tyre tread laws

[Deleted User]

Bit confused about this..

Got tread wear indicators on my tyres and they all seem within the limit. However, the outside of the tyre is worn until most of the pattern is gone. However, notice the law says middle 3/4 of the tyre counts only.

Does this mean if tread wear indicators are ok I'm fine?

Not great and I am going to get tyres changed asap but I need to use the car tomorrow and dont want to get nicked.

olly300

It's means your wheels aren't balanced (i.e. tyres not properly fitted) and no you shouldn't drive with them unless to the tyre place to get them changed.

Edited to say: You didn't really need to ask the question did you?

mikey72

I'd get the tracking checked when you get the tyres swopped.
The law is 1.6mm across the centre 3/4 of the tyre, but that's cutting it close in the snow at the moment.

bigjl

Well I always thought it was 1.6mm in the central section with visible tread over the entire width, but recently was told that it didn't need to be visible tread on the edge, but that doesn't seem right but heyho.

Though one point if your tread is wearing on the outside edge or inside edge it is more of an alignment problem as balancing is more likely to cause vibration at around 60 mph. It certainly doen't mean the tyre isn't fitted properly, just that the fitter didn't balance them after fitting the tyre or that the weight has come detached.

It is no more legal to drive to the tyre shop with illegal tyres than it is to drive on them at any other time.

But going back to the specifics of the OP's position, if you have the minimum tread depth in the centre section and visible tread on the outside then I would suuggest that they are fine to drive on.

I personally get a bit anal with tyres, and prefer to change them at between 2 and 3mm, after all the Germans are well known for changing at anything below 4mm of tread, hence the fact that these second hand tyre shops that sell lots of used tyres from Germany.

The tyres on my Mondeo are about the 4mm mark and they where OK in the recent snow, but the wifes Clio had barely worn rear tyres matched to a couple of brand new front tyres and it really gripped well in the snow and ice, especially when you realise that they weren't winter tyres. Though over the summer I will be getting nice alloys for both cars and putting the old steels in the garage with some nice winter tyres on, bought in low demand time in the summer aswell, did anybody else notice some of the online tyre retailer mytyres more than double the price of winter tyres over the last 2 weeks.

babyshoes

To be precise, the law says that for cars and light vans in the UK, you need a MINIMUM of 1.6mm across the Central 3/4 (75%) of the tread width in a continuous band around the entire circumfrence of the tyre, and the remaining tread must show a visible pattern. This last bit is not quoted in the Highway Code, which strikes me as odd - perhaps it was thought to be confusing?

In other words, if any part of your tread area is bald, that makes the tyre illegal.

Also, you need to know that tread wear indicators are only a rough guide and can often be below 1.6mm, as they are designed more to show up irregular wear patterns than to provide an accurate depth indication. If your tread is close to the indicators you are probably already driving on illegal tyres! I would suggest that if you can possibly avoid driving the car that you do so until you take it to get new tyres. The ice around here is melting at the moment, making the roads wet, which is when you really need the tread to displace the water and provide grip.

The person who said your wheels are not properly balanced is wrong. Imbalanced wheels would produce a patchy wear pattern.
If the tyre is worn smoothly down one shoulder, you probably have a camber fault. If the wear is feathered (try running your hand one way along it, then the other. If it feels kind of 'bobbly' in one direction, that is feathered wear) that indicates a tracking fault. (though it can also be caused by certain driving styles...). If both shoulders are worn, it implies that you have driven with underinflated tyres (or an overloaded vehicle) for some time, and you should check your pressures more often. However, if you are getting the tyres changed soon anyway, ask the tyre fitter to check the wear pattern on your tyres and if there is a problem with the car they should spot it immediately. Many places will have the equipment to sort out camber or tracking faults as they both come under the heading of 'wheel alignment'.

mikey72

babyshoes wrote: »

To be precise, the law says that for cars and light vans in the UK, you need a MINIMUM of 1.6mm across the Central 3/4 (75%) of the tread width in a continuous band around the entire circumfrence of the tyre, and the remaining tread must show a visible pattern. This last bit is not quoted in the Highway Code, which strikes me as odd - perhaps it was thought to be confusing?

In other words, if any part of your tread area is bald, that makes the tyre illegal.

Also, you need to know that tread wear indicators are only a rough guide and can often be below 1.6mm, as they are designed more to show up irregular wear patterns than to provide an accurate depth indication. If your tread is close to the indicators you are probably already driving on illegal tyres! I would suggest that if you can possibly avoid driving the car that you do so until you take it to get new tyres. The ice around here is melting at the moment, making the roads wet, which is when you really need the tread to displace the water and provide grip.

The person who said your wheels are not properly balanced is wrong. Imbalanced wheels would produce a patchy wear pattern.
If the tyre is worn smoothly down one shoulder, you probably have a camber fault. If the wear is feathered (try running your hand one way along it, then the other. If it feels kind of 'bobbly' in one direction, that is feathered wear) that indicates a tracking fault. (though it can also be caused by certain driving styles...). If both shoulders are worn, it implies that you have driven with underinflated tyres (or an overloaded vehicle) for some time, and you should check your pressures more often. However, if you are getting the tyres changed soon anyway, ask the tyre fitter to check the wear pattern on your tyres and if there is a problem with the car they should spot it immediately. Many places will have the equipment to sort out camber or tracking faults as they both come under the heading of 'wheel alignment'.

