Tyre FAQs

Can you repair the puncture in my tyre?

More often than not, punctures in car and van tyres can be repaired.

However, to ascertain if this is the case, we always need to inspect the tyre to ensure that our repair would comply with the necessary regulations.

We only repair tyres in strict accordance with the British Standards Institute document, BS AU 159, to be certain that our repair is safe and legal.

To have your punctured tyre inspected, you can call one of our branches to arrange an appointment. If your puncture is urgent, you do not need an appointment and can just call in; however, you may have to wait while we work through the pre-existing appointments already on-site.

As a general all-year-round tyre UK is perfect for all-season tyres.

All tyres sold in the UK are designed for Europe as a whole. As such, the winter tyres are designed to cope with -20°c Nordic winters and summer tyres +40°c Spanish Summer.

However, all-season tyres are designed for climates in the middle ground, often with a wet weather performance focus, which is ideal for the UK.

It is recommended that tyres be replaced in pairs on all vehicles.

Fitting tyres in pairs provides optimal safety through predictable performance, as both grip and braking ability is balanced on each side of the car.

However, for 4x4 vehicles, fitting new tyres in pairs is essential to maintain equal tread depths and wheel diameters across an axle, preventing potentially costly transmission damage.

There are a few ways to know if your tyres are run-flat tyres.

Inspect the tyre's sidewall for a marking or manufacturer's logo that indicates the tyre has run-flat technology.

Secondly, look in your owner's handbook.

Finally, drop into one of our branches where we can identify your tyres... no appointment is needed.

As a general rule of thumb, you should allow around 15 minutes per tyre being fitted, plus extra time if you have asked us to investigate anything else while your vehicle is in the workshop.

However, if you have not booked a specific appointment time, then there may be a lead time upon your arrival before we can get your vehicle in the workshop due to other customers’ pre-existing appointments.

Wheel Balancing is included in the tyre fitting process when new tyres are purchased. However, Wheel Alignment is a separate service that is separate from the tyre fitting process.

Wheel balancing involves equalising the weight of the combined tyre and wheel assembly so that it spins smoothly with minimal vibration. The balancing process involves mounting the wheel with the tyre fitted to a special machine that runs a series of spin tests to detect any imbalances. If detected, the imbalances are corrected by adding small weights to the wheel to achieve an even weight distribution. The wheel is then spun again to verify that the balance is correct.

Wheel alignment, sometimes referred to as tracking, is the process of aligning the vehicle's wheels with each other and the vehicle's chassis. This is done by carefully adjusting various steering and suspension components underneath the vehicle in a particular sequence until the wheel alignment is back within the manufacturer's specification.

Correct wheel alignment prevents premature tyre wear and reduces fuel consumption, while also ensuring the car handles predictably without resistance when steering.

Our branches will gladly perform a free wheel alignment check for you. Should the free check identify that your vehicle would benefit from a wheel alignment adjustment, you can decide whether to pay for the wheel alignment to be corrected or not.

The short answer is it depends on your preferences and budget.

Economy tyres meet UK legal requirements and cost less than premium brands but vary significantly in quality across the hundreds of brands available at any one time. Inconsistency and difficulty making repeat purchases can be problematic for economy tyres.

On the other hand, premium tyres such as Vredestein, Michelin or Continental provide the pinnacle of performance and safety. These brands ensure optimal grip, handling and braking even when the vehicle is driven to extremes. However, premium tyres are more expensive to buy.

Many customers find that a happy middle ground is to purchase a mid-range tyre. Mid-range tyres offer consistent and reliable performance close to premium standards but without a high price tag. At Dexel, we have carefully selected our recommended mid-range, ensuring it delivers excellent value, balancing performance and price, and all backed by a Tyre Life Guarantee.

The sidewall of a tyre contains lots of important information in a standardised format of codes consisting of numbers, letters, symbols so that everything can fit in a small space.

Besides the brand, product range and size of the tyre, other information includes the maximum weight the tyre can safely support, if the tyre is legally approved for European winter use, the date of manufacture, fitting instruction and if the tyre is approved by a specific vehicle manufacturer, to name but a few.

Follow this link for a comprehensive guide to tyre sidewall markings.

TPMS FAQs

Can I drive my car with my TPMS light on?

Once your TPMS light illuminates, it could mean you have a puncture, but could just be gradual pressure loss. Unfortunately, as there is no way of knowing which, without inspecting the tyre or re-inflating them all to monitor for further pressure changes, it can’t be advised to drive with the TPMS light illuminated.

If you need to drive somewhere and your TPMS light illuminates, you should stop at your closest garage or fuel station to reinflate the tyres back to their correct pressure, reset the TPMS and then monitor it to see if the TPMS light illuminates again, indicating a puncture.

If your journey is not urgent, however, the safest thing to do is to drive to your closest garage, where the tyres can be inspected alongside adjusting the pressures to be certain what the cause is.

All of our branches will offer a free tyre inspection if your TPMS light has illuminated to see whether or not there is a puncture that needs repairing or just a pressure adjustment and TPMS reset.

TPMS comes in one of two forms, direct and indirect. Indirect works by utilising existing vehicle systems such as the ABS and wheel speed sensors, whereas direct uses separate dedicated sensors in each wheel.

We can always inspect your TPMS for you if you believe you made have an issue. If your vehicle is equipped with direct TPMS sensors, we can scan these with a specialist tool to check that they are operating correctly.

If your vehicle is equipped with indirect TPMS, then rectifying any faults might be a bit more involved, as the correct operation of a few different systems will need verifying. However, we can still investigate this for you with a diagnostic test to ascertain the problem.

We certainly can, if your car has direct TPMS, which uses sensors in the wheel to monitor the tyre pressure, then we can replace these for you when necessary.

Typically, the batteries within these sensors will last between 6 and 8 years. However, this is accelerated by higher mileage since the sensor is sending significantly more signals, which depletes the battery quicker.

If you are getting intermitted TPMS warning lights appearing on your dashboard, this is a telltale sign of a sensor where the battery is beginning to fail.

TPMS has been fitted to certain vehicles since the early 2000’s, with some Renault’s being the most common back then.

If your car is fitted with Run-Flat tyres, you will also have TPMS equipped, as, without the ability to spot a flat Run-flat tyre, TPMS is a prerequisite.

Beyond that, the European Union (EU) made it mandatory for all new models sold after November 2012 to have TPMS equipped, with all new vehicles sold, new models not, having it equipped from November 2014.

As such, nowadays, most passenger vehicles on the road have TPMS equipped.

Your TPMS light coming on is likely nothing to worry about, as it will illuminate once the tyre is 10% underinflated. This would mean that for a typical pressure of 34psi, it will illuminate when the tyre is less than 30.6psi, which is in no way a dangerous level of underinflation; and is likely a result of gradual pressure loss since they were last corrected inflated.

However, you should still take your next opportunity to check your tyre pressures to ensure the tyre isn’t losing pressure because of a puncture. Especially if you are on a long journey on A-roads or motorways, you should stop at the next available service station to check all the tyre pressures.

TPMS stands for Tyre Pressure Monitoring Systems, which are systems in modern vehicles that inform the driver if they have reduced air pressure in one of their tyres using one of a few different systems.