This scares the curse word out of me!!!

[devilishdesigner]

eiriksmil said:

So only the ones who know a thing or two about cars will feel changes from a fine tyre to a worn out and almost flat one?

As a motorist it's your responsibility that the car you are driving is safe. Not all motorists on this planet obviously learnt that.

not to defend these people, but back when I was driving my kombi, I had a rear blow out on a really rocky road, turned out onto the freeway and the only noticable thing was that the car was wallowing a bit when cornering. pulled over just to see why she was wallowing and found dead rear tyre. would have been easy to have ignored it atleast for a while longer without realising. so with rear tyres atleast its not always as obvious as you'd think. I agree totally though, I work at a car wash, we get prestige cars all day long, so many are past their service interval (flashing light on the dash), bald/scrubbed tyres, non-workign lights... yet being 21, I'm the dangerous one. after owning 2 cars on 165 series tyres you learn pretty quick to keep the tyres and brakes in good condition

[poproddernot]

and talk of mot's every 2yrs, that frightens the curse word outa me.
can you imagine the state its going to be in after not being looked at for 2yrs!!!!
cheers chris.

[bbq]

In my job as an RAC patrol I tell on average one person a day that they have bald tyres and explain to them the fine and points system. Most people htne rush off to the nearest tyre place and get sorted but more than one in an expensive car has said to me "yeah, but they're so expensive, aren't they?" WTF? You bought the car- it's your responsibility to keep it safe!

As an example of my attitude towards tyres: I just bought Mrs BB a Suzuki Wagon R+ and knew it needed one tyre. Got it home, noticed that the rear tyres were originals and looked a bit dog eared. No hesitation- 4 new tyres went on it.
Looked at my £200 Sunny shed. Needs two new tyres on it. jolly pain in the backside. The other two will need doing in a few months. It's getting four tyres on Monday!

The problem is that tyres do their job too well, which is largely why they get ignored. One of the things I also demonstrate to my customers is to park their cars on full lock once a month to check the full width of the front tyres. I personally don't mess about. If it needs them it gets them- even if it means I'm then broke for the month in question.

And just to really p*ss me off/bankrupt me, the Volvo I'm building is about to get it's rear chassis built- which I can't do without the 295/50x15s it's getting on the rear to allow me to define the chassis rail width from the centre line! Anyone got any bald ones they don't want (just for fabrication purposes obviously)?

[stealthstylz]

I don't think i've bought a brand new pair of tyres since I had my first car. With the way I burn through the fronts I get part worns at £15 a go I don't see why people have a problem with them they've got to be perfectly safe or they can't sell them.

Matt

[poproddernot]

matt,
i guess it depends who's selling them, i've a family to cart about so has to be new every time.

[g40jon]

my old boss knowingly drove around in a volvo xc 90 with no tread on the tyres, even though he had a perfectly good audi A8 he could be using. when i told him about the tyres he simply replied that the tyres were on order from the net cause they cost too much from the local garage. really wish i had cut the valves off of his tyres

[stealthstylz]

By law they have to be in perfect condition. If they aren't you can report them to the police. The rules for selling part worns are more stringent than for selling brand new tyres.

Matt

[diff]

Main problem is cars have sensors to tell them that pads are low, it needs water in the rad or washers ,it needs oil or even when it needs servicing but as of yet the car is unable to tell them that they have bald tyres,( some do tell the driver they need air though).

[dollywobbler]

Ha! How stupid to I feel?! Me and Stinkwheel were working on my 2CV today, which involved taking the rear wing off. Which immediately enabled me to clock just how worn my rear tyre was! Darn! Can't even take my own advice!

[mattblack]

poproddernot said:

matt,
I guess it depends who's selling them, i've a family to cart about so has to be new every time.

So you've never bought a secondhand car... or if you have, you've gone straight out and had 4 new tyres put on it?

[rustybits]

Wont be long before they put electronic wear indicators inside tyres. Not very hard to do.. Just a series of hair thin wires running through it. When they break, the "give the dealership your wallet" light comes on on the dashboard.

[PandaSelecta]

Last week i was in a queue of traffic doing 15mph, everybody started overtaking a '54' plate bmw 3 series coupe, and when i started to overtake her i was amazed to see that the dippy woman driver was driving on a totally flat and shredded back tyre whilst talking on a mobile

[Hirst]

"Is that the BMW garage? My car is going really slow, I think it's broken."

[magnetteman]

As was mentioned, the problem with modern luxo barges is the superb suspension and general handling.

As a pro driver with more than 2,000,000 miles of batting around this country of ours and many miles of race driving as well you can imagine my consternation at pulling up to fill up with fuel and finding a completely knackered 275/40x18 rear tyre that had gone flat god only knows when.

The air suspension on my S class had compensated for the lack of air in the tyre and had allowed me to carry on without feeling a thing.

That has to be the most ridiculous set up ever that will allow that to happen

[dugong]

[*Mark and Lard*]

Stop.

Tyres are important.

That's why I still have 20 year old Goodyear C800s on my Amazon, even after doing Mallory Park.

That said, one went bang in the middle of Newall Green very early in the morning - I had the car on the jack and the wheel changed in a time a rally team would be proud of! And a breaker bar to hand, should any of the rowing locals fancy a pop.

Obviously

Therefore I can't get on my high horse about any of this.

[*Mark and Lard*]

Carry On!

[Lankytim]

I saw a pug 106 today parked up with one front tyre through to the canvas. You get to see alot more nowadays than you used to in this condition. Getting pulled over and recieving points is bad enough, but imagine being involved in a road accident, even if it wasnt your fault and the state of your tyres were seen as a contributory factor by the police?

Its just plain inexcusable, if you think tyres are too expensive, you cant afford a car!

[metromartin]

stealthstylz said:

I don't think i've bought a brand new pair of tyres since I had my first car. With the way I burn through the fronts I get part worns at £15 a go I don't see why people have a problem with them they've got to be perfectly safe or they can't sell them.

Matt

Indeed,
do people put new tyres on when they buy second hand cars, err no, so whats different with part worn? Plus its recyling.
I've had discussions in the past as i've got wheels from scrapyards as they have almost new tyres.
People can't beleive they are ok. Some of the metros the spares have never been used LOL.

[devilishdesigner]

guess it just comes down to the age of the tyre if your getting 2ndhand ones, I know the Aus govt was considering forcing tyre companies to print a date of manufacture on their tyres and was going to have a max number of years that you could use a set of tyres for, as it had been proven that old hard dry tyres are as dangerous as bald ones. I have a pair of 2ndhand ones on my 'zon because they were as new on my spares car and I know the particular tread pattern had not been around for long, but I also know in the VW scene there is a particularly popular tyre (which will remain anonymous) which just doesnt wear out, I have a friend who has proudly had her beetle on the same set of tyres (it is her daily driver) for 6+ years as they still have almost full tread! never mind the fact that they are hard as a rock, they still LOOK safe

[poproddernot]

there are date stamps on uk tyres, and max years to use, but can't remember how many(5-8yrs!?!)

[poproddernot]

some good reading.

www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible.html