Do you have a reference for the "visible tread"

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/DG_069871

refers to Laws RTA 1988 sect 42 & CUR reg 32 and doesn't state it.

Not many cars are capable of having the camber adjusted, just the tracking, which is probably the cause of the wear.
Unless anything is actually bent or damaged.

[Deleted User]

My NSF tyre has 3mm tread across the three quarter area but is worn on the outside edge but still with visible tread. Inside edge is as good as the rest of the tyre.

Does this mean I should get my tracking checked?

The tyre is the oldest one on the car.

bigjl

You need to consider that if a tyre has an odd wear pattern caused by bad wheel alignment then after the alignment is corrected the tyre will continue to wear the same way.

I would recommend that everyone gets there car checked by a decent alignment place such as Elite in Rainham, they can check all sorts of things not just tracking, about ten years ago I had an Omega that had a inner edge wear issue, I had the tracking done countless times and in the end took it to the main dealer to sort it, they told me it was a common problem on the Omega and to take it to Elite as that is where they send their cars with this problem, I did so and the problem never returned.

I have my car done twice a year or sooner if I feel that the steering isn't as it should be, such as after the wife uses my car, lol.

Just done a bit of proper research and under:-

The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986

Regulation 27
Tread Depth

The legal minimum tread depth for cars and light trailers (including caravans) up to 3500 kgs gross vehicle weight and/or 8 seated passenger vehicles including driver is:
A minimum of 1.6mm in a continuous band throughout the central three-quarters of the tread width, throughout the whole of the circumference (see illustration below).

(There was a picture that indicated that the outer edges can indeed have no tread visible !!!!!)








Any vehicle with a gross vehicle weight (GVW) or gross train weight (GTW) over 3500kgs or a motorcycle above 50cc must, either:

1. The grooves of the tread pattern must have a depth of a least 1 mm throughout a continuous band measuring at least three-quarters of the breadth of the tread and round the entire outer circumference of the tyre, OR
2. if the grooves of the original tread pattern of the tyre do not extend beyond three-quarters of the breadth of the tread (i.e. common with motorcycle tyres) any groove of the original pattern must have a minimum depth of at least 1 mm.

There where two small pictures in the original web page but I couldn't get them to copy and paste.

Information was copied from www.etyres.co.uk.


@ mikey72, a lot more cars can have the camber and castor adjusted than you may think, however as very few places actually specialise in alignment and rather fob you off with a 4 wheel alignment performed with 10 year old equipment, then it does get neglected on a lot of cars, can't remember the exact details but Elite put on concentric adapters/adjusters onto my Legacy (2004-) to allow extra adjustment that wasn't available as standard, as I had my Legacy set up with Prodrive geometry, which got rid of that understeer on turn in completely.

My Mondeo will be getting some special polybushes on the front wishbones next year that allow extra adjustment, aswell as polybushes on the rear subframe, you can read about them here http://www.powerflex.co.uk/products/Mondeo+%282000+to+2007%29-2410/1.html, yes it is only a Mondeo TDCi, but if I have to spend money on a car then why not improve as you go.

Putting on brakes next week and am fitting EBC discs with uprated pads, pretty cheap on the web http://www.powerflex.co.uk/products/Mondeo+%282000+to+2007%29-2410/1.html.



Some info on wheel alignment and wheel balancing at Elite in Rainham.

http://www.powerflex.co.uk/products/Mondeo+%282000+to+2007%29-2410/1.html

http://www.elitedirect.com/WheelBalancing/wheel-balancing.php

They did have a better page about wheel alignment but they changed it, but they do a free check and also give you a before and after report, which even details stuff like "thrust line".

Wig

babyshoes wrote: »

To be precise, the law says that for cars and light vans in the UK, you need a MINIMUM of 1.6mm across the Central 3/4 (75%) of the tread width in a continuous band around the entire circumfrence of the tyre, and the remaining tread must show a visible pattern.

Not true, not for most cars anyway, those built after 1932 have to pass the 1.6mm rule, up until 1933 the 1.0mm rule applies and it also applies to all bikes and some PCVs (more than 8 seats)

Your version is a combination of both rules. In reality you can have 1.6mm tread in the central 3/4 and have bald patches on the outside. However those bald bits cannot extend into the central 3/4 so in reality they will only be very thin bald bits.

Bottom of this page
http://www.motuk.co.uk/manual_410.htm

bigjl

Wig wrote: »

Not true, not for most cars anyway, those built after 1932 have to pass the 1.6mm rule, up until 1933 the 1.0mm rule applies and it also applies to all bikes AFAIK (at least it does to mopeds), and some PCVs

Your version is a combination of both rules. In reality you can have 1.6mm tread in the central 3/4 and have bald patches on the outside. However those bald bits cannot extend into the central 3/4 so in reality they will only be very thin bald bits.

Bottom of this page
http://www.motuk.co.uk/manual_410.htm

Or you could just read my previous post.

Wig

All the suggestions about tracking, camber, not fitted properly, not balanced etc etc could all be wrong. It could just be the design of the tyre tread for those tyres, A very bad design, I agree, but a legitimate design none-the-less

See here
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2735659