If you’d asked me 20 years ago about tyres, I would immediately have thought of the Athena poster of the bloke stripped to the waist holding some tyres. Along with the naked man cradling a baby, and the girl hitching up her tennis skirt, these were the iconic pictures of the late 80s / early 90s adorning many a bedroom wall. Oh, and just in case you don’t know what I’m talking about – and in no way an excuse for a gratuitous shot of a semi-naked male model – here it is…..

20 years on, I’m a mature and responsible mother of 4 (if I write it often enough maybe it will become true!?!) and I realise that tyres are actually quite important!

The folks over at Mumsnet in conjunction with Michelin have done some research and found out that whilst 97% of Mums surveyed think they should take responsibility for tyres, 73% still consider it a ‘blue job’. Here are some more of their findings.

I’ve been on a car maintenance course – but I have to confess that when I had a blow out on the M5 / M6 slip road, I called the AA to change the tyre for me.  However I am more than happy to check tyre pressures and pump up if necessary (well, as long as I haven’t had a manicure that day!!)

Now, maybe it’s because my best friend lives in the French Alps and one of my sisters lives in Munich, where winter tyres are the norm, but we have for a number of years swapped the tyres on our cars to winter tyres come November and then back again in the Spring. Our local garage is happy to store the off-season tyres for us free of charge (a bit like packing away your summer clothes come the start of a new school year in September!!) I’d thought winter tyres were primarily so we were prepared for snow – so was interested to learn of the other benefits.

Michelin are always looking at ways to understand more about how we use our tyres (in a driving way – not in a ‘looking manly in a garage’ kind of way) and have produced this video.

So tyres are very important – even if not that sexy most days!!

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. The infographic, images, survey findings and video have been provided by Mumsnet/Michelin. I have not been paid for this post, although participating bloggers will be entered into a prize draw (fingers crossed for that!)