How much consideration do you give to your tyres?

[Marty Dolomite]

Yesterday I impounded a 2007 Ford focus and as I was loading it I noticed all four tyres were very badly cracked on the sideways and thread edges and between the threads although the thread was well within the legal limit there is no way that those tyres should have passed an MOT, I checked the date on the tyre and the oldest was *0407*, scary to think that someone had been driving around with their tyres in this condition and even scarier was that they were a so called good brand made by that Jolly large white french guy and only five years old.

As for my own tyres, yep they get changed well before they go bold or start cracking.

[Essexboydave]

Since I have a number of vehicles the Volvo only gets to do about 1000 miles per year so the tyres perish before they wear out!!! Having said that though since some of my vehicles are of the 2-wheeled and a bit pokey variety I'm in the habit of checking tyres pretty frequently, after all it's not that much rubber that's in contact with the road and your life depends on it

[Jetmech]

I try to keep an eye on my tyres for pressure and condition. If possible I fit top brand tyres, but I usually try to run them down to the marker bars if they are wearing evenly, front tyres on most cars I have had seem to wear the edge of the tread down first so they are changed once down to the limit at the edge.

[tt82]

Well yesterday I got rid of my front tyres as they had jusr dropped below the 3mm mark. As it's the start of September I put my winter tyres on rather than fit summers for 2 months and then have them changed.

[AcidicDavey]

I try to make an excuse to find new wheels with good tyres on them, it's worked for me so far! My current set of wheels have miss matched tyres and are nearing the end of their life but the new ones I've got to put on have nearly new tyres, win

With regards to winter or summer tyres I can't say I even know the difference hardly lol I think a pair on the new set are winters by looking at the tread pattern but I don't know.

[tt82]

The sipes are a big clue to wether its a winter or not. For confirmation you need to look for the snowflake symbol.

[Bill_56]

Perfect answer from tt82.

The only thing I'd add is that you should think carefully about buying used, as most manufacturers of winter tyres advise that their winter performance is only good with (IIRC) 4mm or more of tread. With less than that they remain legal, as per any other tyre down to 1.6mm, but will no longer provide the frost/ice/snow advantages you may be hoping for.

[AcidicDavey]

I had a look today and they are summers, not botthered as the car will be offered for sale soon.

[Bendolfc]

I'd have though in these temperatures that your summers with 3mm left on them would be better than winters.

[tt82]

Yes but winters with around 6mm will cope better with the lovely wet summer weather we have, than summers with under 3mm.

That is the point, as the summers wore down even more, further reducing their ability to cope with wet weather, and climatically or seasonly more wet weather approaching, what is the best option?

It's considering the condition of your tyres against future wear and future weather so as to make sure your tyres are appropriate for the conditions. If that makes any sense.