I replaced a 5 year old set of tyres with the same tyres on a car not so long ago. The improvement in grip with the new set was noticeable. Emergency stops are rarely planned in advance, but if the tyres are in good condition it may save the pain of an insurance claim or even a life. As far as I know, tyre age is not an MOT check. I think it should be.
As far I know Ashley, the ZP next to Michelin pilot sport stands for 'zero pressure' rather than anything to do with a speed rating. Presumably it is the model name for the run flat tyres. Also may have been worth pointing out that Michelin and some other brands have wear indicators on the tyre. Good video though which hopefully gets people looking at their tyres more.
I can add a few points to this. Tyres perish, even if you don’t use them - as stated in the video. Years ago, I stored a family members trailer in the garden. They didn’t use it, and didn’t have anywhere to store it. It was only small, and stayed in the same spot for years. The tyres went flaky. It eventually was dragged away for scrap. So yes, they perish even when not being used. My understanding is there is a law coming in about tyres on vehicles & trailers not being more than 5y old at the MOT. I heard this mentioned somewhere. My neighbour runs her car on a shoe string budget. She has an old 1999 Toyota Yaris (poverty spec 1.0). With this and her previous cars she saves money wherever possible, inc getting tyres from the scrap yard. More recently after getting the vintage Toyota, she drove it at above motorway legal limit (yes it’s possible given a long enough road), on a nearby dual carriageway with one nearly bald tyre & the tracking being out. Some weeks (many weeks) later she took it for a checkup by her mechanic friend who told her 1 tyre need changing immediately, and the other other one (both rear tyres) would need changing within the next 12 months. She gave in an changed the dangerous tyre (+ had the tracking fixed) but she is still running the other dodgy tyre. Looking at the back of her car, 1 tyre is effectively brand new, the other is effectively bald. And yes I and others do speak to her about such things but she calls us all idiots and says it’s wasting money🤦♂️ Sat in traffic jams, I sometimes notice on the car in front, rear bald tyres. Even seen a few down to the canvas. Ironically they had children in the car🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️ When I had my VW, it was on all continental tyres at the start. When the fronts needed changing, I decided to save a bit of money and opt for a slightly cheaper brand called Falcon. The vehicle drove fine with that, but all sorts of tyre noise which I hadn’t had before. Eventually I got them changed out as the noise was to annoying. Once changed, it was near silent again. That car (one of the first newer shape polos) had brilliant steering but it was so sensitive to changes in tyre pressure or make of tyres. It seemed to be delicate and had to be exactly correct. I could feel if the garage had over topped up my front tyres at the service. Ironically, the old shape polo i had some years ago - rounded headlights model, didn’t seem to care about any of that stuff. That just felt the same, regardless.
I used to manufacture and repair trailers. I frequently had people come in with tyres over twenty years old, lots of tread left so they thought that was fine but the rubber had gone so hard that they would not flex and very often had a flat side to them due to standing for long periods without use. Some of these customers just would not believe that there was anything wrong with this and insisted that I just replaced the wheel bearing or the floor or whatever was the reason for coming to me in the first place.
I always pick good branded tyres and make sure all 4 wheels have the same model of tyre on. My father is a nuisance for have cheap tyres and unmatched tyres on each axle you can definitely tell the difference while driving.
At my last MOT, one of the tyres was slightly damaged, enough for a fail. The garage said just replace that one, and you'll be fine. I replaced all four, just to be on the safe side!
I hope the tires were at least 5 years old. Would be pointless to replace 3 perfectly fine tires for no reason. Depending on the kind of damage, it could also be caused by improper wheel alignment of your car and the next tire will die again the same way, but I guess the mechanic you were at would have noted this.
@@busog97641 that's because your subaru was 4x4 and just replacing one would cause more wear to the others or in extreme cases transmission damage. This is because the new tyre is slightly bigger therefore its rotations per mile are less than the others.
Once your tyres get below 3mm of tread there begins a detriment to water displacement, (grip in the wet), so, although the legal limit is 1.6mm for vehicles below 3.5tonne, 3mm is a far safer level for replacement.
@lalita patpong, there are these amazing little tools called tread depth guages, the cheaper ones are fine for advice down to 2mm, but not highly accurate, & a little over £10 will get you a dial one accurate to 0.1mm measurements to 10mm
There's a channel on here 'Tyre Reviews' that goes into a lot of detail testing tyres and I think it's linked to a website with even more information on tyres if you are trying to balance a quality tyre with price. Expensive doesn't mean they're the best out there or the best option for you. Michelins are good tyres for a lot of applications, but you certainly do pay for them. If you don't to a lot of mileage then they might not be the best for you as some of their tyres are designed for 50'000 miles (driving style permitting) and rubber can start to deteriorate after I think only 3 years so don't stretch your budget unnecessarily if you'll end up replacing tyres before you've used half the safe tread depth available. You wouldn't constantly throw away food after you've only ate half the meal. But obviously don't trade that for taking tyres to less than 2 mm, that is more deadly than the rubber being 5 years old. To use the food analogy, you wouldn't leave yourself hungry all the time either with the choice. I had to replace a set of Michelins on my car as the went out of roundness as I wasn't driving enough for them (they came with the car). I now have Michelin CrossClimate + tyres, trading the wear for the 3 peak snowflake for all weather ability so I don't need 2 sets of tyres to swap between for summer/winter. They've done me good in the snow we had this year and last year. I'd recommend those if you live rurally on untreated roads at slightly higher altitudes, but they're not a complete replacement for winter tyres for those with substantial winters.
For people like me (non petrol heads, or only lookout for scratches on the body), this was a useful reminder that tyres are actually very important! Thanks for the video 👍
I bought a car that had tyres with plenty of tread on them a few years back, the date code was incredibly useful. By looking at the date code I was able to determine that the tyres were between 17 and 18 years old! Needless to say that those tyres were changed VERY quickly.
Similar here, but one of mine was 10 years old. I don't like a mixed set of tyres anyway but a 10 year old tyre was a good enough reason to change the lot as soon as possible. The oldest had some cracks in the tread so I was glad to get rid of them.
Tires that old don't really wear anymore. They are so hard, that they don't offer any decent grip in slippy conditions (and get noisy) but they don't wear... A co-worker of mine once told me that something is wrong with his car. In the wet the tires would spin on normal take off (in a 75hp car!) and in some corners he would s$§" his pants above a certain speed. (speeds he used to not break any sweat when he got the car) Turned out he had 6 year old winter tires with lots of tread left. Had to convince him to get new tires for his own safety. He instantly noticed the change with the new ones. Not often had i seen him that happy.
I have had bicycle tyres crack on the sidewall myself. I once had some very old 16*1⅜ and after about two miles, one collapsed into thousands of bits of string about 4inches long and clouds of gritty yellowish dust (the perished rubber disintegrating).
When I'm cleaning the wheels I always look out for for bubbles, delamination, damage, tread depth, tread wear pattern, age. People can make fun of cleaning wheels/tyres all they like but as well as keeping the car looking fresh the chances of me having a blow out are cut in half by hopefully keeping on top of the health of the tyres. I've got the same staggered size 225 255 but R19 and 30/35 profile.
Glossing your tyres can also help preserve the rubber. I had to replace a set on my 2017 SEAT Leon when I bought it 2nd hand as they'd already cracked - cheap budget brand.
Thumbs up for responsible behaviour! Funny thing, checking if your tires are ok can potentially save a life, while checking the paint for scratches can't. Yet more people are obsessed with the paint of their car than with the condition of their tires.
One other possible mark on a tyre is a direction of rotation arrow. Your tyres have an asymmetric tread pattern, hence the inside/outside mark on the sidewall. Directional tread pattern tyres will have a direction of rotation arrow instead.
Directional markings are different from inside/outside markings, otherwise the direction markings would be incorrect if you put the tyres on the wrong side. I haven't actually used tyres with outside markings, but I assume that if there are any with direction markings as well then there must be left and right hand versions of the same tyre. I know you didn't say they were the same thing, just pointing it out for anyone who did not understand the difference.
@@chrishartley1210 and that'll be why they don't manufacture an asymmetric directional tyre - "would that be for the passenger side, or the driver's side?" And having to stock/order twice as many tyres for a given size.
@@_Steven_S Yes, and no. Change all 4 tyres? That'll be 4 tyres please. Change the fronts? That'll be 2 tyres please. It only makes a difference if you only need a single tyre replacement and that's probably unusual on vehicles that would use such expensive tyres. There are plenty of instances where tyres have to be specially ordered, it happened to my brother while on holiday in Germany, had to wait 3 days for tyres because they are an unusual size.
