Worn/flat tyre advice

Russinating · 21 Jun 2010 at 21:00

Had a blow out on the motorway yesterday (fun). Luckily I was only doing 60 and in the left hand lane as I was about to come off - could've been a lot worse if I was driving how I was for the previous hour!

Anyway, I'm after a bit of advice. My MOT was just over a month ago. My passenger side tyre was worn on one side below the legal limit (only 5 months old, about 5k miles) because my alignment was off. This tyre was replaced along with the wishbone (and various other MOT bits).

The one that blew yesterday was the driver's side, and as you can see below it's only one edge (inside facing). Could this have been caused by the MOT guys not installing the wishbone and fixing the alignment properly, and if so where do I stand? This tyre's only five months old as well (I replaced them all last November).

Thanks in advance...

One side of tyre, opposite to "punctured" side:

Same side, from across:

Opposite side where the hole was produced:

Hole:

This whole area is wafer thin, easily pushed in with my finger:

The tread on the middle of the tyre (if the worn bits are the top and bottom):

paradigm · 21 Jun 2010 at 21:02

So what you are saying is that you never check your tyres?

Please stop using the public highway

[TW]Fox · 21 Jun 2010 at 21:05

It looks like it happened because your tyre literally wore right through :eek:

Astonishing, how did you let it get like that?

DM · 21 Jun 2010 at 21:06

So its 7 months old not 4? That's been a hard 7 months

Anyway sadly i would say you have no recourse with the MOT centre even if they didnt set the tracking right surely you must have seen the tyres wearing?

Russinating · 21 Jun 2010 at 21:06

paradigm said:
So what you are saying is that you never check your tyres?

Please stop using the public highway

Helpful advice :rolleyes:

.

I had my MOT a month ago and I hardly ever use my car (especially the last month, I've probably done about 300 miles max). Why would I assume my tyre's gone from being easily legal to about to blow?

ZG002 · 21 Jun 2010 at 21:06

What is it with people on here and driving around with tyres in such a extreme state? Do you not check your own tyres? How on earth could you miss that?! You say yourself.. could have been a lot worse... For the sake of every other road user... check your ******* tyres!

You stand no where with the MOT place. It is not their responsibility to come and check your tyres.

You could have hit a curb and knocked the alignment off after the test also.

oh and :rolleyes:

to you!

MrMoonX · 21 Jun 2010 at 21:07

that clearly shows some alignment issues, if hes had his suspension parts replaced in the last month, than this could be a problem if they were not aligned properly

Russinating · 21 Jun 2010 at 21:09

[TW]Fox;16798471 said:
Astonishing, how did you let it get like that?

What kind of question is that? Not everyone's a mechanic and the damage isn't even visible as it's on the inside of the tyre. Plus I wouldn't even know anything was wrong just by feeling unless the white stuff was already showing.

Bug One · 21 Jun 2010 at 21:09

Is your car lowered?

I can't understand how the edge could be worn like that unless its rubbing.

[TW]Fox · 21 Jun 2010 at 21:10

Russinating said:
Helpful advice .

To be fair you identified yourself it would have been much more serious had it happened a few minutes earlier. You narrowly avoided a horrific accident because you don't check your tyres from one month to the next.

Don't expect flowers and niceities from people when you show them that!

I had my MOT a month ago and I hardly ever use my car

You said you did 5k in 5 months. This is 12,000 miles a year!

Why would I assume my tyre's gone from being easily legal to about to blow?

Because it might well have gone from easily legal to about to blow? Infact.. it had done! You check your tyres on a regular basis for all sorts - excessive wear, bulges in the sidewall, nails....

What kind of question is that? Not everyone's a mechanic

You don't need to be a mechanic to visually check your tyres. You are even show how to in order to pass your driving test! Checking the tread on the inside front takes literally seconds - just park on full lock once a week and give it a glance as you walk past. 10 seconds job!

The Edge · 21 Jun 2010 at 21:10

Begs the question of whether a tracking check should be part of the MOT.

