OT: car tyres

... imaginable to lull the gullible into expensive unnecessary work - it regularly appears.

Cold feet when you started asking questions...

I had 2 in my youth.

No need if we were in Spain, they'd all have been Corsas...

Yup.

Your increasingly regular gaffes affirm you're a lot nearer than I ;-)

Ah the metropolitan grandmaster of multiple "bus lane" penalty charges is back! (That's you Duhve if you've forgotten again ;-) )

Your memory is borked AICMFP! Simple search of plowman & bus will remind you of your sins!

Clearly not you Duhve.

I went to Kwikfit (*) this morning to get the tyres checked. I was told it was 'advisory' to replace a tyre five years after the date of manufacture. I have never heard this before. Is it correct? Does it apply to all tyres or just low quality ones? Does it mean if a tyre is stored for three years, it can only be used for two years?

I once drove about 35,000 miles before the tyre became faulty (I think it was separation of the tread and body). It had plenty of tread. We sent it back to the manufacturer who measured the remaining tread and gave me a credit towards a replacement tyre. Are tyres as good as they once were?

(*) other suppliers available

Quick google

Anything said by Kwikfit needs to be taken with a large pinch of salt. I?ve never heard it. Motorhome tyres are certainly recommended to be replaced after 10 years irrespective of wear.

Tim

Thanks. Quick read suggests it's 5-6 years after purchase, with a storage life of up to 5 years before purchase. And its a check not automatic replacement. I thought KF were spinning me a yarn.

Thanks. It was all very curious. He told me my worst tyre had double the recommended tread then said he thought it would last another 2,000 miles. If it's within 2,000 miles of end life, would it not have been sensible to have replaced it now?

I've just replaced all 3 (inc spare), nearly new (as in tread wear) tyres on my folding caravan because they were nearly 17 years old (and the last time I used the van). They had no cracking, spits or distortion and were still partially inflated and supporting the van (all 375kg of it). They had been treated with Ultraseal when I fitted them 17 years earlier so that may have helped with their porosity (and the sealant was still evenly spread around the inside of the tyres, in spite of them not moving for 17 years).

I also noticed the rear tyres on the Meriva were showing signs of splitting between the treads a wile back and were also probably what was fitted in the factory 10 years earlier. In spite of them still having plenty of tread, I changed them and noticed the 'new' tyres have exactly the same splits a couple of years later? Talking to my regular tyre fitter he suggested that was fairly common (and safe)?

Because I'm a 'better to be safe than sorry' sorta guy, I don't typically scrimp on tyres, generally going for main brands rather than any of the 'Happy Shopper' / 100% nylon stuff. ;-)

With trailers you don't often get that much (affordable) choice, as was the case with the 8 ply 145/10's Trailermax radials on the folding caravan (so ended up with Cheng Shin (Maxxis?)).

Cheers, T i m

In message snipped-for-privacy@news.individual.net>, Tim+ snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com writes

I did quite a bit of online and local research on this when trying to sort out the right tyres for my Rangie. Everything seemed to point to 10 years from manufacture being the practical limit. It was extremely worrying to discover the age of tyres being offered by scrappies and online. 18+ years was not unusual.

One scrappie sent me to his favoured fitter to discuss swapping my set of (the wrong) wheels with his set of correct wheels and tyres. The fitter just said "No way" would he fit tyres that old.

In the end I just kept the slightly wrong wheels (for a Sport, which mine wasn't), bought a set of the correct wheel nuts for the wheels and got KwikFit (!) to sort tracking, wheels and tyres. I used KF because ATS locally are even bigger clowns.

I now drive 6+ miles to the privately owned fitters that come highly recommended by all and sundry. There you either sit in the car and be jacked up or get out and chat to the fitters and clients right next to the cars. I don't know what H&S would say.

Both light and heat seem to affect the 'rubber' used. A new tyre should be stored away from both, before fitting.

But of course Kwik-Fit want to sell you things. So are likely to quote the worst scenario.

Given how many branches they have, they're likely to vary somewhat.

One such near here was prosecuted for plugging a puncture on the 'forbidden' part of the tyre.

I suppose it depends on the mileage per annum you do.

That would see me out for 4 to 5 weeks but the gf would get 6 months out of it.

I thought that too but bizarrely he talked me out of replacing the 3mm tyre and stressed the five year rule was 'advisory'. I got the feeling he didn't want to sell me anything.