Great information there; some of which was previously unknown. It goes to show that you can teach an old dog new tricks! This upload reminded me of an unfortunate incident...... One of the tyres on my Camry (it had less than 1500 miles since being fitted) failed the MOT. A price to replace the defective tyre was quoted - to avoid the added expense of a retest I was happy for the garage to replace the defective unit, even though a replacement from elsewhere of my preferred brand was a better choice *Cooper Avon*. Two days later I noticed that they had replaced the unit with Speed Rating H - not V. The Manager, to be fair, was embarrassed (bit of an understatement) and agreed to replace with the correct tyre - no additional cost. I was prepared to accept this and didn't see any benefit reporting to the Ministry of Transport as they clearly demonstrated a positive, customer focused attitude. The message here.... Be careful of who takes care of your vehicle. Not all garages are the same. Stay safe everyone 👍
31st December, not 31st January. for '5306'. For additional symbols etc, you could have also listed 'arrow' as in directional tyres, rather than 'outside' for asymmetrics
This was a very useful video Ashley. I didn't know everything about what sidewall words, letters, numbers or whatever meant on tyres and I'm now more aware thanks to this video. By the way, like you mentioned about that tyre 14 years old, I see loads of people driving with their spare tyres, including someone living nextdoor to me never replaced his for ages.
A lot of detail that many don’t know. Another item that occurs is directional marking. Some tyres are only meant to be used in one direction of rotation (marked with an arrow), which means you can’t swap side to side with them the wrong way round - e.g. when swapping front to back, as some do to even out the wear.
Went to a safe driving course with my dad and the instructor pointed out our tyres were about 8 years old and that we should replace them asap. Then when we did emergency braking on ice training, the Honda slid for good 15 meters longer than other cars before stopping.
Addition, although this will mostly apply to classic cars (which is when radial versus crossply becomes relevant): On my Beetle, I run 155 R15 tyres. When there's no dash and percentage number after the width number, this means that the height of the tyre wall is 80 % of the width. Finding suitable tyres with original dimentions for classic cars can be a bit of a pain.
Highways England had some analysis done in cases of tyre-related motorway accidents and the results are interesting:- 56% of tyres failed due to road/yard debris penetration 18% failed due to poor inflation 8% failed due to poor vehicle maintenance 1% of tyres failed due to manufacturing defects 1% of tyres failed due to excessive heat 16% of the tyres couldn’t be specified to one particular problem It seems that tyre pressure monitoring that can warn of under-inflation and detect punctures early is perhaps a worthwhile retro-fit if your car does not have it as standard.
as well as kerbing marks you can also tell if a tyre has been run while soft and overheated by looking at the sidewall. both types of damage look very similar and in both cases you should get them checked internally.
That tyre at the end was probably a spare that got put on at a much later date, used to see it regularly before space savers were more common. Also worth noting that the pressure/load charts are different for standard load vs extra load tyres, for my tyre size I have to put slightly more pressure in when I use my winter extra load tyres compared to my standard load summers. Car had 91 on from factory, winters are 94. If the car is supplied with extra load then you obviously can’t fit standard load.
This video deals with one of two vital components that make up all vehicles ie tires and brakes. I've gone through this exercise countless time. Sadly, it's all Greek to the majority of folks. Great topic, as always and great info !
I know we all have preferences and my preference is Michelin tyres, And because I do not believe our winters are bad enough to warrant summer and winter tyres I choose to run Michelin cross climate, When I first got the car 18 months ago it had Michelin sp4's all round. at the moment it has Cross climate on the front ( drive) axle and sp4 on the rear which will be getting replaced with cross climate before winter sets in. I noticed a big difference when I changed the front tyres in terms of grip especially as it was Dec 2020. Oh and my tyre sizes are 235/40/18
My dad was a tyre fitter for best part of 30 years, even though he retired now he still goes on at me about my tyres and im picking up a new car on Friday and when he sees the new car he will look at the tyres before the car....lol
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 is a great choice and gives you superb levels of grip with a real planted feel when cornering. The 4s is even better but they are somewhat elusive to find in 18 inch.
It's actually quite a good fuel save to run decent tyres as well, since better grip generally leads to better fuel efficiency. On my previous car when I had all the old tyres changed I noticed the road noise was much quieter, the car was more comfortable to drive, and I could get an extra 30-40 miles out of a tank of fuel. (about 10% of a fuel save for that vehicle) and as far as safety goes, I wouldn't walk around on shoes with the soles falling off or letting in air/water, and so, since the tyres are literally the only thing between the car and the ground, I wouldn't drive with tyres in that condition either.
I was hoping you’d explain what the small Michelin men just above the tyre sidewall mean? I think it’s something to do with the wear of the rubber or if he flattens out it means the tyre is getting bellow tread depth. Don’t quote me on it I’ll need to look it up but they mean something like that.
It will surprise you how little difference in price there is for budget tyres and premium tyres when it comes to wheel sizes below 17 inches. Often only 30 pounds difference and well worth the money.
Good vid. Thanks Ash. How about promoting Winter and All Season tyres. The latter would suit many in UK and would greatly improve safety for All getting about in our winter months. Learner drivers and Newly qualified will likely grasp this and carry it out with their cars and future vehicles. Enhanced braking and traction are a boon in poor winters such as the one just gone. 👍
Brilliant. I would have loved if you talked more about the door panel sticker. Plenty of good info there. Maybe even a personal preference for tyre pressure?
Thanks for the video. Lots of info on what is actually printed on tyres that I didn't know. So I went out and looked at my two month old tyres. The date on them is 3820 and they state AA for traction so pretty good lol though I expect it's a little biased, I mean who is rating them? Tyres are Yoko V701's. Anyway, I always buy the best I can afford as tyres are so important.
Caravan and trailer tyres are usually perished before the tread has anywhere near disappeared. If the sidewall is a mosaic , bin it. Something to note.
My tyres are 195/150 R16, Garage has said they are an odd size to find for my car! Anyone else have these tyres? Excellent video Ashley, I only knew the first part of the tyre details but not the rest, good info to know!
@@ProgRock_ In that case, 195/50 R16 shouldn't be that uncommon, probably getting a bit rarer now as manufacturers seems to like lower and lower profile tyres with new cars now. I've got some 185/60 R14 winter and 195/50 R15 summer tyres (2 different sets of rims) for my old MK1 mx5. Have a look on Asda tyres or blackcircles, there should be a plethora of options to choose from.
I misinterprated the title... (I thought you would claim that on the marking you could distinguish a good from a bad new tyre :-) ) It always surprises me that so many people don't know about the basics of the tyre markings. Over all a good summary you made! Only thing missing that comes to my mind: tread wear indicators, and legal limits. Minimum tread wear is different in different countries, and for different types of tyres. In my country, summer tyres with less than 1.6mm tread depth are ilegal to drive on the road, while winter tyres with less than 4mm of tread depth are legally not considered winter tyres anymore. And between (roughly) october and end of april, in "winter conditions" winter tyres are mandatory. Such rules are in place all over the world, and people who intend to drive in another country should check beforehand, to not get into trouble. (there are better ways to spend time than that ;-) )
Worth mentioning that any* new tyre may be better in terms of safety and ride comfort than a very old, cracked, worn-out one. At least this is what I tell myself. The car is an accessory not all can afford, changing tyres comes with it. *okay, maybe the cheapest, least known, lowest quality won't do the job, but any adequate grade replacement probably will. A good reference (not the only one or exclusive source) is ADAC's tyre tests. They release their cheat sheet twice a year, one can get a good glimpse of tyres in two different categories currently on the market.
Once had an argument with a fitter over tyres for a Mondeo I owned at the time. Ordered a set of Michelin’s for it. But he refused to put them on saying they were too good for a rep mobile. Had to point out to him that not only was I not a rep but that I’d actually ordered those tyres in the first place.
Great video! Could I recommend a video though. I had a blow out last week and I have been only driving for 10 months. Luckily my dad told me how to deal with it but many people should just jam on the breaks. It was reasonably scary so might be worth a quick video to do👍 Btw- the tyres are 12months old and have done 8k mls. Cheers, Oliver
I agree that you can try to save some pounds on things like getting a better or worse clutch or not changing your cabin filter every year, but never EVER go cheap on tires and brakes. I usually go for Michelin, GoodYear, Continental or Bridgestone and even though they are good brands, some of the models are "meeehhh" on grip so be careful with that as well.
What? Saving on the clutch? One of the parts that are the hardest to replace by yourself? Cheap tires and cheap brake pads are easier to be replaced later than a shitty clutch. I agree on the cabin filters though.
A clutch replacement isn't that hard... Just make sure you have a couple of mates to help you get it down once you undo the bell housing bolts... And don't drop it on your foot like me
@@donmcgee2081 By that argument you should only drive T-92 tanks because anything less armored increases the chance of dying. The worst thing cheap brakes do is wear out faster and may squeal more. I wouldn’t recommend being cheap on that, BUT if you have to make a decision between a clutch and brake pads, going cheap on the clutch is just way more trouble.
