Second-hand tyres put lives at risk, councils warn

Second-hand tyres put lives at risk, councils warn

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robinessex

Original Poster:

11,046 posts

180 months

Saturday 21st January 2017
quotequote all
Second-hand tyres put lives at risk, councils warn

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38691767

Drivers should beware of buying cheap and dangerous second-hand tyres, the Local Government Association has said.
Figures suggest that 4.5 million part-worn tyres are sold in the UK every year.
In some areas more than 80% are sold illegally, many with serious safety defects, according to council Trading Standards' teams.
The LGA said irresponsible traders were "putting lives at serious risk".
Part-worn tyres are being sold with unsafe repairs and incorrect labelling, council Trading Standards teams reported.
In 2015, there were 16 deaths and 908 road casualties that involved illegal, defective or under-inflated tyres, according to government figures.
Durham County Council officers found that just one of the 39 tyres they checked at various traders bore the required "part-worn" tyre marking, with 25 tyres having problems that could impair safety.
Ten tyres had unsafe repairs, nine were over 10 years old and one was 23 years old.

I've never yet put new tyres on, without finding some sort of damage to the old ones. I’ve had MOT failures due to damage, whilst still plenty of tread left. With the disgusting state of the roads these days, pot hole impacts are common. Tyre damage is inevitable, sooner or later.

cootuk

918 posts

122 months

Saturday 21st January 2017
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Nothing wrong with reputable part worns.

Evanivitch

19,803 posts

121 months

Saturday 21st January 2017
quotequote all
cootuk said:
Nothing wrong with reputable part worns.
And I think this report supports that. The problem seems to be a lack of awareness of what is a quality second hand tyre.

Personally, I wouldn't bother with part worn.

untakenname

4,953 posts

191 months

Saturday 21st January 2017
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As long as the repairs are done to a decent standard then there's nothing to worry about, I'd rather have a reputable part worn from a decent manufacturer than a brand new 'accerlera', ling long etc...
Lot's of the tyres come from Germany as the MOT equivalent there is more stringent than here and has iirc 4mm as the cut off rather than 1.6 so they get shipped here by the shipping container load.

There was a short BBC program about this last month, some mother in a Zafira crying at what could have been 'think of the children' as she paid a tenner per corner for some part worns and then the show started going round garages with vosa or similar and seizing some of them. Link here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elrwV6_2OeM

Barchettaman

6,282 posts

131 months

Saturday 21st January 2017
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Not all part-worns are the same. Just like any second-hand purchase, inspect carefully. Check the DOT code - 10-yr-old tyres will (apparently) have harder tread blocks. Wait for recently produced tyres with decent tread depth (new is 8mm I believe, ask the vendor to measure or invest in a digital tread gauge and check yourself) and don't (necessarily) buy the first set you see!

My €27 set of summer wheels and tyres for the E90 have been fine, currently at 4mm so will discard in the autumn.

I've just bought a set of winter wheels (17", 5.5mm tread) that will then go on around November 2017. The current set will be sold on in the spring.

I save hundreds of €€ buying part worns.

Fox-

13,228 posts

245 months

Saturday 21st January 2017
quotequote all
cootuk said:
Nothing wrong with reputable part worns.
How do you spot a reputable part worn?

Where do reputable part worns come from? People who fancy a change of tyre with 6mm tread left?

Evanivitch

19,803 posts

121 months

Saturday 21st January 2017
quotequote all
Fox- said:
How do you spot a reputable part worn?

Where do reputable part worns come from? People who fancy a change of tyre with 6mm tread left?
Probably people like me that get annoyed with mismatching wear across an axle due to a punctured tyre.

Fox-

13,228 posts

245 months

Saturday 21st January 2017
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Evanivitch said:
Probably people like me that get annoyed with mismatching wear across an axle due to a punctured tyre.
I'd do the same but I can't imagine there are enough of us to fill the stocks of the plethora of 'part worn tyre centres'.

I flog my old ones on Ebay anyway.

832ark

1,224 posts

155 months

Saturday 21st January 2017
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I get the point they're trying to make but there are something like 28 million second hand tyres sold in the UK each year attached to cars.

E36Ross

501 posts

111 months

Saturday 21st January 2017
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So everytime someone buys a car, It's pretty much on partworn tyres..... What's the difference?

It's idiots flogging winter tyres and old damaged tyres that need clamping down on.

Total loss

2,138 posts

226 months

Saturday 21st January 2017
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832ark said:
I get the point they're trying to make but there are something like 28 million second hand tyres sold in the UK each year attached to cars.
This is what I have said to the many people who look in horror when I say I use part worns. I ask them have they ever bought a used car ? yes they say, did you have new tyres put on straight away ? No of course not, why not ? How do you know what condition they are in internally hiding hidden damage ? At least part worns can/are inspected internally before fitting, unlike the tyres fitted to your second hand car you happily drive away in.

p4cks

6,885 posts

198 months

Saturday 21st January 2017
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E36Ross said:
So everytime someone buys a car, It's pretty much on partworn tyres..... What's the difference?
Quite.

