Tyres, when to change them

I usually change at 3,00mm or if the tyres are damaged, just changed the front one's, got an good deal online from ATS for 2 Mitchellen 195/65/15 fitted for £107.00. They give u £25.00 discount foe 2 and £50.00 for 4.
 
Semple said:
For most daily runners, tyres shouldn't even reach 5 years old before running out of tread, OR running over something sharp and having an irreparable puncture.

But i agree, changing them every year or two if there's plenty of grip available is just wasteful.
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Its worse than wasteful.

Disposal of old tyres is a major issue. People replacing them before they are fully "Used Up" massively increases the number of old tyres that need to be handled.
 
hohum said:
For me personally I'd be putting some fresh tyres on there just for peace of mind, but you could always take it somewhere else for a second visual inspection perhaps.

My current cheap runabout that I bought in 2017 had four decent brand tyres fitted within a couple of days of purchase. The originals had plenty of tread as the car has low miles, but the front two weren't a matched pair and the rears were the ones that came with the car when it rolled off the production line... at the end of 1998! So nearly two decades old, wasn't risking it.
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Why bother taking it to a garage for a second inspection?

He can tell himself if they are cracked or not or and how much tread is on them. Unless he is blind and doesn't have fingers.

Also if I owned a garage and someone came in saying I had another garage check these and they said they should be changed as they are 5 years old but I want a second opinion. I can bet you he would be leaving my garage £600 lighter.
 
Storage is absolutely key for tyres. They can last for a long time if they are stored correctly. A 2011/2012 tyre is a concern, but the most important thing to look for is cracking in the tread, cracking where the tread meets the sidewall and crazing/degradation to the sidewall. If there is none, then they should be ok. Regardless of how they're stored, i wouldn't be running tyres after they're 10 years old.

If they are starting to crack, it's time to get them replaced.

EDIT: Just Googled it and pretty much everywhere says up to 10 years with frequent tyre inspections.

EDIT 2: I'd take Michelin's guidance on this:

https://www.michelin.in/auto/tips-and-advice/when-should-i-change-my-car-tyres

EDIT 3: Or Continentals:

Continental said:
How many years will tyres last?
We are not aware of any technical data to support the removal from service of tyres past a specific age. But the same principle applies to the tyres of your vehicle as for any other part of your car – age matters.

Together with other members of the tyre and automotive industries, we advise that all tyres (including spare tyres) made more than ten years ago should be removed from service and replaced with new tyres.

You should follow this advice even if:

  • The tyres seem to be in good condition and appear usable based on their external appearance;
  • The wear to the tread has not passed the minimum legal limit.
In short, even though a tyre over ten years old may seem fine for driving, we still recommend getting new tyres for your car. Drivers cannot rely on visual inspection for rubber cracking, wear to the tread or other signs of deterioration due to age. While tyres may appear perfectly functional, their age is a factor for replacement.

Some vehicle manufacturers may recommend a different chronological age at which to replace a tyre. Such guidance comes from their understanding of the specific vehicle application; We recommend that drivers pay heed to these instructions.

In any case, most tyres will likely need replacement for worn treads or for other reasons before any recommended removal period. At the same time, a stated removal period in no way alleviates the driver’s responsibility to replace worn tyres when necessary.
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EDIT 4: Or Vredstein's

Vredstein said:
Age


Car tyres are composed of various rubber components, each of which is subject to a certain amount of ageing. The extent to which a tyre ages depends on various factors, such as the number of kilometres driven per year, the frequency and duration of use (e.g. daily or a few times per year), the speed driven and the regularity of tyre pressure checks. Weather conditions, tyre load (i.e. normal load or maximum load) and the way in which the tyre is stored when not in use are all factors that affect the ageing process.


As a result of all of these different factors, it is impossible to say exactly how many years or how many kilometres a car tyre can be used. Remember that the older the tyre is, the greater the chance that it will need to be replaced.


For a tyre to have as long a lifespan as possible, we recommend that you have it occasionally checked by a tyre specialist in addition to carrying out a monthly check yourself. If the minimum tread depth of the tyre has not yet been reached after six years, we advise having the tyre checked by a tyre specialist at least once a year.
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Laws governing tyres are stupidly lax, yet tens of millions of pounds are spent every year on enforcing other aspects of road safety. If the government truly cared about road safety, they would make the make the following changes:

- Outright ban on remould tyres
- All tyres must all conform to an independently tested minimum safety requirement including dry and wet braking. Any tyres that don't go through this approval cannot be sold.
- Tyres found to be cracked or perished during an MOT would be an MOT failure.
- Tyre pressures would be measured on an MOT test
- Tyres over 5 years old would be an MOT advisory - over 10 years old would be an MOT failure.
 
There is a new law coming into force to prohibit tyres over 10 years old from being in service. This will affect HGVs, LGVs, PSVs and taxi/minicabs initially and then roll out to cars a few years later. This is after years of campaigning by families of people killed by tyres that failed due to age. By age I mean 15-20 years old, not 5-10.
We have some Michelins that are 13 years old and will be getting these changed soon, despite 7mm of tread.
https://assets.publishing.service.g.../812495/older-tyres-consultation-document.pdf
 
Gaygle said:
Laws governing tyres are stupidly lax, yet tens of millions of pounds are spent every year on enforcing other aspects of road safety. If the government truly cared about road safety, they would make the make the following changes:

- Outright ban on remould tyres
- All tyres must all conform to an independently tested minimum safety requirement including dry and wet braking. Any tyres that don't go through this approval cannot be sold.
- Tyres found to be cracked or perished during an MOT would be an MOT failure.
- Tyre pressures would be measured on an MOT test
- Tyres over 5 years old would be an MOT advisory - over 10 years old would be an MOT failure.
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Part of the problem here is that i suspect that little research has actually been done on the safety of older tyres and how dangerous they actually might be.