@@Asto508 I meant going for a cheap brand instead the most expensive one. Probably the worst thing that can happen is that it starts slipping after 100k miles instead 150k miles but it's not a safety issue. Going for a cheap tyre brand and brake pads could mean taking 5m more to brake and sometimes that is the difference between killing a pedestrian or not.
They do, even some truck tyres (before they’re regrooved). That’s covered in Theory & “show me tell me”s, and any good instructor worth their salt should explain that.
Crossplys are still manufactured for vintage sizes. Classic cars were made with crossply in mind. Their suspension and handling are all tuned around the behaviour of crossply, so putting a modern radial counterpart on them will completely ruin the dynamics, in many cases making them dangerous and can cause long term damage to the vehicle as they don't absorb impact as well.
@Bazzacuda had a set of xplys on a set of lwb rims on my Landy( only on there for a short while asi wanted the rims not the tyres). Rock hard, old and slippery as fuck. Changed them over for xpc Michelin radials. 750x16 Smoother quieter more comfortable. And much better grip. Brakes still shite compared to discs though
@@L5GUK Indeed they were. A fair bit of work was done by the tyres, with the suspension being quite simple by modern standards, things like live axles and leaf springs. They are worse than radials for rolling resistance as well, so not good for fuel consumption.
I didn't know you could even buy cross-ply car tyres. I thought they had gone out with the 1960s. Radial tyres tend to take up a cylindrical shape and when cornering the tread tends to stay flat on the road. Cross-plies tend to maintain a toroidal shape and the tread is always curved. When cornering, the shoulder of the tyre contacts the tarmac. They work far better if the vehicle tilts when cornering, so as far as I know, they are usually used on two wheels to allow leaning into a corner.
Just for extra information, on your tyre in the video * on the tyre is for BMW and you'll find the tyre has camber for the rears and tougher rubber on the inside as a budget will burn off faster
While we might adopt an uncompromising attitude to tyre performance as an aspect of road safety this has already been pre-compromised for us by the EU regulation R117 that saw other considerations such as rolling resistance and drive-by noise levels have a veto on high performance tyres. The introduction of these regulations saw some of the best tyres (eg Yokohama A021s) have their "E" marking withdrawn so they were no longer road legal (though many a track-day-only car is still fitted with them because they have excellent wet and dry grip).
Might be worth mentioning that it's now illegal for HGVs to have tyres over 10 years old on the steered axle(s). You'd be surprised how many I've come across from the early 2000s. Seems companies will keep buying them in bulk and fitting new tyres to their fleet as they come in, leaving the old bias plies from the Triassic period at the bottom of the pile. Informative as always Ash 👍
@Bazzacuda He eats flies, can regrow his tail and has been sent to our planet as an envoy of the reptilian hominids. Have you ever seen him in the same room as a chameleon? Didn't think so.
@Bazzacuda You misunderstand me, I fully approve of his attitude to road safety. It is my solemn duty, on a completely unrelated topic, to inform the general public of his reptilian nature. Now that I'm talking to you however, I did just notice you haven't blinked in a while. The conspiracy deepens....
I'm ashed to tell this story, but maybe it's something people can learn from. A few years ago I took my car to a new garage and the mechanic discovered that I had managed to wear my tyres down to the wire... Literally wire mesh was showing through where tread should have been. I had taken my car for regular services and an MOT only a few months prior, so I was pretty baffled by this. Apparently the issue was that my car's camber was slightly off (only slightly, I hadn't modded it or anything), and from the outside edge of the tyre, the tread appeared fine but the inside edge had worn completely. This meant the mechanic doing the MOT never actually saw (or looked for) the wear on the inside of the tyre and passed the MOT. It's pretty horrifying to think I was driving around on tyres like that. Very illegal as well... Needless to say I inspect my tyres regularly now.
Those emergency Spares usually have the interesting information written in plain text in contrast colour on them. Most of the time: max 80kph for max 80km.
Quite a few modern cars don't have any. A couple of my previous ones had a temporary puncture spray kit, which would allow low speed running, followed by scrapping the tyre and replacing it (a couple of Honda Civics had these, with the extra space used to enhance the load capacity). My current one has a 'compact spare' which is narrow, again with reduced speed - 80 km/h, and quite high pressure. Used it once recently, only until the main one was repaired.
And there was me thinking "M+S" meant it was bought from Marks & Spencer! Seriously, UV from sunlight will cause tyres that are not in use to deteriorate. If you choose to swap between summer and winter tyres, store the ones off the car in the dark!
Small addition: that also means that spare tires that are transported on the car in the open deteriorate too. (at least as fast, sometimes even faster than those you drive on as their exposure to the sun is not changing due to rotating) For those who don't know what i mean: for example spare tires mounted on the tailgate without cover, or those mounted on the hood of old Landrovers (/Range Rovers), or when they are on a roof-rack for a long time...
The indicator for the valve is a yellow dot and the red dot is the vibration point on the tyre, not all tyres have these markings. And if you have your tyres changed make sure you go back to have your wheel nuts re torqued after about 50 miles as wheel nuts can come loose
My front drivers side tyre is starting to split around the edges but ever so slightly, it was like that when i took it for an MOT in October but it was the only tyre that didn't get an advisory. All the others got replaced. Should i change it now or wait until my next MOT?
Take the car to your tyre fitter and ask them to check on the tyre conditions and on the wheel nuts all round for torque (always worth doing if the wheels have been off the car recently). They should do that for free, especially if they’ve recently done work for you.
Funny you made this video as last week I got a nail in the sidewall of my tire and was looking at getting a new pair for the front wheels. Good to mention also how important it is to have grippy tires especially wet grip. Also what tire repair kit or pumps to have incase of a puncture
Manufacturers still make Cross plys for 'vintage' sizes. It's not an originality thing, a significant part of a vehicles suspension and handling characteristics are through their tyres. For example, your 70s era MGB is going to handle very differently on original crossplys than on modern radial options - in many cases much worse, even. Fairly recently Perelli re-introduced the original version of the tyre used on the Lamborghini Countach because the modern rubber formula completely ruined the dynamics of the car. Tyres are a very significant part of the drive. It's more than braking and raw grip, it's about the feel and engagement with the road as well. I'm sure the experienced drivers among us are familiar with the feeling when they get new tyres fitted, even like for like, but mainly going from a quality rubber to cheap (or vice versa). Your turn in is different, the way the car follows ruts, the amount you can lean on corners. In fact it was something that I find some cars are much more sensitive to than others. My BMW 320d is very particular about what tyres are on it, I think it was because it was specifically set up and designed to work perfectly with Michelin Run Flats. The amount of cheap Chinese plastic people are putting on their cars is frankly terrifying honestly. Especially because budget doesn't have to mean 'crap'. Spend the extra and it may save someone's life when you need it to.
I have an Italian friend who owns a 1963 Abarth 500. The first time I drove it, I was really impressed by the acceleration. Then came deceleration (first time with enthusiasm on a steep downhill). I was first reminded of how inefficient steel brakes are, and second, that cross ply tyres need you to keep on correcting the steering until you stop, and are very much affected by uneven road surfaces, particularly under braking.
I must say I have driven for 44 years and never had a blow out, until I put premium tyres on my BMW. 70 MPH on a dual carriage way O S R just shredded in a matter of yards, no warning! Still had 5 mm tread! I changed my pants then changed the remaining tyres! I do still beleve in good tyres but some are better than others. Maybe luck of the draw? And always keep the pressures correct.
No warning? In a BMW (i guess less than 10 years old)? Then i can only think of 2 scenarios, 1: The tyre got damaged on it's sidewall beforehand and when driving fast the heat was enough to make it go boom, or 2: There was something on the road that killed the tyre instantly. Normally peole have a small puncture and keep driving (which shouldn't happen in a BMW of the last 10+ years as there would be a tyre pressure warning) and the tyre heats up until it blows. I personally had no problems with most premium manufacturers, but bad luck with Pirelli's (not bought them myself but they were already on the car when i bought it, so maybe the previous owners fault?) lost some tread blocks. (while driving on the road in a civilized manner) And i had way biger problems with a cheaper set of tyres. So i tend to stick with Michelin, Goodyear, Dunlop when i can. (Have to use Continental ones currently on one of my cars, as almost nobody makes tyres in it's size... The conti winter tyres on that car: perfect, the summer tyres: good but with issues. Non-safety relevant issues to be precise)
Its cheaper in the long run to get the more premium tyres due to: fuel economy, tyre wear, longevity of the tyre (wont crack as easily), potentially safer in wet and wintery conditions.
mm wonder how old my just aquired tires/rims are. They feel horible :P (second hand set of rims and tires that are unbalanced aswell...) but the rubber itself feels to hard and doesnt react well.
Another interesting fact it that tyres start off as white rubber, but thanks to Crayola Crayons they are now black. Crayola sold 'carbon black' to tyre companies which was added to the rubber and massively increased durability and grip.
