Buying from dealer but all tyres need replacing

[funbobby]

Car I’m interested in turns out to need new tyres all round after an independent inspection I had on a car I’m interested in, Ive paid a deposit and agreed a price based on the car being fine but given it’s expensive car and a set of new tyres will be around £900 would you expect these to be done as a matter of course or do dealers hope you don’t notice? They are all 3mm all round. If they don’t agree to do them is it acceptable to ask for a my deposit back and take the hit for the inspection?

[shambolic]

No as all 4 tyres are legal and you did have the chance to inspect them before paying a deposit.

[InitialDave]

Better than finding a car with new, cheap ste on each corner.

[lost in espace]

If they had 4mm on you would probably have bought it and been happy. Find a deal on some, at least you will have new rubber.

[Butter Face]

funbobby said:

Car I’m interested in turns out to need new tyres all round after an independent inspection ...... They are all 3mm all round.

You need to find a better independent inspector. 3mm is legal and whilst they are getting low, it is a used car with used tyres.

Don’t like it? Ask for new tyres. If they say no, then your choice is buy it or ask for your deposit back and suck it up.

[cuprabob]

Use it as a basis of trying to negotiate some money off to part cover the outlay for new rubber.

[RobXjcoupe]

The dealer wouldn’t fit quality tyres if a deal was still to be done. 3mm is still legal. Better for you to pay extra and fit quality tyres of your choice?

[rallycross]

What a load of rubbish, ok it will need some tyres quite soon but they are perfectly legal, it’s just a negotiation point.

Did you have to pay someone to tell you the tyres were on 3mm? If that’s all they found wrong you are lucky just buy it before someone else does!

[Pica-Pica]

For me, I would hope I would have noticed the low tread, negotiated accordingly, and welcomed the fact that I could now fit decent tyres all round (and maybe change wheels if I wanted and could afford them).

[Butter Face]

I’ll assume it’s the R8 you’ve mentioned in another thread. Just get it bought and bang some new tyres on. Cheapskate

[paintman]

It would probably be nice to have new tyres but as the minimum legal requirement is 1.6mm it doesn't need new tyres.
Ask the dealer, but be prepared for them to say No.

[funbobby]

Sorry looks like I’ve posted this twice didn’t mean too , there was a few other issues some not cheap but tyres were flagged as well so where to draw the line, I was under the assumption that below 3mm and performance will drop off somwhat

[MitchT]

Approved used BMWs (for example) are advertised as having "at least 3mm" of tread on the tyres, so it's pretty normal, though I've always changed my tyres when they've got down to 3mm as there's a noticeable drop-off in performance below that in poor conditions. On a high-end, high performance car like an R8 I'd have made new tyres a condition of purchase (if there was only 3mm left) before handing over a deposit. That said, at this time of year and having already paid a deposit, you'd be as well to just grab the car, rag it to within an inch of life over the summer and stick some new tyres on when the weather turns in September/October.

[LeoSayer]

Perfect excuse to do a track day or some driver tuition to kill the old tyres.

[Limpet]

Worth trying to use it as a haggling point, but don't expect to get anywhere. 3mm is almost double the legal limit, and wouldn't even be worthy of an MOT advisory.