A hubcap, or wheel cap, has a decorative function: it is a disc (often made from plastic) that is placed on the rim of a wheel for aesthetic reasons.

An all-season tyre, also known as mud and snow tyre is a tyre that can be described as a hybrid, since it can be used in summer and winter.

Snow chains work simply by increasing the amount of grip that tyres have on the roads when they are icy or covered in snow. Increasing the traction between the car and the road makes driving in adverse wintery conditions much safer as it reduces the chance of cars losing control and skidding on icy surfaces.

Before deciding which new tyres to get, it is very useful to know which type are already fitted to your car. Your mechanic should be a good source of information about which tyres will be best for you, but which tyres you need will depend entirely on where and when you drive.

Wheel alignment is also known as tracking or braking and it is the process carried out to ensure that a vehicle’s wheels are fixed into their optimum position according to their manufacturer’s specifications.

This process is provided to ensure that the tread on each wheel wears down at the same rate as the other wheels. In addition to this beneficial quick-fix, wheel alignment also improves fuel consumption as a result of reduced rolling resistance caused by unevenly worn down tyres.

To counter the rates of traffic accident occurrences, the leading tyre manufacturers carried out a vital piece of research that founded the Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS). The results from their study purported that up to 90% of all vehicles on the roads of Britain did not have the correct tyre pressure levels in their tyres. This lack of pressure can cause the tyres to wear down faster, increase the amount of fuel consumed and lead to traffic accidents.

Run flat tyres have been a somewhat controversial topic since they were introduced as many feel that they are in some way ‘cheating’.

From most people’s perspective, run flat tyres allow peace of mind when driving as they don’t require you to be able to know how to fit a spare tyre and will allow you to carry on driving for a period of time if you do get a puncture. They do have their disadvantages, for example they cannot be repaired if you do get a puncture, but for many people the benefits of run flat tyres far outweigh the downsides of having them fitted to your car.

Before deciding which new tyres to get, it is very useful to know which type are already fitted to your car. Your mechanic should be a good source of information about which tyres will be best for you, but which tyres you need will depend entirely on where and when you drive. There are lots of different types of tyre which are perfectly suited for different purposes so you will have to read the descriptions and see which one most applies to you and your driving habits.