It is always slightly worrying noticing how many premium cars have been fitted with budget tyres by their owners. Many years ago I had to replace the front tyres on my car - FWD nothing special, and paid for some new Bridgestones to be fitted (the same as I already had). As I was leaving to go to work I really struggled with grip when pulling out of junctions, I got to work and checked and they had fitted some other brand that I had never heard of. Imagine that on a car with a bit of poke and weight behind it. Tyres are the most important safety device a car has, no grip no braking.
Kevin T - you are to be congratulated you beat me to being first to comment Please let me award you your prize as Ashley "awarded" me a virtual gold medal yesterday 🏆🥇👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏l
Condition is looked at, age isn't considered as a specific metric. Tyres deteriorate at different rates anyway. Cracks can (and will) get you a fail if they're sufficiently bad.
I thought it's an offense to get tyres fitted the wrong way. E.g. on your BMW outside is shown on the outside, which is fine. But if it says inside on the outside it's illegal? Also same goes for directional tyres with arrows. If the arrows face the wrong way, going opposite direction of travel it's illegal. Heard it's 3 points and a fine per tyre, as well as bald tyres etc being illegal of course
Are you sure it's really illegal? It just loses effectiveness in grip on high speeds when it's wet, but it doesn't really have that much of an effect on dry roads and lower speeds, if you put them on reversed. The directional tread is really mostly about aquaplaning and braking. They don't perform worse than normal symmetric tires if you put them on "wrong", but it would be really weird if people really get fined for this.
@@Asto508 I've tried digging deeper and am still not too sure to be honest. I was taught this when doing the chassis component in college because I'm training to be a mechanic. I've read it's an MOT failure so it probably is right, similar to how bald tyres would fail MOT
He doesn't sound like an american, and burnouts are (in my opinion) more a North american hobby than a european one. But a small part of the information he listed could be a hint for an answer to your question: old tires with still a lot of tread left should be perfect: they offer less grip, should get replaced as soon as possible, and are pretty hard: so easier to get slipping, and as they are hard, you can do a longer burnout before they are done for.
Regarding the contact patch - it may seem stupidly obvious but that's all that's keeping the vehicle on the road. People do neglect tyres, forgetting how critical they are. Motorcyclists are far more aware of the importance of tyres - the contact patch on motorcycle tyres is approximately the size of a credit card - two credit cards of rubber keeping you alive...
Just a side note, the M+S marking are considered obsolete in Germany and all tires that are considered to be "winter tires" must have (at least) the Alpine symbol by 2024. One of the more funny things that has not been regulated by the EU, but that would be very useful. Instead each country has its own rules regarding this.
Ditto in Sweden. Existing M+S only tyres designed for winter use may be used until 2024-11-30 on vehicles up to 3500kg, 2029-11-30 on trailers up to 3500kg
Hi. You didn’t mention that the tyre could be wrong to what the sticker on ur cars says. IE. Sticker on car says Load rating should be 92. But Previous owner had put a 87 on. Important for when getting new tyres as some people just replace a tyre with what’s on existing tyre. new tyres also now state a grade A-F for wet and fuel. I look for the cheapest tyres I can get but with a good average value. As in C C. Iv never had any problems and saved me a ton of money. There all kite marked so they must be safe. Some sportier tyres have a rating worse than C and your paying more for it. So it doesn’t make sense to me. You will never convince people that a cheap tyre is just as safe and good as a premium due to the brand. Use tyre shopper, black circles and Asda tyres to find good prices. You then just select ur fitting centre. Easy
The safeness the tires have to pass to be allowed to be sold has nothing to do with grip levels or aquaplanning ( some call it hydroplanning). It has only to do with the speed rating and the load rating. The tire has to withstand the speed it is rated for (10% more than that i think) for a certain period of time, and the max load for a certain time too. -> For example, this doesn't mean they are safe to drive in the wet (, or safe in the wet over their expected lifetime). I bought cheap tires once (and only once, learned from my mistake) They were good in the first summer. Sticky in the dry, good in the wet, not noisy. In the second summer, they got loud as hell, and while stil sticky in the dry, outright bad in the wet. (Almost caused me an accident with the sudden loss of grip) To put that into perspective: that weren't cheap chinese "no name" tires as they weren't a thing here back then. The company is a (today) well repected japanese "medium" range brand. But the tires were cheap compared to the tires of Michelin, Goodyear, Dunlop i had used before. And those Grades for fuel efficiency and wet grip you mentioned... One tells you rolling resistance (which has effect on your fuel costs but nothing safety related) and the other one tells you 1 single charachteristic on their perfomance in the wet. (Don't remember if it is wet braking or aqua planing resistance.) As far as i remember it is not a combination value of the whole wet performance. -> an wet A rated tire could even be less safe in the wet over all than a B rated one. My general rule for buying tires from "premium" manufacturers is: a bumper always is more expensive than the price difference between a set of quality tires and budget tires. There's a guy who is into tire testing, he has a video about the difference of cheap and non cheap tires in the wet: th-cam.com/video/_wo-9112aHw/w-d-xo.html
Why are you using Pilot Sport tyres in conditions where it can snow? Don't get me wrong, those are fantastic tyres but I wouldn't want to use them when it's constantly below 7c. These are summer specific tyres and they don't work optimally in cold conditions. Your braking distance and overall grip is worse in the cold than they are when the weather is hotter.
To be honest if you cannot google all the info for your tyres that’s scary ( not you , I mean anyone else) , also though if your tyre health is not picked up via services or MOT then something else is going on .👍
If you drive a powerful car - buy premium tyres such as Michelin, Pirelli, Continental. If you don't drive such a vehicle, buy tyres from those same manufacturers (plus Bridgestone, Goodyear). You might think they're expensive, but would you rather be wearing greasy sandals while jogging or proper running shoes? It's the same with tyres!
It's always disappointed me how little attention people pay to their tyres. They're the only thing keeping you on the road, yet they are frequently ignored, unless and until it's MOT time, and the car fails... then it comes down to the cheapest available option. The last 2 cars I've bought, the first thing I've done is change the tyres, even though they were fairly new. The first car was fitted with a dealer own brand, but they were woeful, and lasted a week. My new car arrived in January, and even though they were running Michelins, I swapped them for decent all seasons, since the snow was falling pretty freely. Wouldn't fit anything else now. My mate had a pick-n-mix of tyres on her car, some of them decent, some unpronounceable. In the really bad rain we had just yesterday, I got a message from her saying the car was now behaving better than ever in the wet after getting a full set of decent tyres a few weeks ago. You don't always have to pay top whack, there are decent mid range brands out there. But anyone who thinks they can get a full set of good tyres for the price of a few service station coffees isn't living in the real world, and they likely won't be for much longer.
Yes, it's one of these things that many people ignore. I even had a "Black Circles" fitter a few years ago question why I was replacing old tyres. I had bought a second-hand car that had done very little mileage, but its tyres showed the effects of age and sunlight, with visible cracking in the sidewalls. The owner(!) of this tyre business looked at me as though I was deluded when I told him why I was replacing these tyres (after he queried me because they had loads of tread left).
Devil's advocate here a bit but is it really necessary to replace the tyres at the first sign of cracking (if the tread is good)? In your own example tyre there at the end... that tyre is 14 years old and _didn't fail_. We want to be safe absolutely, but also tyres are expensive and we shouldn't change them too soon and potentially be wasting tyres that could go on happily for a few more years.
Depends how deep the crack is, if it's deep enough to expose the cord/ply used in the construction, it's not legal to use. If it's caused by the rubber deteriorating, then that's usually the case.
I replaced a 5 year old set of tyres with the same tyres on a car not so long ago. The improvement in grip with the new set was noticeable. Emergency stops are rarely planned in advance, but if the tyres are in good condition it may save the pain of an insurance claim or even a life. As far as I know, tyre age is not an MOT check. I think it should be.
I love a new tyre, the car seems quieter and better to drive, shame tyres are rather expensive though
@@matthewsmith2787 Back in the days when cars did not have power steering, new tyres made the car feel a lot lighter.
I replaced a tyre on a Corsa, that was older than me, & I was 18 at the time!
As far I know Ashley, the ZP next to Michelin pilot sport stands for 'zero pressure' rather than anything to do with a speed rating. Presumably it is the model name for the run flat tyres. Also may have been worth pointing out that Michelin and some other brands have wear indicators on the tyre. Good video though which hopefully gets people looking at their tyres more.
I can add a few points to this.
Tyres perish, even if you don’t use them - as stated in the video. Years ago, I stored a family members trailer in the garden. They didn’t use it, and didn’t have anywhere to store it. It was only small, and stayed in the same spot for years. The tyres went flaky. It eventually was dragged away for scrap. So yes, they perish even when not being used. My understanding is there is a law coming in about tyres on vehicles & trailers not being more than 5y old at the MOT. I heard this mentioned somewhere.
