Should this tire have passed an MOT

[thehammer]

Morning all

My mother recently bought a used Nissan Duke from a main dealer, it came with 12 months MOT but when she showed me her car after collecting it I noticed considerable perishing to the drivers side from tire, I didn't look at the date code but would suspect that its the original tire from when it was new. Other front tire has been replaced fairly recently and looks like the rear tires have too (possibly new fronts that have been swapped to the rear).

She has since spoken to the dealer who said that as the car passed its MOT (carried out by them) and the tire is deemed legal there is no reason for them to have swapped it and therefore nothing they can do now either. I think its a bit of a cop out as the very reason she chose a main dealer is peace of mind that the car would be safe and functional. She now accepts that there is an amount of due diligence that she should have done on ensuring she was happy with the condition of the car but it just seems that they have shirked their responsibilities a little on this one.

She is waiting for the salesman's manager to ring back today to confirm if they will replace it or not but I know what the answer is likely to be. Before i pop up there and go all daily mail on them what are your thoughts?

Should the car have passed its MOT?
What would you do?

A new tire is likely to be £80 which is not a lot in the grand scheme of things. The dealer is only 10 mins from my home so quite happy to spend an hour of my time popping in for a chat to see if I can get them to see reason. Its more, as with a lot of these thing the principle rather than the money.



Thanks very much

[bimsb6]

That looks a bit ropey , is it the original spare tyre ?

[anonymous-user]

Any advisory on the mot for that ?

[Old Merc]

I don't think my regular MOT testing station would have passed a tyre like that..
What ever, I personally would NOT use a car with a tyre in that condition. Have a word with the Dealer service manager. Show him the tyre, if they wont replace it they may give you a discount on a new one.

[No ideas for a name]

As above, looks a bit ropey, but I think it is an MoT pass - no cords visible.
Bit of a poor show from the dealer.

For £80, I think I would be just fitting a new tyre.
Depends how much fuss you want to make and how much spare time you have.
Silly situation would be taking it back along with a rejection letter - I bet that would get the tyre changed!
(Not actually suggesting this is a sensible course of action)

[MustangGT]

Old Merc said:

Have a word with the Dealer service manager. Show him the tyre, if they wont replace it they may give you a discount on a new one.

That would get the price down to only just more than you would pay at a tyre specialist

[steveo3002]

needs to have the cords showing to fail

but yeah you would hope any decent garage would spot it and replace it ...although chances are they would fit the cheapest dregs anyway , at least you can choose a better brand if you want to

[Chris32345]

At most passand advise zero chance of that being a mot fail
Tyres have to be quite bad to fail a test

[thehammer]

Thanks all.

Wasn't sure if it was an MOT fail or not. I would have thought it was but you learn something new everyday, I certainly wouldn't use a car with a tire in that state or present it for MOT with it.

I agree that its poor form from the dealer. I'm going to see what the outcome is today and possibly pop in and have a chat with them. Then if they still say no I will tell my mother to get her compensation face ready for the daily mail online story! "Main dealer sells death trap car to OAP" might have to get the house valued first though...

[Sticks.]

So tyres need to be bald or have the cords showing to fail a MoT do they? That's new.

The AA seems to think that tread needs to be 'At least 1.6mm throughout a continuous band in the centre 3/4 of the tread and around the entire circumference of the tyre.'

https://www.theaa.com/driving-advice/legal/tyres

[NGee]

The MOT is a farce regarding tyres (and a lot of other things, but that's for another day!)

About 4 years ago the wife's car went in for an MOT with a tyre in far worse condition than the OPs. The side wall had perished so much that you could get a coin in the cracks.
The car passed it's MOT, however the ADVISORY said that the tyre was DANGEROUS and should be changed ASAP!!

How does that work? I thought the MOT was about safety? (Silly me!)

[98elise]

Chris32345 said:

At most passand advise zero chance of that being a mot fail
Tyres have to be quite bad to fail a test

Agreed. My son recently bought my mother's 16 year old car (low miles). 3 of the tyres are original so are starting to crack. It's past it's MOT fine year after year without even an advisory.

As soon as he passes his test it's getting new tyres.

Given that a tiny chip in the windscreen can cause a fail, visibly deteriorating tyres should really be a fail as well.

[Scrump]

Sticks. said:

So tyres need to be bald or have the cords showing to fail a MoT do they? That's new.

The AA seems to think that tread needs to be 'At least 1.6mm throughout a continuous band in the centre 3/4 of the tread and around the entire circumference of the tyre.'

https://www.theaa.com/driving-advice/legal/tyres

I think that 1.6mm tread depth is what is being referred to as bald.
Your AA link goes on to say:

AA said:

1. Tyres must be fit for purpose and be free from any defects which might damage the road or endanger any person.

To be ‘fit for purpose’, tyres must not have:

Any lumps, bumps or bulges, as these can mean structural damage.
A cut or tear bigger than 25mm or 10% of the width of the tyre, whichever is greater, and which is deep enough to reach the ply or cord.
Any part of the ply or cord exposed.

my bold added.

[Bomberharris]

That shouldn’t past.

I would have a chat with service manager and log the date and mileage of car and say if they happy with passing it and stick by it.

Then they won’t mind a second opinion of another garage, if that garage fail it. Bring up with dealership either discount new tyre or report it.

It would of been failed if you were having to pay for a new tyre that’s for sure

[anonymous-user]

Ask the garage what they would have done if you were trading the juke in to them ?….

[NGee]

Bomberharris said:

That shouldn’t past.

I would have a chat with service manager and log the date and mileage of car and say if they happy with passing it and stick by it.

Then they won’t mind a second opinion of another garage, if that garage fail it. Bring up with dealership either discount new tyre or report it.

It would of been failed if you were having to pay for a new tyre that’s for sure

Do you mean it shouldn't pass because it's dangerous?
Or do you mean it shouldn't pass because the MOT tester should legally fail it?

If it's the first, then I agree with you.
If it's the second, then I'm afraid you're wrong.
The tyre does not have any lumps, bumps or bulges, and does not have a cut or tear bigger than 25mm or 10% of the width of the tyre, or a cut that is deep enough to reach the ply or cord. And neither is any part of the ply or cord exposed.
Rather bizzarly the tyre meets all the requirements for the MOT.

As I said earlier, we had a tyre that passed the MOT but was so badly perished it was noted on the advisory as too dangerous to drive!

[anonymous-user]

The dealer is correct as far as it goes, most people would neither know or care about perishing as long as it passed an MoT. Don't expect the sales guys to know about or give a crap about anything like that, they're just there to make their numbers.

If they'd replaced it, they'd likely have put the most awful ditchfinder imaginable on there, so in some ways it's no bad thing.

[cts1975]

She has purchased a used car with used tyres at a used price. It came with 12 months mot so it's road legal.
I'd just buy a new £80 tyre and buy her next car from another dealer. It's just ended up being an £80 'caveat emptor' lesson with a new free tyre thrown in.

[final_edition]

I'd say the perishing is structual damage. If it has that visable cracking on the surface, I am sure the rubber integrity elsewhere is compromised.

I would look to change all the tyres, if they share the same manufacturing date.

[final_edition]

You can also see cracks under the surface.