However.

Gaygle said:
- Outright ban on remould tyres
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Disagree-A proper remould involves deconstructing the tyre carcase and rebuilding it from the ground up. A good quality remould is, for all but the most unusual and extreme of circumstances, just as good as a new one.

However, Re-treading (Common with HGV and PCV tyres) is rather more questionable. Which is why one sees so many giant rubber bands by the sides of motorways.

Proper remoulding should actually be encouraged. We dispose of some 50 Million old tyres a year in the UK and it is a big problem "Recycling" them via remoulding would confer considerable advantages.

Gaygle said:
- All tyres must all conform to an independently tested minimum safety requirement including dry and wet braking. Any tyres that don't go through this approval cannot be sold.
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Agree-Tyres should be type approved. That they are not seems surprising! (Is this really the case at present??) Again the problem with tyre rating is that it has concentrated on CO2's, as I recall, when the original tyre rating scheme was introduce CO2's were the only thing that were rated. It was the tyre industry that insisted on introducing a grip rating as well.

Unfortunately, Good grip and Good rolling resistance are opposites in terms of what can technically be achieved. If you want both, it is always going to be a compromise.

Gaygle said:
- Tyres found to be cracked or perished during an MOT would be an MOT failure.
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Disagree-far too subjective. We have already run into problems trying to introduce rules like this in the MOT (EG the 30Cm rule for corrosion where strict interpretation of the rules can generate fails as a result of corrosion that is in no way or form structural!)

Should remain an advisory.


Gaygle said:
- Tyre pressures would be measured on an MOT test
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That is reasonable enough. Perhaps even fail outright any tyre that presents at below half its minimum recommended pressure (On the grounds that it has been driven like that and is therefore likely to have been compromised)

Gaygle said:
- Tyres over 5 years old would be an MOT advisory - over 10 years old would be an MOT failure.
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Not sure that I would fail 10 year old tyres outright,5 years as an advisory, 10 years with a rather more strongly worded advisory seems fair enough though. I might also go with considering beyond 10 years of age to be an "Aggravating Factor" if other minor defects are present (Kind of like a points system. though again, this is vulnerable to subjective assessment on the part of the tester)

:)

Edit to add

There is a new law coming into force to prohibit tyres over 10 years old from being in service. This will affect HGVs, LGVs, PSVs and taxi/minicabs initially and then roll out to cars a few years later.
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The surprising thing is that vehicles in these classes ever get to run on tyres this old in the first place. I guess it must mostly be down to "New Old Stock" being used.
 
2019 UK Research is inconclusive on age impact.
https://assets.publishing.service.g...erial-properties-and-structural-integrity.pdf


In 2017, 17 people were killed and 147 people were seriously injured in road traffic collisions where illegal, defective or under inflated tyres were recorded as a contributory factor in the collision6 , these factors represent 1% of the contributory factors reported. The age of the tyre or further data in relation to the tyre is not statistically recorded therefore no association in relation to the vehicle defects, as recorded, can be made with the effects of ageing on the tyre.

“that tyre age is monitored and that tyres aged more than 10 years old should not be used except on a rear axle as part of a twin wheel arrangement. Where tyres more than 10 years old are used, their age should be recorded and a specific risk assessment, that considers the speed and loading conditions that the vehicle will operate under (for example, operating only in urban areas) is done”

Continental20 recommends “All tyres including spare produced more than ten years ago should be replaced”. Uniroyal21 tyres state, “We recommend that all tyres are replaced when they reach ten years old, regardless of the depth of tread”.
Michelin22 offers advice in its UK safety guide regarding product life: “The older a tyre the greater the chance that it will need to be replaced due to the service-related evolution or other conditions found upon inspection or detected during use. While most tyres will need replacement before they achieve 10 years, it is recommended that tyres in service 10 years or more from the date of manufacture, including the spare, should be replaced with new tyres as a simple precaution”.
Pirelli 2019 US market limited warranty document states: “The mere passage of time (age) does not cause tires to deteriorate, but rather exposure to outside forces. The service life of a tire is a function of service and storage conditions. For each individual tire, this service life is determined by many factors such as temperature/weather, storage conditions, and service conditions (e.g. load, speed, inflation pressure, maintenance, and road hazard damage, etc.) to which a tire is subjected throughout its life. Since service and storage conditions vary widely, accurately predicting the service life of any specific tire based on chronological age is not possible. There is no scientific or technical data that establishes or identifies a minimum or maximum service life, but the longer a tire has been in service, the greater the chance that it will need to be replaced due to servicerelated conditions”.
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Pirelli nailed it.
look at the physical property graphs ...


- you see people abusing tyres most days - kerbing during parallel parking, intentionally mounting kerb, driving through pot-holes (damage at speed probably non-linear) ....
 
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