My neighbour runs her car on a shoe string budget. She has an old 1999 Toyota Yaris (poverty spec 1.0). With this and her previous cars she saves money wherever possible, inc getting tyres from the scrap yard.
More recently after getting the vintage Toyota, she drove it at above motorway legal limit (yes it’s possible given a long enough road), on a nearby dual carriageway with one nearly bald tyre & the tracking being out. Some weeks (many weeks) later she took it for a checkup by her mechanic friend who told her 1 tyre need changing immediately, and the other other one (both rear tyres) would need changing within the next 12 months. She gave in an changed the dangerous tyre (+ had the tracking fixed) but she is still running the other dodgy tyre. Looking at the back of her car, 1 tyre is effectively brand new, the other is effectively bald. And yes I and others do speak to her about such things but she calls us all idiots and says it’s wasting money🤦♂️
Sat in traffic jams, I sometimes notice on the car in front, rear bald tyres. Even seen a few down to the canvas. Ironically they had children in the car🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
When I had my VW, it was on all continental tyres at the start. When the fronts needed changing, I decided to save a bit of money and opt for a slightly cheaper brand called Falcon. The vehicle drove fine with that, but all sorts of tyre noise which I hadn’t had before. Eventually I got them changed out as the noise was to annoying. Once changed, it was near silent again. That car (one of the first newer shape polos) had brilliant steering but it was so sensitive to changes in tyre pressure or make of tyres. It seemed to be delicate and had to be exactly correct. I could feel if the garage had over topped up my front tyres at the service. Ironically, the old shape polo i had some years ago - rounded headlights model, didn’t seem to care about any of that stuff. That just felt the same, regardless.
I've got a 16 year old Toyota corolla. Michelin pilot sport 4 all round. The tyres are worth more than the car, my safety is priceless.
I had to replace some old tyres that were still legal, but cracking on the sidewall. I went for Michelins as they have excellent grip in the wet.
I used to manufacture and repair trailers. I frequently had people come in with tyres over twenty years old, lots of tread left so they thought that was fine but the rubber had gone so hard that they would not flex and very often had a flat side to them due to standing for long periods without use. Some of these customers just would not believe that there was anything wrong with this and insisted that I just replaced the wheel bearing or the floor or whatever was the reason for coming to me in the first place.
I always pick good branded tyres and make sure all 4 wheels have the same model of tyre on. My father is a nuisance for have cheap tyres and unmatched tyres on each axle you can definitely tell the difference while driving.
At my last MOT, one of the tyres was slightly damaged, enough for a fail. The garage said just replace that one, and you'll be fine. I replaced all four, just to be on the safe side!
Up to two years ago I had a Subaru. They recommended that when replacing a tyre, to replace them all.
I hope the tires were at least 5 years old. Would be pointless to replace 3 perfectly fine tires for no reason. Depending on the kind of damage, it could also be caused by improper wheel alignment of your car and the next tire will die again the same way, but I guess the mechanic you were at would have noted this.
There is a massive market in part-worn tyres. Your tyre fitter would certainly have sold the tyres you replaced if they had mileage left in them.
@@Asto508 Yes, the alignment was slightly off, but that was fixed by the fitter. The other tyres were all about 7 years old.
@@busog97641 that's because your subaru was 4x4 and just replacing one would cause more wear to the others or in extreme cases transmission damage. This is because the new tyre is slightly bigger therefore its rotations per mile are less than the others.
Once your tyres get below 3mm of tread there begins a detriment to water displacement, (grip in the wet), so, although the legal limit is 1.6mm for vehicles below 3.5tonne, 3mm is a far safer level for replacement.
@lalita patpong, there are these amazing little tools called tread depth guages, the cheaper ones are fine for advice down to 2mm, but not highly accurate, & a little over £10 will get you a dial one accurate to 0.1mm measurements to 10mm
There's a channel on here 'Tyre Reviews' that goes into a lot of detail testing tyres and I think it's linked to a website with even more information on tyres if you are trying to balance a quality tyre with price. Expensive doesn't mean they're the best out there or the best option for you. Michelins are good tyres for a lot of applications, but you certainly do pay for them. If you don't to a lot of mileage then they might not be the best for you as some of their tyres are designed for 50'000 miles (driving style permitting) and rubber can start to deteriorate after I think only 3 years so don't stretch your budget unnecessarily if you'll end up replacing tyres before you've used half the safe tread depth available. You wouldn't constantly throw away food after you've only ate half the meal. But obviously don't trade that for taking tyres to less than 2 mm, that is more deadly than the rubber being 5 years old. To use the food analogy, you wouldn't leave yourself hungry all the time either with the choice.
I had to replace a set of Michelins on my car as the went out of roundness as I wasn't driving enough for them (they came with the car). I now have Michelin CrossClimate + tyres, trading the wear for the 3 peak snowflake for all weather ability so I don't need 2 sets of tyres to swap between for summer/winter. They've done me good in the snow we had this year and last year. I'd recommend those if you live rurally on untreated roads at slightly higher altitudes, but they're not a complete replacement for winter tyres for those with substantial winters.
For people like me (non petrol heads, or only lookout for scratches on the body), this was a useful reminder that tyres are actually very important! Thanks for the video 👍
Anything that separates you from the ground is important.
Shoes, chairs, mattresses, tyres...
@@L5GUK flooring. I just bought flooring and I was not gonna cheap out on the stuff
I bought a car that had tyres with plenty of tread on them a few years back, the date code was incredibly useful. By looking at the date code I was able to determine that the tyres were between 17 and 18 years old! Needless to say that those tyres were changed VERY quickly.
Similar here, but one of mine was 10 years old. I don't like a mixed set of tyres anyway but a 10 year old tyre was a good enough reason to change the lot as soon as possible. The oldest had some cracks in the tread so I was glad to get rid of them.
Tires that old don't really wear anymore. They are so hard, that they don't offer any decent grip in slippy conditions (and get noisy) but they don't wear... A co-worker of mine once told me that something is wrong with his car. In the wet the tires would spin on normal take off (in a 75hp car!) and in some corners he would s$§" his pants above a certain speed. (speeds he used to not break any sweat when he got the car) Turned out he had 6 year old winter tires with lots of tread left. Had to convince him to get new tires for his own safety. He instantly noticed the change with the new ones. Not often had i seen him that happy.
I have had bicycle tyres crack on the sidewall myself. I once had some very old 16*1⅜ and after about two miles, one collapsed into thousands of bits of string about 4inches long and clouds of gritty yellowish dust (the perished rubber disintegrating).
When I'm cleaning the wheels I always look out for for bubbles, delamination, damage, tread depth, tread wear pattern, age. People can make fun of cleaning wheels/tyres all they like but as well as keeping the car looking fresh the chances of me having a blow out are cut in half by hopefully keeping on top of the health of the tyres. I've got the same staggered size 225 255 but R19 and 30/35 profile.
Glossing your tyres can also help preserve the rubber. I had to replace a set on my 2017 SEAT Leon when I bought it 2nd hand as they'd already cracked - cheap budget brand.
Thumbs up for responsible behaviour!
Funny thing, checking if your tires are ok can potentially save a life, while checking the paint for scratches can't. Yet more people are obsessed with the paint of their car than with the condition of their tires.
Good video. You're such an excellent teacher, Ashley.
One other possible mark on a tyre is a direction of rotation arrow. Your tyres have an asymmetric tread pattern, hence the inside/outside mark on the sidewall. Directional tread pattern tyres will have a direction of rotation arrow instead.
Directional markings are different from inside/outside markings, otherwise the direction markings would be incorrect if you put the tyres on the wrong side. I haven't actually used tyres with outside markings, but I assume that if there are any with direction markings as well then there must be left and right hand versions of the same tyre.
I know you didn't say they were the same thing, just pointing it out for anyone who did not understand the difference.
@@chrishartley1210 and that'll be why they don't manufacture an asymmetric directional tyre - "would that be for the passenger side, or the driver's side?" And having to stock/order twice as many tyres for a given size.
@@_Steven_S Yes, and no. Change all 4 tyres? That'll be 4 tyres please. Change the fronts? That'll be 2 tyres please. It only makes a difference if you only need a single tyre replacement and that's probably unusual on vehicles that would use such expensive tyres.
There are plenty of instances where tyres have to be specially ordered, it happened to my brother while on holiday in Germany, had to wait 3 days for tyres because they are an unusual size.
@@_Steven_S lol, an asymmetric directional tyre would be a nightmare for everyone, manufacturer, stockist and end user.
Great information there; some of which was previously unknown.
It goes to show that you can teach an old dog new tricks!
This upload reminded me of an unfortunate incident......
One of the tyres on my Camry (it had less than 1500 miles since being fitted) failed the MOT.
A price to replace the defective tyre was quoted - to avoid the added expense of a retest I was happy for the garage to replace the defective unit, even though a replacement from elsewhere of my preferred brand was a better choice *Cooper Avon*.
