New Tyres!

M0T · 1 Feb 2011 at 22:04

My MOT is up soon and I am pretty sure my tyres are close to the limit. When I say tyres I mean tyre, for some reason the previous owner of my car decided to buy 1 new tyre and leave the other one alone.

I now have a GSD3 with 6mm and one with 2.5mm, which means I need 2 new tyres.

The GSD3's are not available any more and I don't really know a lot about tyres, except that I don't buy cheap (or part worn).

My wheels are size 225/45/17, there seem to be a lot of expensive tyres about in this size - what should I go for?

L0rdMike · 1 Feb 2011 at 22:06

2.5mm You got pretty much a whole mm left on them.

RJC · 1 Feb 2011 at 22:08

When your wearing out the wear bar then replace the tyre :eek:

1.6MM is the minimum, as two of mine were today, but looking at the link below manufactures recommend 3mm.

Edit:

Some info from Kwik-Fit:

http://www.kwik-fit.com/uk-tyre-law.asp

M0T · 1 Feb 2011 at 22:10

L0rdMike said:
2.5mm You got pretty much a whole mm left on them.

I like to avoid going to the wire with tyres!

Also that particular tyre has worn oddly, much greater in the centre than the edges so I suspect that it wasn't inflated properly.

Edit: Also doesn't the performance of the tyre degrade when the tread gets to around the 2mm mark?

Shad · 1 Feb 2011 at 22:16

It will do in the wet, particularly in standing water.

Some tyres will have different layers of rubber in different compounds too - top most layer gets the good grippy rubber and once you get down to the wear bars it's the same crap that gets used on the carcase.

mattyfez · 1 Feb 2011 at 22:19

If the tyres are legal then they won't fail an mot.

The issue here is that he has 1 badly worn tyre and one that is pretty much new on the same axle.

As is, the better tyre will wear out at a rapid rate.

I would suggest replacing both, and keep the good one as a spare.

Third Opinion · 1 Feb 2011 at 22:52

I prefer to change mine before the wear bar. Maybe it is my imagination but I feel a noticeable drop off in grip mainly in the wet when they get close to it.

Jonny ///M · 1 Feb 2011 at 23:07

I had my offside tyre down to the wear bar and the drivers side not far off. This meant quite bad understeer in damp/wet and generally bad traction/grip.

Got the same model tyre fitted and it feels at least twice as good and gives me more confidence.