KevinCamaroSS

11,555 posts

279 months

Saturday 21st January 2017
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E36Ross said:
It's idiots flogging winter tyres and old damaged tyres that need clamping down on.
I understand the bit about damaged tyres, but what do you mean about winter tyres?

Fox-

13,228 posts

245 months

Saturday 21st January 2017
quotequote all
E36Ross said:
So everytime someone buys a car, It's pretty much on partworn tyres..... What's the difference?
The difference is huge - it's about the provenance of a tyre.

Why does my used car have part worn tyres on it? Because they were fitted as brand new tyres and have thus worn.

The same doesn't apply to random tyres at second hand tyre shops. Why are they there? Who knows. Perhaps they were given away by Mr Diligent who changed his perfectly good tyre on 6mm tread because it didn't match the other one. Perhaps they were junked for another reason by the previous owner. Perhaps they came off a scrap car - why was it scrap? Massive accident? What was the effect on the tyres? etc etc. Almost none of that applies to tyres fitted brand new to a car that was subsequently sold.

This is why I think that tyres on a used car or even a used full set of wheels are completely different to part worn tyres purchased as bare tyres.

Most people in this country dispose of a tyre only when it is no longer safe or useful as a tyre. So where do these supplies come from? A favourite excuse is 'Germany where they need to change them at 3mm' but tbh why would you want to be messing about buying used tyres with 3mm of tread anyway?

Unless you have a car with particularly large wheels (In which case you've made your own bed and should lie in it) then quality new tyres are not particularly expensive and generally last a very long time. So why bother with part worn tyres? Going to get some part worn brake pads too?

ging84

8,829 posts

145 months

Saturday 21st January 2017
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i wonder how many of those 16 deaths involved tyres that were defective rather than under inflated, and of the ones which were defective rather than under inflated i wonder how many were sold as part worn, and of those i wonder how many were defective when fitted.
I'm guessing zero, maybe 2 at the absolute most.


E36Ross

501 posts

111 months

Saturday 21st January 2017
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KevinCamaroSS said:
I understand the bit about damaged tyres, but what do you mean about winter tyres?
It's common here in Ireland for the partworn tyre lads to try sell winter tyres. (Even during Summer months)

Most people assume a tyre is tyre once it has thread on it.



As for the difference between a second hand car and partworn tyre.....

You know no history of the tyre on the car your buying the same as you know nothing about the 'partworn' tyre.

Who's to say the car isn't fitted with a set of alloys/tyres from a scrapyard or the previous owner fitted partworn tyres to sell it? Or that theirs a bulge/slit on the inside.

Least with a partworn tyre you can examine it some bit better.



blade7

11,311 posts

215 months

Saturday 21st January 2017
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Fox- said:
The difference is huge - it's about the provenance of a tyre.

Why does my used car have part worn tyres on it? Because they were fitted as brand new tyres and have thus worn.
I would go further than that. I had Pirellis that had been fitted new on the rear of my 944, it began to oversteer quite dramatically in highish speed left hand bends. Plenty of tread on the tyres, pressures were correct, suspension alignment and condition all good. I knew the tyres were 8 years old but I was concerned at the deterioration in performance. New tyres and the problem went away. Wouldn't be surprised if my old tyres ended up being sold on though...

danllama

5,728 posts

141 months

Saturday 21st January 2017
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ging84 said:
i wonder how many of those 16 deaths involved tyres that were defective rather than under inflated, and of the ones which were defective rather than under inflated i wonder how many were sold as part worn, and of those i wonder how many were defective when fitted.
I'm guessing zero, maybe 2 at the absolute most.
This. It kind of makes me question the councils motives, and why target used tyres specifically, why not just mention tyres in general. They all need to be checked and safe.

Fox-

13,228 posts

245 months

Saturday 21st January 2017
quotequote all
E36Ross said:
As for the difference between a second hand car and partworn tyre.....

You know no history of the tyre on the car your buying the same as you know nothing about the 'partworn' tyre.
Oh come off it - in 99.9% of cases the answer to the question of 'Why does your newly purchased 2013 car have part worn tyres on it' is 'because I've just bought a second hand car and I've not replaced the previous owners tyres yet'.

Where does the stock of your local second hand tyre centre come from? Why were those tyres removed from the vehicles they were fitted to when new?

E36Ross said:
Who's to say the car isn't fitted with a set of alloys/tyres from a scrapyard or the previous owner fitted partworn tyres to sell it? Or that theirs a bulge/slit on the inside.
If you can't be bothered to give a used a car once over then thats your lookout really, isn't it?

Total loss

2,138 posts

226 months

Saturday 21st January 2017
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Fox- said:
If you can't be bothered to give a used a car once over then thats your lookout really, isn't it?
But that's just it isn't it, you can't give the inside of the tyres a once over.