Two days later I noticed that they had replaced the unit with Speed Rating H - not V. The Manager, to be fair, was embarrassed (bit of an understatement) and agreed to replace with the correct tyre - no additional cost.
I was prepared to accept this and didn't see any benefit reporting to the Ministry of Transport as they clearly demonstrated a positive, customer focused attitude.
The message here....
Be careful of who takes care of your vehicle. Not all garages are the same. Stay safe everyone 👍
31st December, not 31st January. for '5306'.
For additional symbols etc, you could have also listed 'arrow' as in directional tyres, rather than 'outside' for asymmetrics
Ha, obviously using the free Driving instructor calendar he got from driving school
Learned a lot, thanks Ashley.
This was a very useful video Ashley. I didn't know everything about what sidewall words, letters, numbers or whatever meant on tyres and I'm now more aware thanks to this video. By the way, like you mentioned about that tyre 14 years old, I see loads of people driving with their spare tyres, including someone living nextdoor to me never replaced his for ages.
Good video. I’ve always been fussy with tyres as it’s the only bit of contact you’ve got, but like you say, most folk are oblivious
A lot of detail that many don’t know. Another item that occurs is directional marking. Some tyres are only meant to be used in one direction of rotation (marked with an arrow), which means you can’t swap side to side with them the wrong way round - e.g. when swapping front to back, as some do to even out the wear.
Went to a safe driving course with my dad and the instructor pointed out our tyres were about 8 years old and that we should replace them asap. Then when we did emergency braking on ice training, the Honda slid for good 15 meters longer than other cars before stopping.
Addition, although this will mostly apply to classic cars (which is when radial versus crossply becomes relevant): On my Beetle, I run 155 R15 tyres. When there's no dash and percentage number after the width number, this means that the height of the tyre wall is 80 % of the width. Finding suitable tyres with original dimentions for classic cars can be a bit of a pain.
Highways England had some analysis done in cases of tyre-related motorway accidents and the results are interesting:-
56% of tyres failed due to road/yard debris penetration
18% failed due to poor inflation
8% failed due to poor vehicle maintenance
1% of tyres failed due to manufacturing defects
1% of tyres failed due to excessive heat
16% of the tyres couldn’t be specified to one particular problem
It seems that tyre pressure monitoring that can warn of under-inflation and detect punctures early is perhaps a worthwhile retro-fit if your car does not have it as standard.
as well as kerbing marks you can also tell if a tyre has been run while soft and overheated by looking at the sidewall. both types of damage look very similar and in both cases you should get them checked internally.
That tyre at the end was probably a spare that got put on at a much later date, used to see it regularly before space savers were more common. Also worth noting that the pressure/load charts are different for standard load vs extra load tyres, for my tyre size I have to put slightly more pressure in when I use my winter extra load tyres compared to my standard load summers. Car had 91 on from factory, winters are 94. If the car is supplied with extra load then you obviously can’t fit standard load.
Really enjoyed that Ashley. I’ve got the same tyres that you have on my M140i. They are brilliant.
This video deals with one of two vital components that make up all vehicles ie tires and brakes. I've gone through this exercise countless time. Sadly, it's all Greek to the majority of folks.
Great topic, as always and great info !
Brilliant educational video Ashley 👍
It never ceases to amaze me how huge my rear discs are compared to other BMW,'s.
Mine are as big as dinner plates!
I know we all have preferences and my preference is Michelin tyres, And because I do not believe our winters are bad enough to warrant summer and winter tyres I choose to run Michelin cross climate, When I first got the car 18 months ago it had Michelin sp4's all round. at the moment it has Cross climate on the front ( drive) axle and sp4 on the rear which will be getting replaced with cross climate before winter sets in. I noticed a big difference when I changed the front tyres in terms of grip especially as it was Dec 2020. Oh and my tyre sizes are 235/40/18
My dad was a tyre fitter for best part of 30 years, even though he retired now he still goes on at me about my tyres and im picking up a new car on Friday and when he sees the new car he will look at the tyres before the car....lol
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 is a great choice and gives you superb levels of grip with a real planted feel when cornering. The 4s is even better but they are somewhat elusive to find in 18 inch.
It's actually quite a good fuel save to run decent tyres as well, since better grip generally leads to better fuel efficiency. On my previous car when I had all the old tyres changed I noticed the road noise was much quieter, the car was more comfortable to drive, and I could get an extra 30-40 miles out of a tank of fuel. (about 10% of a fuel save for that vehicle)
and as far as safety goes, I wouldn't walk around on shoes with the soles falling off or letting in air/water, and so, since the tyres are literally the only thing between the car and the ground, I wouldn't drive with tyres in that condition either.
I was hoping you’d explain what the small Michelin men just above the tyre sidewall mean? I think it’s something to do with the wear of the rubber or if he flattens out it means the tyre is getting bellow tread depth. Don’t quote me on it I’ll need to look it up but they mean something like that.
It will surprise you how little difference in price there is for budget tyres and premium tyres when it comes to wheel sizes below 17 inches. Often only 30 pounds difference and well worth the money.
could have shown for beginners where the indicators are and where to measure if you have enough thread.
You should have pointed out the TWI markings (Tread Wear Indicators)!
Good vid. Thanks Ash. How about promoting Winter and All Season tyres. The latter would suit many in UK and would greatly improve safety for All getting about in our winter months. Learner drivers and Newly qualified will likely grasp this and carry it out with their cars and future vehicles.
Enhanced braking and traction are a boon in poor winters such as the one just gone. 👍
Brilliant. I would have loved if you talked more about the door panel sticker. Plenty of good info there. Maybe even a personal preference for tyre pressure?
Just know that if you get it wrong, there'll be a Big Bang (in theory) 😉
Thanks for the video. Lots of info on what is actually printed on tyres that I didn't know. So I went out and looked at my two month old tyres. The date on them is 3820 and they state AA for traction so pretty good lol though I expect it's a little biased, I mean who is rating them? Tyres are Yoko V701's. Anyway, I always buy the best I can afford as tyres are so important.
Caravan and trailer tyres are usually perished before the tread has anywhere near disappeared. If the sidewall is a mosaic , bin it. Something to note.
Five yearly replacement pattern.
My tyres are 195/150 R16, Garage has said they are an odd size to find for my car! Anyone else have these tyres?
Excellent video Ashley, I only knew the first part of the tyre details but not the rest, good info to know!
Surely you mean 195/50 R16? 150% profile would mean your sidewall is 50% thicker than the width of your tyre!!!
@@jacobfoster6773 That was a typo lol, yes I mean 195/50 R16.
@@ProgRock_ In that case, 195/50 R16 shouldn't be that uncommon, probably getting a bit rarer now as manufacturers seems to like lower and lower profile tyres with new cars now. I've got some 185/60 R14 winter and 195/50 R15 summer tyres (2 different sets of rims) for my old MK1 mx5. Have a look on Asda tyres or blackcircles, there should be a plethora of options to choose from.
Doesn't seem that odd. It's more common than my 175/ 65 R14 when I look for it.
I misinterprated the title... (I thought you would claim that on the marking you could distinguish a good from a bad new tyre :-) )
It always surprises me that so many people don't know about the basics of the tyre markings. Over all a good summary you made! Only thing missing that comes to my mind: tread wear indicators, and legal limits.
Minimum tread wear is different in different countries, and for different types of tyres.
In my country, summer tyres with less than 1.6mm tread depth are ilegal to drive on the road, while winter tyres with less than 4mm of tread depth are legally not considered winter tyres anymore. And between (roughly) october and end of april, in "winter conditions" winter tyres are mandatory.
Such rules are in place all over the world, and people who intend to drive in another country should check beforehand, to not get into trouble. (there are better ways to spend time than that ;-) )
Excellent informative video, many thanks.
Worth mentioning that any* new tyre may be better in terms of safety and ride comfort than a very old, cracked, worn-out one.
At least this is what I tell myself. The car is an accessory not all can afford, changing tyres comes with it.
*okay, maybe the cheapest, least known, lowest quality won't do the job, but any adequate grade replacement probably will.
A good reference (not the only one or exclusive source) is ADAC's tyre tests. They release their cheat sheet twice a year, one can get a good glimpse of tyres in two different categories currently on the market.
Once had an argument with a fitter over tyres for a Mondeo I owned at the time. Ordered a set of Michelin’s for it. But he refused to put them on saying they were too good for a rep mobile. Had to point out to him that not only was I not a rep but that I’d actually ordered those tyres in the first place.
He was right though.
Why argue? Take your tires and go to another shop if that idiot doesn't want a customer. Simple
Great video! Could I recommend a video though. I had a blow out last week and I have been only driving for 10 months. Luckily my dad told me how to deal with it but many people should just jam on the breaks. It was reasonably scary so might be worth a quick video to do👍 Btw- the tyres are 12months old and have done 8k mls. Cheers, Oliver
I agree that you can try to save some pounds on things like getting a better or worse clutch or not changing your cabin filter every year, but never EVER go cheap on tires and brakes. I usually go for Michelin, GoodYear, Continental or Bridgestone and even though they are good brands, some of the models are "meeehhh" on grip so be careful with that as well.
