Are my tyres/tires illegal yet?

scoopz · 13th October 2006, 02:53

The law in the UK states:

Quote:

The legal minimum tread depth for cars and light trailers (including caravans) up to 3500 kgs gross vehicle weight and/or 8 seated passenger vehicles including driver is:
A minimum of 1.6mm in a continuous band throughout the central three-quarters of the tread width, throughout the whole of the circumference

Now my rear tyres have just over 2mm over tread depth left except the entire centre band of pattern has disappeared. At first glance I thought my tyres were legal then I did a quick search to see what the original tread pattern looked like and there is an entire band of pattern missing from the middle:

Does the law (in the small print) stipulate >1.6mm for the original tread pattern or does any tread present just have to be >1.6mm?

PS - Yes I know I should still get new tyres and I am deciding whether to stick with the same or pay extra for the PS2's for the wet UK winter. Wander what would happen if i got pulled over?

MGUY · 13th October 2006, 03:10

do you like to drift with your car or what?

M CRISIS · 13th October 2006, 03:16

My right rear looks like your pic, whereas the driver side still has a wee bit of a groove showing. Must be the right-handed fishtails.
How tough are the authorities in the UK about baldness? I don't think it's much of a big deal here (at least in this part of the US).

scoopz · 13th October 2006, 03:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by MGUY

do you like to drift with your car or what?

It would be rude not to drift a little bit here and there! Several Euro Launch controls and 10 laps of the nurburgring (140mls) contributed too.

Having said that they are the original tyres and my car now has 10k miles (hard driving) on it. I was expecting to have to replace them after my track time so I'm incredibly happy with the wear

Quote:

Originally Posted by M CRISIS

How tough are the authorities in the UK about baldness? I don't think it's much of a big deal here (at least in this part of the US).

They are fairly strict these days and can impose heavy penalties so I'm not taking any chances:

Quote:

The penalties for having illegal tyres are currently up to a £2500 {$4651} fine and 3 penalty points PER TYRE!

Venom77 · 13th October 2006, 03:31

I wish I had a pic of my tires... my right rear looks like that and I replaced the left rear because I had a 7 inch strip of tread missing that was torn out while drifting.... didn't bother buying a new right rear because I'm getting fikse wheels for Christmas

liquido · 13th October 2006, 11:36

Nice!

My tires looked even worse! then yours when changing them.
Car came with contis and after all positive opinions on the PS2's I decided for those.

It was really crazy driving around with the tires like that.

Fart · 13th October 2006, 11:43

Legal or not.. a tire change is way overdue.. 507hp 1800kg car... dude..

scoopz · 13th October 2006, 12:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fart

a tire change is way overdue.. 507hp 1800kg car... dude..

Fart you've got a valid point!

Just phoning round now to get the best prices for some new ones, probably go with PS2's if I find them at a reasonable price. Anyone in the UK know of a good supplier in the North West?

Would you believe my dealer quoted £408 ($759) for a single PS2 fitted and even he was laughing at that price! He then called back to apologise he had the price wrong and said it would be £30 ($56) cheaper! I notice on a USA site they come out at $415 each.

w8pmc · 13th October 2006, 12:23

If you're only replacing the rears & a bit of a tight git like me, why don't you replace the reasr with Conti's (i assume your fronts are Conti's) & next time you change the rears the fronts should be low enough to also get replaced. otherwise you'll be shelling out for new PS2's on the front way before they're needed (that's what i've done).

The PS2's are meant to be slightly better & i like the performance from that model of tyre but the Conti's are OEM (make sure if you get the Conti's that they have the OEM star mark on the sidewall).

I paid £520 for a pair of Conti rears (fitted) at my BMW dealer when she went in for a service a few weeks ago.

On the downside, the sidewalls & centre tread on my rears being only 1month old & having covered only 1000 miles are already showing signs of wear.

DerRudy · 13th October 2006, 13:33

i really like bridgestone potenza Re050a (same tyre as on the enzo)