Are my tyres legal?

Author
Discussion

Galsia

Original Poster:

2,167 posts

190 months

Sunday 20th July 2008
quotequote all
I'm supposed to be going to a car show today so I was doing a walkaround of my car and noticed that the front tyres are worn. I'm terrified of getting pulled over and getting 6 points. Looks like I've been going round roundabouts too fast.

The law states something like 75% of the tyre needs to have 1.6mm tread. My tyres have 4.6mm tread along the centres and inside edges but the outside edges are down to the indicators:







Obviously if the tyres are illegal I'll be leaving the ar at home...

Thanks.




hifihigh

585 posts

201 months

Sunday 20th July 2008
quotequote all
legal

hot metal

1,943 posts

193 months

Sunday 20th July 2008
quotequote all
Look ok to me ,is it just the nearside ? if so watch the hard cornering on roundabouts,but if its both get the tracking checked.

sniff petrol

13,107 posts

212 months

Sunday 20th July 2008
quotequote all
I reckon they're legal too, have they been run a bit underinflated to wear like that?

warpig

336 posts

205 months

Sunday 20th July 2008
quotequote all
central 80% has to have legal tread, the other 20% on the inner and outer edge can be bald as a bald thing as long as not showing cords (but thats 10% per edge of tyre not say 20% on one side of the tyre)

petermansell

868 posts

206 months

Sunday 20th July 2008
quotequote all
They look fine to me confused

14-7

6,233 posts

191 months

Sunday 20th July 2008
quotequote all
They look fine as long as now cord is showing through on the edges.

Look to have more than 1.6mm across the central 3/4 section.

Just get the tracking done.

Isoproturon1

3,619 posts

201 months

Sunday 20th July 2008
quotequote all
warpig said:
central 80% has to have legal tread, the other 20% on the inner and outer edge can be bald as a bald thing as long as not showing cords (but thats 10% per edge of tyre not say 20% on one side of the tyre)
It is 75% not 80%.

Holst

2,468 posts

221 months

Sunday 20th July 2008
quotequote all
Is your car lowered?

It looks like your running too much camber and thats worn the outside edge of the tire.

NiceCupOfTea

25,285 posts

251 months

Sunday 20th July 2008
quotequote all
Interesting.

My Saab has similar wear on the front tyres' outside edges. I assumed it was a combo of heavy car / front wheel drive / power steering / reasonably high power.

Having said that it has been lowered, although I did ask a garage to check the alignment...

Might take it to Wheels In Motion for a full alignment check...

falcemob

8,248 posts

236 months

Sunday 20th July 2008
quotequote all
Looks OK from the pics, if it was on an MOT test I would pass it with an advise.

Galsia

Original Poster:

2,167 posts

190 months

Sunday 20th July 2008
quotequote all
Holst said:
Is your car lowered?

It looks like your running too much camber and thats worn the outside edge of the tire.
No its not lowered. However, Its significantly higher than standard for some reason. Check my profile picture.

crolandc

290 posts

196 months

Sunday 20th July 2008
quotequote all
Ford transits were infamous for this sort of tyre wear,dont know about latest ones!my old audi A4tdi did the same even though the steering set up was correct!!

superviggen

178 posts

199 months

Sunday 20th July 2008
quotequote all
i would say your alignment is out to get that wear - nice cup of tea, my tyres always wear evenly across each one and it is on hirsch lowered suspension, so i would think that you may have the same issue.

900T-R

20,404 posts

257 months

Sunday 20th July 2008
quotequote all
NiceCupOfTea said:
Interesting.

My Saab has similar wear on the front tyres' outside edges. I assumed it was a combo of heavy car / front wheel drive / power steering / reasonably high power.

Having said that it has been lowered, although I did ask a garage to check the alignment...

Might take it to Wheels In Motion for a full alignment check...
You might want to give it a little more negative camber than the OE specs - about 1 degree negative would be alright for road driving without any side effects (mine have been at -1.4 or so for the past 4-5 years, but then again I'm running R1R semi-racing compound jobbies that work best with an appreciable amount of neg camber).

Getting the castor a little higher than manufacturer's, spec, say 2.5-2.75 degrees works quite advantageous on these beasties too, while you don't need any more than a 'touch' of toe-in (the smllest amount that still registers on the measuring equipment).

Holst

2,468 posts

221 months

Sunday 20th July 2008
quotequote all
Driving style also plays a part.

We have several peugeot vans at work and one was repeatedly wearing the front tires out im a similar way to the OP.

The van I drive didnt have these problems, so we swapped the vans over and after a few months the tires on my van had the same problem..

It turned out that the driver was repeatedly wheelspining the van from a standstill when turning out of junctions, so due to the castor the outside tire edge was wearing very quickly.
The driver in question is no longer working for us and the vans are wearing there tires more evenly again.

Im not saying that this is caused by the OPs driving, but its a possibility.

The guy I bought my wheels from had a lowered prelude with similar tire wear. Although the suspension on the lude is adjustble the car was so low that it was at the end of the adjustment. An aftermarket camber kit fixed the tire wear and improoved the handling dramatically.