What? Saving on the clutch? One of the parts that are the hardest to replace by yourself? Cheap tires and cheap brake pads are easier to be replaced later than a shitty clutch.
I agree on the cabin filters though.
@@Asto508 Try replacing your own clutch when you're dead because you saved a tenner on your tyres.
A clutch replacement isn't that hard... Just make sure you have a couple of mates to help you get it down once you undo the bell housing bolts... And don't drop it on your foot like me
@@donmcgee2081 By that argument you should only drive T-92 tanks because anything less armored increases the chance of dying. The worst thing cheap brakes do is wear out faster and may squeal more. I wouldn’t recommend being cheap on that, BUT if you have to make a decision between a clutch and brake pads, going cheap on the clutch is just way more trouble.
@@Asto508 I meant going for a cheap brand instead the most expensive one. Probably the worst thing that can happen is that it starts slipping after 100k miles instead 150k miles but it's not a safety issue. Going for a cheap tyre brand and brake pads could mean taking 5m more to brake and sometimes that is the difference between killing a pedestrian or not.
No mention of TWI (tread wear indicators) ??? I thought all tyres had them
They do, even some truck tyres (before they’re regrooved). That’s covered in Theory & “show me tell me”s, and any good instructor worth their salt should explain that.
I buy punctured tyres - their a lot cheaper, I get them at a flat rate - new tyres go up with inflation
I'll get your coat😂
The door is over there =>
Taxi for Keith.
🧥➡️🚖👋bye
@@Keithbarber 😂😂😂😂😂
As well as rubbing the curb that type of sidewall damage can also be caused by continually driving with the tyre under-inflated!
I thought cross ply went out ages ago? I remember replacing my cross ply tyres with radials 40+ years ago!
@Bazzacuda it’s a nice story, but not true - you can’t get radial tyres in the sizes that most pre-WW2 cars used.
Crossplys are still manufactured for vintage sizes.
Classic cars were made with crossply in mind. Their suspension and handling are all tuned around the behaviour of crossply, so putting a modern radial counterpart on them will completely ruin the dynamics, in many cases making them dangerous and can cause long term damage to the vehicle as they don't absorb impact as well.
@Bazzacuda had a set of xplys on a set of lwb rims on my Landy( only on there for a short while asi wanted the rims not the tyres). Rock hard, old and slippery as fuck. Changed them over for xpc Michelin radials. 750x16 Smoother quieter more comfortable. And much better grip. Brakes still shite compared to discs though
@@L5GUK Indeed they were. A fair bit of work was done by the tyres, with the suspension being quite simple by modern standards, things like live axles and leaf springs. They are worse than radials for rolling resistance as well, so not good for fuel consumption.
I didn't know you could even buy cross-ply car tyres. I thought they had gone out with the 1960s. Radial tyres tend to take up a cylindrical shape and when cornering the tread tends to stay flat on the road. Cross-plies tend to maintain a toroidal shape and the tread is always curved. When cornering, the shoulder of the tyre contacts the tarmac. They work far better if the vehicle tilts when cornering, so as far as I know, they are usually used on two wheels to allow leaning into a corner.
Tyres have lots of info but pressure is also inside of fuel guard. Were you tempted to get all seasons tyres as you teach in winter?
Thanks much needed this!
I thought the AA, A,b and c rating only related to grip while braking in wet conditions
No, there is a separate spec produced under EU rules (that we haven't repealed yet). That shows, economy, wet grip and noise.
Just for extra information, on your tyre in the video * on the tyre is for BMW and you'll find the tyre has camber for the rears and tougher rubber on the inside as a budget will burn off faster
While we might adopt an uncompromising attitude to tyre performance as an aspect of road safety this has already been pre-compromised for us by the EU regulation R117 that saw other considerations such as rolling resistance and drive-by noise levels have a veto on high performance tyres. The introduction of these regulations saw some of the best tyres (eg Yokohama A021s) have their "E" marking withdrawn so they were no longer road legal (though many a track-day-only car is still fitted with them because they have excellent wet and dry grip).
Might be worth mentioning that it's now illegal for HGVs to have tyres over 10 years old on the steered axle(s). You'd be surprised how many I've come across from the early 2000s. Seems companies will keep buying them in bulk and fitting new tyres to their fleet as they come in, leaving the old bias plies from the Triassic period at the bottom of the pile.
Informative as always Ash 👍
@Bazzacuda He eats flies, can regrow his tail and has been sent to our planet as an envoy of the reptilian hominids. Have you ever seen him in the same room as a chameleon? Didn't think so.
@Bazzacuda You misunderstand me, I fully approve of his attitude to road safety. It is my solemn duty, on a completely unrelated topic, to inform the general public of his reptilian nature.
Now that I'm talking to you however, I did just notice you haven't blinked in a while. The conspiracy deepens....
I'm ashed to tell this story, but maybe it's something people can learn from. A few years ago I took my car to a new garage and the mechanic discovered that I had managed to wear my tyres down to the wire... Literally wire mesh was showing through where tread should have been. I had taken my car for regular services and an MOT only a few months prior, so I was pretty baffled by this. Apparently the issue was that my car's camber was slightly off (only slightly, I hadn't modded it or anything), and from the outside edge of the tyre, the tread appeared fine but the inside edge had worn completely. This meant the mechanic doing the MOT never actually saw (or looked for) the wear on the inside of the tyre and passed the MOT.
It's pretty horrifying to think I was driving around on tyres like that. Very illegal as well... Needless to say I inspect my tyres regularly now.
Yes but what about the spare tyre? This is usually only an thinner, emergency one, until you get to a mechanic etc, i assume different specs also.
Those emergency Spares usually have the interesting information written in plain text in contrast colour on them. Most of the time: max 80kph for max 80km.
Quite a few modern cars don't have any. A couple of my previous ones had a temporary puncture spray kit, which would allow low speed running, followed by scrapping the tyre and replacing it (a couple of Honda Civics had these, with the extra space used to enhance the load capacity). My current one has a 'compact spare' which is narrow, again with reduced speed - 80 km/h, and quite high pressure. Used it once recently, only until the main one was repaired.
And there was me thinking "M+S" meant it was bought from Marks & Spencer!
Seriously, UV from sunlight will cause tyres that are not in use to deteriorate. If you choose to swap between summer and winter tyres, store the ones off the car in the dark!
Small addition: that also means that spare tires that are transported on the car in the open deteriorate too. (at least as fast, sometimes even faster than those you drive on as their exposure to the sun is not changing due to rotating)
For those who don't know what i mean: for example spare tires mounted on the tailgate without cover, or those mounted on the hood of old Landrovers (/Range Rovers), or when they are on a roof-rack for a long time...
I have always believed that DOT was an indicator for where the valve should be, but I can't think why that might be.
The indicator for the valve is a yellow dot and the red dot is the vibration point on the tyre, not all tyres have these markings. And if you have your tyres changed make sure you go back to have your wheel nuts re torqued after about 50 miles as wheel nuts can come loose
My front drivers side tyre is starting to split around the edges but ever so slightly, it was like that when i took it for an MOT in October but it was the only tyre that didn't get an advisory. All the others got replaced. Should i change it now or wait until my next MOT?
Take the car to your tyre fitter and ask them to check on the tyre conditions and on the wheel nuts all round for torque (always worth doing if the wheels have been off the car recently). They should do that for free, especially if they’ve recently done work for you.
@@broadsword6650 Ok thanks
@@broadsword6650 Update: Got the tire changed on Wednesday 5th, feels good to know i now have decent treads for them all and no splits.
Funny you made this video as last week I got a nail in the sidewall of my tire and was looking at getting a new pair for the front wheels. Good to mention also how important it is to have grippy tires especially wet grip.
Also what tire repair kit or pumps to have incase of a puncture
Interesting.
Good video.
Manufacturers still make Cross plys for 'vintage' sizes.
It's not an originality thing, a significant part of a vehicles suspension and handling characteristics are through their tyres.
For example, your 70s era MGB is going to handle very differently on original crossplys than on modern radial options - in many cases much worse, even.
Fairly recently Perelli re-introduced the original version of the tyre used on the Lamborghini Countach because the modern rubber formula completely ruined the dynamics of the car.
Tyres are a very significant part of the drive. It's more than braking and raw grip, it's about the feel and engagement with the road as well.
I'm sure the experienced drivers among us are familiar with the feeling when they get new tyres fitted, even like for like, but mainly going from a quality rubber to cheap (or vice versa).
Your turn in is different, the way the car follows ruts, the amount you can lean on corners.
