Trying to find Tyre tread rules

Wig

tine, You knew already from reading the previous posts that I did not want speculative safety advice and yet you chose to add yours again (as I said for the 3rd time).

I didn't even notice you are a BG. In which case you should know better than most that if you have a problem with a particular post you press the red triangle, or someone in your position you can just refer it on the attention of whomever you feel appropriate. And if you have something to say to me in your role as a BG I suggest you use the PM facility. As I said. I'm not interested in yours (or anyone elses) whinging clogging up this thread.

Wig

I don't need your advice either.

saving_money_3

:rolleyes2 Oh dear! Wig; you've said already that you have no concience for your own safety, what about the safety of other road users and pedestrians?

You should be less concerned with how legal your tyres are in the eyes of the law (or the mot tester) so you can save yourself a few quid on some new ones & think about the consequences if an accident was caused because your car isn't safe.

Fact is: Tyres have tread across the face of the tyre for a reason.

Wig

The capacity for people to be unable to respond to the topic of a thread and instead ramble on about irrelevant garbage is amazing.

When did I say I had no conscience for my own safety? What a load of clap trap.

And Albert,

The OP doesn't make sense to you because this tyre doesn't make sense, it is like no other. The only way you would understand is if you were here looking at it. You would then no doubt come to the same conclusion that I and the tyre man did yesterday that it was legal (and safe), but that an over zealous MOT tester might fail it. To give you an idea, the tyre actually looks very similar to that image in the OP the grooves are just as deep as that. And it is only where the red marks are that there is some weird filled in bits of tread.

DavidHM

What tyre is it? I appreciate that you don't have a digital camera but there are lots of photos of tyres and tread patterns on http://www.mytyres.co.uk so we might be able to get an idea of what you're describing if you tell us what it is and/or link to there.

Wig

David,

It's a Nankang Passda I've googled with no image results,

Albert,
Unfortunately not.

Probably after the MOT (next time I'm passing) I will ask the gov test centre about this tyre and ask them why it is like this.

I'm going to put the car through the MOT with the tyre with a small cut on it, it's not 25mm long so should be ok.

TheImportanceOfBeingIdle

Tyre condition

The reason for failure with respect to tyre wear is:

"The grooves of the tread pattern are not at least 1.6mm throughout a continuous band comprising: the central three-quarters of the breadth of tread around the entire outer circumference of the tyre".

Tyres must be correctly matched with regard to:

type
size
structure

NB. type or structure but not both.

tyres on the same axle must be of the same structure and size.
Also examined:

general condition of tyre
condition of valve.
Tyres fail if they have serious cuts, bulges or other damage.

The wear on the tyre is checked with a tyre tread depth gauge to ensure compliance.

The tyres are examined to ensure that there is no fouling with any part of the vehicle.

Notes: Although under-inflation is not in itself a reason for failure, a brake test may be inadvisable because of possible damage, and it may affect headlamp alignment. The condition of the spare tyre is not part of the MOT.

From some website that I've lost. I'll post the address when I find it again

redux

If the mysterious area of worn tread in the middle is circular or oval and three to six inches across, and if it vibrates a bit more when you use it, I might suspect a blister between layers of the casing.

When I've had this a couple of times, they've said it wasn't a warranty defect, but probably caused by a sharp object that didn't puncture all the way through, but lets water in so the steel belts can slowly rust and delaminate the layers.

So it's probably legal for now but keep it as a spare if it hops. Or put it on the car for the test, just to find out, and if it fails come back later for a free retest after swapping ...