Tyres are easy: Quick tips to save money maintaining them, and buying new ones

Fact: your car is only as good as its tyres allow them to be. Do whatever else you want, but by virtue of being the only component that keeps your car stuck to the road, they're the default, most basic item all safety features rely on.

And alas, taking care of them – as well as choosing the best set of new ones along the line – needn't send you into a tailspin, as we explain below.

Tyre care is easy as 1-2-3-4

Quite literally. There's only three main things to remember, and 1 is visual checks.

Every couple of weeks, take a peek at how your tyre looks. Are there any cuts? Tears? Bulges? These are all warning signs of an impending problem (especially if you've been using them for some time), and when left unchecked can result in disastrous consequences, one of which is a high-speed blowout.

Before anything else happens too, one good step to take is 2, rotate your tyres. This means switching their positions up every 10,000 or so kilometres, as this can extend their lives and save you money down the road.

3, inflation. Too much or too little air are both problematic to tyres, because they result in impaired ride quality and worse handling. Since they're no longer fit to do their jobs properly, this more often than not manifests as extra cost and hassle for you due to premature wear.

It's best to inflate your tyres when they are cold (meaning not after a long drive, a short distance from home to the petrol station is fine), because outside temperatures affects the air pressure inside. In similar vein you don't need to go out of your way to get nitrogen gas, which has no discernible advantages over regular air anyway.

Wear after use is a thing many seem to forget, and checking for wear is step 4. On Continental tyres, there’s tread wear indicators (TWI), cross ribs evenly spaced around the circumference of the tyre. Over time, these will eventually whittle, and when the tyre treads are equal with this bar, it's time to change them.

How to buy new tyres? #AskForContinental

When it's time to change them, note that no two tyres are equal. They can differ from car-to-car – SUV tyres for example are structurally different because they need to fit wider wheels and carry heavier loads.

Same goes to regular cars too. There's a spectrum, consisting of eco, run-flats, and high-performance tyres. Regardless of what you're feeling, it's easy to pick if you stick with one trusted brand for every car in your garage: Continental Tyres.

Regardless whether its their EcoContact, SportContact, UltraContact, PremiumContact, MaxContact, and ComfortContact range, Continental Tyres are the choice of many major manufacturers worldwide and even on the local front –think brands like Volvo, Volkswagen, Proton, Nissan, and Honda.

But buying high-performing, reliably durable tyres needn't be a wallet-straining experience, and it's something Continental knows. This Raya season, purchase a set of at least 2 Continental tyres to get up to RM 120 worth of Touch 'N Go credit at the participating outlet. If you made your purchase at Continental Tyres Malaysia Official Store at Shopee, there’s additional freebies too

If you need advice or recommendation on which Continental tyre suits you best, visit the nearest Continental participating outlet here.

For more info of the promo, visit www.continental-marketing.com.my.

This article is sponsored by Continental Tyre Malaysia