Tee Hee Johnson · 21 Jun 2010 at 21:12

Jesus H... im no where near a pro when it comes to cars, but tyres are something i notice all the time, on mine and others! I cant even imagine how it would get that bad.

No idea about the MOT center thing.

[TW]Fox · 21 Jun 2010 at 21:12

The Edge said:
Begs the question of whether a tracking check should be part of the MOT.

Totally agree, worries me the amount of people who don't realise that getting allignment checked on a semi regular basis is important. They actually think simply getting in and driving off is all there is to car ownership.

I wouldnt mind if somebody with a poorly maintained tyre has a blow out in front of me at 80mph then all sorts of innocent people could get caught up in the mess.

The Edge · 21 Jun 2010 at 21:13

Russinating said:
What kind of question is that? Not everyone's a mechanic and the damage isn't even visible as it's on the inside of the tyre. Plus I wouldn't even know anything was wrong just by feeling unless the white stuff was already showing.

Easy. set the wheel to full lock and look. Then lock it the other way and look at the other side. It's not something you do every week, but certainly something i glance at if the car is conveniantly parked.

This time you and the cars around you got away with it. Next time you/they might not be so lucky.

ZG002 · 21 Jun 2010 at 21:14

[TW]Fox;16798512 said:
You don't need to be a mechanic to visually check your tyres. You are even show how to in order to pass your driving test! Checking the tread on the inside front takes literally seconds - just park on full lock once a week and give it a glance as you walk past. 10 seconds job!

This, Rears take just as long. All you need to do is stand at rear of car and crouch down and look in day light. You could have seen the state of that tyre very easily.

DM · 21 Jun 2010 at 21:16

Well consider this a learning curve, you will check the inner edges next time wont you

Russinating · 21 Jun 2010 at 21:30

Well **** me sideways. Sorry for not checking my tyres 300 odd miles after they were checked by a professional who actually knows what they're looking for.

Can we just get back to my question rather than "omgz car noob lolz". I wouldn't be posting this in the first place if I knew what I was talking about.

Bug One said:
Is your car lowered?

I can't understand how the edge could be worn like that unless its rubbing.

No, not at all. Standard Clio.

[TW]Fox;16798512 said:
You narrowly avoided a horrific accident because you don't check your tyres from one month to the next.

They were checked last month.

[TW]Fox;16798512 said:
You said you did 5k in 5 months. This is 12,000 miles a year!

Errr, yes?

--

Just to clarify (just dug out my MOT stuff), I had the wishbone and OSF lower control arm bushes replaced as well as other irrelevant stuff.

DM · 21 Jun 2010 at 21:33

Sorry so what exactly are you asking for here? Not sure what advice you want.

Go and buy new tyres and get it 4 wheel aligned.

You wont get any joy from the place that fitted the suspension parts.

West · 21 Jun 2010 at 21:35

Not a leg to stand on unfortunatley.. I learned this one a little while back, had to replace all 4 tyres because my tracking was so badly out.. it was scrubbing the inside of all my tyres.

You need to get the car tracked up properly (Laser tracking) and make sure you get all 4 wheels done (Again I learned this one the hard way 4-6 tyres later) and get yourself some tyres on...

[TW]Fox · 21 Jun 2010 at 21:37

Russinating said:
Well **** me sideways. Sorry for not checking my tyres 300 odd miles after they were checked by a professional who actually knows what they're looking for.

Apology accepted. In future, check them every week or so. Don't spend ages analysing them, just glance over them once youve parked up. 10 seconds a tyre. 40 seconds a week.

It might save your life.

They were checked last month.

But not this month. Check them more often!

Just to clarify (just dug out my MOT stuff), I had the wishbone and OSF lower control arm bushes replaced as well as other irrelevant stuff.

Many places that do work like this don't have the facilities to perform a full allignment check. It's a seperate job. It's important to check the allignment when replacing suspension components but its rarely something that is ever included in the price of doing such a thing.

They did what you asked, I dont see how its their fault unless the tyre was illegal when the MOT took placeand they passed it anyway, which seems unlikely.