Key takeaways
- Both half-term breaks fall in short, wet days: late October brings fallen leaves and the clocks going back, February brings frost, grit and fresh potholes.
- A car packed for a week puts much of the extra weight over the rear axle, so give the back tyres the closest look and use the full-load pressures from the handbook.
- Check again before the drive home, because a week parked at a cottage or on a grandparent's drive is long enough for a slow puncture or a cold snap to show.
- If a tyre is worn, cut or losing air before you set off, Fast Tyre can fit a new one at your home in London or the surrounding counties, usually within 30 to 60 minutes.
Half-term trips have a character of their own. They come in the gloomiest stretches of the school year, the car is packed for a week rather than a day, and the destination is often somewhere the satnav struggles with: a grandparent's cul-de-sac, a holiday cottage at the end of a single-track lane, a farm drive that has not seen a dry day since September. Tyres that cope with the school run without complaint are suddenly asked to manage a long motorway leg, a dark country road and a muddy verge in a single afternoon. This guide is about preparing them for that particular journey, in both directions.
What makes half-term driving different?
Timing, mostly. The October break lands around the end of the month, when the clocks go back, so the drive home is often the first long journey of the year in proper darkness. The February break comes after weeks of frost, when roads are gritted, verges are soft and fresh potholes have opened where water froze in cracks in the surface. Either way you are driving in poor light on roads that are wet more often than not, which is exactly when the condition of your tyres decides how quickly you can stop.
Then there is the traffic. Schools across a council area usually break up on the same day, so the main routes out of London fill at once and long queues stretch the journey. Stints of crawling followed by bursts of speed, in a heavy car, put heat and strain through the tyres that a quiet weekday commute never does.
October or February: what to look out for
The two breaks ask different things of a tyre, so it helps to know which hazards you are packing for.
| October half-term | February half-term | |
|---|---|---|
| Light | The clocks go back, so the return trip is often after dark | Days are still short, and low sun at either end of them can dazzle |
| Road surface | Wet leaves on lanes and bends, mud carried out of fields | Frost, grit, standing water and newly opened potholes |
| Main tyre risk | Lost grip on leaf mulch, thorny hedge clippings on lanes | Impact damage from potholes, pressures falling on cold mornings |
| Worth doing first | Judge tread against wet lanes, not just the legal minimum | Look along each sidewall for bulges after any hard knock |
Where does the extra weight go in a packed family car?
Mostly to the back. Suitcases, a buggy, wellies, the dog's bed and a bag of presents for the grandparents all end up in the boot, behind or over the rear axle, and older children sit above it too. The rear tyres carry a far bigger share of the load than they do on a weekday, and if one of them was already a little soft it is the one most likely to overheat on a long run.
Your handbook, and usually a label inside the driver's door frame or fuel flap, gives a second, higher set of pressures for a fully loaded car. Use those for the trip and set them before you load up, while the tyres are cold, because a tyre warmed by even a short drive shows more than it really holds. A roof box adds weight high up, so check the handbook's roof load limit as well. Once you are back and the boot is empty, drop the pressures to the normal figures again. Our guide to tyre pressures for a fully loaded car explains how to read the labels.
How much tread do you want for dark, wet lanes?
The law sets the floor at 1.6mm across the central three-quarters of the tread, and below that the tyre is illegal. On a soaked B-road in the dark with a full car, though, you want a good deal more than the minimum, because tread depth is what pushes water aside and lets the rubber reach the road. Many drivers and fitters treat 3mm as the point to start planning replacements, so if a tyre is getting close to that, a week of motorway and lane driving is a good reason to change it before you go rather than after.
Check the inner edge as well as the outer one. Uneven wear often hides on the inside shoulder, out of sight unless you crouch down or turn the steering to full lock. Our step-by-step guide on how to check tyre tread depth shows three ways to measure it.
What do leafy lanes and winter potholes do to tyres?
Wet leaves break down into a slick mulch on bends and under trees, and they offer far less grip than clean tarmac. Good tread helps, but on leaves the real answer is speed: slow down before the bend rather than in it. In February the threat changes. Water gets into cracks, freezes and expands, and by half-term many roads have potholes with sharp edges that can pinch a tyre against the rim and leave a bulge in the sidewall.
If you hit one hard, pull over somewhere safe when you can and look at the sidewall on that corner. A bulge or a split means the tyre has internal damage and should not be driven on at speed, however well it seems to be holding air. Our guide to pothole tyre damage explains what to look for.
Why check the tyres again before the drive home?
Because the return leg is often the harder one. It tends to start later in the day, so more of it is in the dark, everyone is tired, and the car has spent a week parked on a gravel drive, a farm track or a sloping street. That is plenty of time for a slow puncture picked up on the way down to make itself known, and in February a run of cold nights can take the pressures down on all four corners.
Before you load up for home, walk round the car in daylight if you can. Look for a tyre sitting lower than the others, anything lodged in the tread, and fresh scuffs on the sidewalls from kerbs or stone walls in unfamiliar parking spots. Reset the pressures to the loaded figures if they have dropped. It takes a few minutes, and it is far easier on a quiet driveway than on a dark verge.
What should you do if a tyre fails on the journey?
Get the car, and the children, out of harm's way first. On an ordinary road, pull in as far from traffic as you can, switch on the hazard lights and get everyone out and well away from the carriageway, behind a wall or up a verge if there is one. On a motorway, use the hard shoulder or an emergency area, get everyone out through the left-hand doors and behind the barrier, and ring National Highways on 0300 123 5000, or 999 if anyone is in danger. Do not try to change a wheel on the hard shoulder, and do not sit waiting in the car beside fast traffic.
We never work on a motorway or a live carriageway, but once the car is somewhere safe, such as a services, a lay-by, a side street or back at home after recovery, we can come to it. Our guide to driving on a flat tyre covers the first few minutes in more detail.
Sorting a tyre before you go
The best time to deal with a worn or damaged tyre is the day before the trip, not the morning of it. If your check turns something up, Fast Tyre can come to your home across London and the surrounding counties, usually within 30 to 60 minutes, and fit a new tyre on the driveway in 20 to 30 minutes while you carry on packing. We fit cars, SUVs, 4x4s and vans. Call 07717 389637.
Frequently asked questions
It is often darker. The clocks go back at the end of October, so a journey that starts in daylight can finish in full darkness on roads you do not know well. Add wet leaves on country lanes and it is worth setting off earlier and making sure your tyres have plenty of tread.
Usually the rears, because luggage sits in the boot and passengers sit over the back axle. Use the full-load pressures from the handbook or door label, set them before you load while the tyres are cold, and look closely at the rear pair for wear or damage.
Yes, it is worth it. A week parked somewhere unfamiliar gives a slow puncture time to show, and cold February nights can lower the pressure in all four. A quick walk round in daylight before you load up catches both.
When you can stop safely, look at the sidewall on that corner. A bulge, split or deep cut means internal damage, and the tyre should be replaced rather than driven on at speed, even if it still seems to hold air.
Yes. We come to your home across London and the surrounding counties, usually within 30 to 60 minutes of your call, and the fitting takes 20 to 30 minutes once we arrive. Have the size from the sidewall, or your registration, ready when you ring.
If it is within our area in London and the surrounding counties, yes. We fit wherever the car is safely parked, including a driveway or a quiet street. Give us the postcode when you call and we will confirm it there and then.