New law on tyres older than 10 years old

jonbeeza

jonbeeza

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I did do a search, but nothing came up. I do apologise if it has already been posted, and talked about.

The new law on tyres older than 10 years old becomes law on the 1st February 2021. Not sure if it on all vehicles or just some.
But I was just wondering, how would this work? How about if you have a spare brand new wheel and tyre never used, in your boot and it had been there 10 years. Would this brand new wheel and tyre be illegal to use?
 
I think this is for lorries & buses only?
 
admirable said:
I think this is for lorries & buses only?
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Yes, that's what it looks like.



Gov Website.

Detail of outcome
Response to the banning tyres aged 10 and older consultation which states we have decided to proceed with a ban.,on a precautionary basis, to improve road safety. The ban will apply to tyres fitted to the front axle of:
  • heavy goods vehicles
  • buses
  • coaches
plus to the tyres on all axles of minibuses when fitted in single configuration.
 
It should apply to trailers too, especially caravans, where they are used so little that they hardly ever wear out, but they degrade and crack.
 
Garry Edwards said:
It should apply to trailers too, especially caravans, where they are used so little that they hardly ever wear out, but they degrade and crack.
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A friend had a spare wheel in his tool shed for about 15 years, it looked brand new. He did put it on his car, this was after asking the garage about the tyre/wheel who looked at it, they said it was OK to use.

I wonder how the date thing would work, how about a tyre that had been in a tyre fitters store room for years? Would the date have to be stamped on the tyre, at the point of sale possibly?
 
According to google, the average mileage for such tyres is 60-70k miles.
I wouldn't expect there to be many HGV's, buses, or coaches getting anywhere near 10yrs.
As for cracks and degradation, my tyres are almost 3.5yrs old and covered 21k miles and have cracks of degradation, a trait of certain Michelin tyres apparently. Still passed an MOT though.
 
jonbeeza said:
A friend had a spare wheel in his tool shed for about 15 years, it looked brand new. He did put it on his car, this was after asking the garage about the tyre/wheel who looked at it, they said it was OK to use.

I wonder how the date thing would work, how about a tyre that had been in a tyre fitters store room for years? Would the date have to be stamped on the tyre, at the point of sale possibly?
Click to expand...
All tyres car or hgv etc., have the year of manufacture moulded into the sidewall. When it is sold or fitted doesn't matter.
 
nilagin said:
According to google, the average mileage for such tyres is 60-70k miles.
I wouldn't expect there to be many HGV's, buses, or coaches getting anywhere near 10yrs.
As for cracks and degradation, my tyres are almost 3.5yrs old and covered 21k miles and have cracks of degradation, a trait of certain Michelin tyres apparently. Still passed an MOT though.
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A few people often change an iffy tyre with their spare, for the MOT. They then swap back over once car has passed.
 
nilagin said:
All tyres car or hgv etc., have the year of manufacture moulded into the sidewall. When it is sold or fitted doesn't matter.
Click to expand...

So clock starts ticking from year of manufacture? :thinking:
 
jonbeeza said:
So clock starts ticking from year of manufacture? :thinking:
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I would expect so, anyone could stamp a fresh date on a tyre otherwise. If it's molded into the sidewall, it can't be altered.
Slightly off topic, but Goodyear are molding new wear indicators into their car tyres.
fsrmytif4da61.jpg

Probably still get ignored by many motorists, just like the 2mm warning indicators that all tyres have. :(
 
nilagin said:
According to google, the average mileage for such tyres is 60-70k miles.
I wouldn't expect there to be many HGV's, buses, or coaches getting anywhere near 10yrs.
As for cracks and degradation, my tyres are almost 3.5yrs old and covered 21k miles and have cracks of degradation, a trait of certain Michelin tyres apparently. Still passed an MOT though.
Click to expand...
Nineteen and a half years- this accident is the reason for the new law

Bestival A3 fatal crash: Coach tyre 'almost 20 years old' http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-23320526
 
Garry Edwards said:
It should apply to trailers too, especially caravans, where they are used so little that they hardly ever wear out, but they degrade and crack.
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I have always replaced tyres on caravans and motorhomes at around 5 years old even if they are not showing any signs of deterioration. Motorhomes tend to use 'CP' grade tyres which are a higher grade than regular 'C' tyres fitted to light commercial vehicles.
 
broc said:
I have always replaced tyres on caravans and motorhomes at around 5 years old even if they are not showing any signs of deterioration. Motorhomes tend to use 'CP' grade tyres which are a higher grade than regular 'C' tyres fitted to light commercial vehicles.
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Even the waggon tyres on large trailers crack badly over time. We have several very large trailers at our farm with tyres that would be very dangerous on the public roads, it doesn't matter because they're only used on our own land, but the problem definitely exists.
 
I once had a Renault 5 and about a month after it had passed the MOT we went to France for 2 weeks. On our way back from the Alps the temp. was about 38 degrees and I was doing a pretty constant 80mph, I stopped for petrol and a mechanic, who was obviously looking for business, pointed out that one of my tyres had a bulge on the tyre wall, it must have been protruding about 10mm! by the time I had finshed filling up and driven to the workshop the bulge had disappeared.
He checked the other tyres and a 2nd one also had cracks in the tyre wall, he pointed out the date codes and they were both 8 year old originals. I had always checked for tread depth, wear, sidewall cuts etc. but you could not see the cracks until he deflated the tyre and squashed it.
It cost me a few Francs but I hate to think what would have happened if I had had a blowout.
 
Sounds sensible.
I had an unused spare (about ten years old) fail on me.
Road wheels had been replaced a couple of times, but when I finally needed to use the old spare, the side wall blew out* while I was pumping it up, before I'd even fitted it to the car.

*A bulge the size of a snooker ball suddenly grew on the side, then *BANG*. It wasn't even at half pressure.
 
Michelins seem to crack with age. Usually at 3 years and they're cracking in treads. Never see it on any other make so much.
 
srichards said:
Michelins seem to crack with age. Usually at 3 years and they're cracking in treads. Never see it on any other make so much.
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My rear wearside superficial cracks on the side wall, just about all the words etc molded into the sidewall is gone, it just seems to be an outside layer. The structure of the sidewall itself is good. The sidewall looks horrible as a result, but as it's a rear tyre, at 3 yrs old and 21k miles it still has 5.5km of tread. I don't want to have to replace it yet, but with the fronts needing replacing this year, I may replace all four and buy another wheel for a spare and have the off side rear tyre put on that.
No cracks on the tyre tread as such, but the inner edges of all four tyres are cracked which I have put down to a series of square speed bumps on a local road.
 
srichards said:
Michelins seem to crack with age. Usually at 3 years and they're cracking in treads. Never see it on any other make so much.
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I have also had a few Michelins fail after a year or two, and this was low miles gentle driving. I opted for budjet tyres after that, they gave good miles and lasted pretty well.
 
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