When a car tyre loses pressure and starts to get soft or when it goes flat altogether, you want to avoid driving on it even for a short distance. It's always better to have the tyre replaced as soon as possible, and even call a tow truck to help you put on your spare tyre if you can't do this on your own. Note a few reasons why it's never good to drive on a soft or flat car tyre.

1. Driving can make damage worse

A tyre may go soft because it has a nail in it or a slight rip in the tread, and in some cases this can be easily repaired with a simple patch. This repair work is typically much less money than the cost of a new tyre. However, if you drive on the tyre like this, you can make the damage worse and in turn, the tyre is then unusable. To save yourself the money of a new tyre, have it checked out and repaired as soon as possible.

2. Brakes don't work as well on a soft tyre

Brakes work by squeezing two pads against your tyre's rotor which in turn presses against the tyres, causes them to stop turning. When a tyre is soft, the rotors cannot push out as easily against the tyres since there is less cushioning of that air in the tyre for it to grip.

A flat tyre is especially dangerous for this reason, as your car may simply skid and slide when you try to apply the brakes. Rather than risk this happening, you want to get a soft tyre fixed or replace a flat tyre, and avoid driving on it altogether if possible.

3. Tyres protect and cushion your car

Your tyres protect and cushion your car from every bump and pothole in the road, but note that it's not the rubber of your tyres that provides this cushioning; it's the air in the tyres that does this. If a tyre is soft then your car has less cushioning so that you can easily cause damage to parts, as they are jostled loose from connectors or made to smack against either other with every bump.

Driving on a flat tyre can mean bending the rim of the tyre and even breaking an axle in extreme cases. Rather than risking this type of damage, change your tyre before driving it again or even consider having your car towed by a company like Metro Tyre Service.