into any tyre shop in Perth and are instantly hit with an overwhelming array of choice. You see budget tyres that are barely out of the box, mid-range options for those who want a bit of quality, and then there’s the premium European brands that, you know, are just the best of the best. The price gaps between them are so big it’s like you get a completely different tyre with each, it’s enough to make most buyers scratch their heads and wonder what’s the real difference. The thing is, most people make their choice based on how much it costs and what brand it is, without even thinking about the two things that actually matter.
Don’t Even Think About The Tyres Until You’ve Got Your Placard In Your Hand
Every car sold in Australia has got to have a tyre placard, you know, that sticker on the door pillar or inside the glovebox that says what tyres you should be running. It’s the law for a reason, and it’s super important. It says what size, load index, speed rating and all that jazz you need for your front and rear tyres at different loads. Getting tyres that don’t match that is just plain daft, and in Western Australia, it can actually affect whether your car is roadworthy or not. Take a photo of it before you even go into any tyre sales Perth shop. It takes two seconds and saves you from making one of the most common mistakes.
The Real Reason You Get Charged So Much For Tyres In Perth
You can get tyres for sub $80, or you can go all out and shell out over $400 for the top of the range stuff. Now, the difference between them is real, and it’s not just about how pretty the box looks. Wet braking is the big one, stopping distances when it’s wet out can be 5 to 10 metres longer on budget tyres, at 100 km/h. That’s a big difference in a crisis. The other big one is trade life, budget tyres wear out a lot faster. Which means if you do a lot of driving on the Mitchell or Kwinana Freeway, you’ll be lucky to get 40,000 km out of them before you start getting a lot more noise and a lot less safety. Not to mention your wallet’s going to be crying out after all those extra sets.
Second Hand Tyres, When They’re Alright And When They’re A Risk
Second hand tyres are technically okay to sell in Australia, but the problem is there’s no set standard for telling you how they’ve been used. Any tyre older than 6 years, regardless of tread depth, is essentially shot. When you see a four digit number on the sidewall, that’s the date of manufacture, year and week are the last four digits. If you need a tyre on a car that’s not going to be driven on the highway much, or as an emergency, second hand might be alright. But on the Kwinana or out in the country, where the roads are all rough and the loads are all heavy? No way, the risks are just not worth the upfront saving.
Tyres For 4WD And SUVs In The Perth Area
The state of Western Australia always boasts some of the highest numbers of 4WDs and SUVs within its metropolitan population, and there is quite a bit more to tyre selection for these types of vehicles than most drivers expect. All terrain tyres are great for Perth 4WD users who occasionally need to venture into the rough territory of the Darling Range and further south but come with compromises in terms of fuel efficiency and road noise over highways terrains. Mud terrain tyres are made for off road driving, and on the bitumen they simply wear out very fast and hardly ever provide value in this kind of Perth area setting. The proper tyre pressure in 4WDs is especially important because in most cases these vehicles come from the factory with different placarding front and rear, and using the same pressure in all four tyres is one of the common mistakes.
Things That Should Be Confirmed When Fitting The Tyres
Wheel balancing is part of the fitting service that should be included in the quote. Wheels without balance will vibrate at speed and cause accelerated wearing at the edges of the treads. Rotating tyres every 10,000 km increases their overall lifespan especially in Perth conditions where straight freeway driving creates even wearing and therefore decreases tyre life. Wheel alignment after fitting is recommended when a car hasn’t had one in a while, otherwise new tyres may be worn out unevenly by 5,000 km which is a bad deal.