In fact it was something that I find some cars are much more sensitive to than others. My BMW 320d is very particular about what tyres are on it, I think it was because it was specifically set up and designed to work perfectly with Michelin Run Flats.
The amount of cheap Chinese plastic people are putting on their cars is frankly terrifying honestly. Especially because budget doesn't have to mean 'crap'. Spend the extra and it may save someone's life when you need it to.
I have an Italian friend who owns a 1963 Abarth 500. The first time I drove it, I was really impressed by the acceleration. Then came deceleration (first time with enthusiasm on a steep downhill). I was first reminded of how inefficient steel brakes are, and second, that cross ply tyres need you to keep on correcting the steering until you stop, and are very much affected by uneven road surfaces, particularly under braking.
@@donmcgee2081 sounds like a brilliantly fun and engaging driving experience! Must be one of your most memorable driving memories, I'm sure.
I have a few cracks on them, is this dangerous?
Yes.
I had both tyres on my MOT advisory, at what point should I change them
I usually don’t go below 2.0mm 👍🏼
@@ashley_neal top man Ashley thanks
Now. You’re going to have to at some point soon. So do it now
I must say I have driven for 44 years and never had a blow out, until I put premium tyres on my BMW. 70 MPH on a dual carriage way O S R just shredded in a matter of yards, no warning! Still had 5 mm tread! I changed my pants then changed the remaining tyres! I do still beleve in good tyres but some are better than others. Maybe luck of the draw? And always keep the pressures correct.
No warning? In a BMW (i guess less than 10 years old)? Then i can only think of 2 scenarios, 1: The tyre got damaged on it's sidewall beforehand and when driving fast the heat was enough to make it go boom, or 2: There was something on the road that killed the tyre instantly.
Normally peole have a small puncture and keep driving (which shouldn't happen in a BMW of the last 10+ years as there would be a tyre pressure warning) and the tyre heats up until it blows.
I personally had no problems with most premium manufacturers, but bad luck with Pirelli's (not bought them myself but they were already on the car when i bought it, so maybe the previous owners fault?) lost some tread blocks. (while driving on the road in a civilized manner)
And i had way biger problems with a cheaper set of tyres. So i tend to stick with Michelin, Goodyear, Dunlop when i can. (Have to use Continental ones currently on one of my cars, as almost nobody makes tyres in it's size... The conti winter tyres on that car: perfect, the summer tyres: good but with issues. Non-safety relevant issues to be precise)
I actually had to know and learn that 4518 meant the 45th week in 2018 for my theoretical exam but that was all... I knew nothing else here
i knew all but the date thing :D never had it on exam
Its cheaper in the long run to get the more premium tyres due to: fuel economy, tyre wear, longevity of the tyre (wont crack as easily), potentially safer in wet and wintery conditions.
mm wonder how old my just aquired tires/rims are. They feel horible :P (second hand set of rims and tires that are unbalanced aswell...) but the rubber itself feels to hard and doesnt react well.
Another interesting fact it that tyres start off as white rubber, but thanks to Crayola Crayons they are now black. Crayola sold 'carbon black' to tyre companies which was added to the rubber and massively increased durability and grip.
It is always slightly worrying noticing how many premium cars have been fitted with budget tyres by their owners. Many years ago I had to replace the front tyres on my car - FWD nothing special, and paid for some new Bridgestones to be fitted (the same as I already had). As I was leaving to go to work I really struggled with grip when pulling out of junctions, I got to work and checked and they had fitted some other brand that I had never heard of.
Imagine that on a car with a bit of poke and weight behind it. Tyres are the most important safety device a car has, no grip no braking.
31st dec not jan for the tyre manufacture all in all a good informative video though 👍
Kevin T - you are to be congratulated you beat me to being first to comment
Please let me award you your prize as Ashley "awarded" me a virtual gold medal yesterday
🏆🥇👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏l
@@Keithbarber no need to overreact about a simple comment but ok I guess...
@@CL4SSiCS since when has having a sense of humour been against the law?
@@Keithbarber, in my experience, years, but I Am a Dad... lol
@@Keithbarber what? That didn’t even seem funny.....
Well done to kevin T for getting his comment in first - he has already been awarded his prize, a trophy and medal
Not that it matters a great deal but Kevin T was the 4th comment (sorting comments chronologically)
@@billy9506 I went by how many minutes the comments had been up - ah well, who cares, its only meant as a laugh
@@Keithbarber No jokes on the subject today Keith?you must be feeling tired :)
@@pussinboots1145 I've joked elsewhere
@@Keithbarber Ahh yes i found it :)
if all 4 wheels take the same size tyre and you are only fitting 2 new tyres, fit them to the rear
I'm not sure about that. I thought the best tyres should be on the steered (i.e. front) wheels. Maybe Ashley can comment?
@@jefflerner7526 All advise I've ever heard, including a couple of years in a tyre shop, is best tyres at the back - for stability under braking.
the "*" on your tyre means BMW OE tyre, the "branding" you mention
How does a tyre that old and showing cracks pass an MOT? Surely tyre quality is looked at in an MOT inspection?
Condition is looked at, age isn't considered as a specific metric. Tyres deteriorate at different rates anyway. Cracks can (and will) get you a fail if they're sufficiently bad.
I thought it's an offense to get tyres fitted the wrong way. E.g. on your BMW outside is shown on the outside, which is fine. But if it says inside on the outside it's illegal? Also same goes for directional tyres with arrows. If the arrows face the wrong way, going opposite direction of travel it's illegal. Heard it's 3 points and a fine per tyre, as well as bald tyres etc being illegal of course
Are you sure it's really illegal? It just loses effectiveness in grip on high speeds when it's wet, but it doesn't really have that much of an effect on dry roads and lower speeds, if you put them on reversed. The directional tread is really mostly about aquaplaning and braking. They don't perform worse than normal symmetric tires if you put them on "wrong", but it would be really weird if people really get fined for this.
@@Asto508 I've tried digging deeper and am still not too sure to be honest. I was taught this when doing the chassis component in college because I'm training to be a mechanic. I've read it's an MOT failure so it probably is right, similar to how bald tyres would fail MOT
Generally I tend to buy mid ranged tyres. I never buy part worn. They don't seem worth it to me considering that I drive for a living.
How come you didn’t talk about which tyres are best for burnouts???
Crossplys
He doesn't sound like an american, and burnouts are (in my opinion) more a North american hobby than a european one. But a small part of the information he listed could be a hint for an answer to your question: old tires with still a lot of tread left should be perfect: they offer less grip, should get replaced as soon as possible, and are pretty hard: so easier to get slipping, and as they are hard, you can do a longer burnout before they are done for.
Regarding the contact patch - it may seem stupidly obvious but that's all that's keeping the vehicle on the road.
People do neglect tyres, forgetting how critical they are.
Motorcyclists are far more aware of the importance of tyres - the contact patch on motorcycle tyres is approximately the size of a credit card - two credit cards of rubber keeping you alive...
Just a side note, the M+S marking are considered obsolete in Germany and all tires that are considered to be "winter tires" must have (at least) the Alpine symbol by 2024.
One of the more funny things that has not been regulated by the EU, but that would be very useful. Instead each country has its own rules regarding this.
It is not EU law it is specifically in Germany only.
@@drscopeify I said that...
Ditto in Sweden. Existing M+S only tyres designed for winter use may be used until 2024-11-30 on vehicles up to 3500kg, 2029-11-30 on trailers up to 3500kg
When I heard you say outside, I was wondering who drives their cars inside fit a moment...
Hi. You didn’t mention that the tyre could be wrong to what the sticker on ur cars says. IE. Sticker on car says Load rating should be 92. But Previous owner had put a 87 on. Important for when getting new tyres as some people just replace a tyre with what’s on existing tyre. new tyres also now state a grade A-F for wet and fuel. I look for the cheapest tyres I can get but with a good average value. As in C C. Iv never had any problems and saved me a ton of money. There all kite marked so they must be safe. Some sportier tyres have a rating worse than C and your paying more for it. So it doesn’t make sense to me. You will never convince people that a cheap tyre is just as safe and good as a premium due to the brand. Use tyre shopper, black circles and Asda tyres to find good prices. You then just select ur fitting centre. Easy
The safeness the tires have to pass to be allowed to be sold has nothing to do with grip levels or aquaplanning ( some call it hydroplanning). It has only to do with the speed rating and the load rating. The tire has to withstand the speed it is rated for (10% more than that i think) for a certain period of time, and the max load for a certain time too.
-> For example, this doesn't mean they are safe to drive in the wet (, or safe in the wet over their expected lifetime).
I bought cheap tires once (and only once, learned from my mistake) They were good in the first summer. Sticky in the dry, good in the wet, not noisy. In the second summer, they got loud as hell, and while stil sticky in the dry, outright bad in the wet. (Almost caused me an accident with the sudden loss of grip)
To put that into perspective: that weren't cheap chinese "no name" tires as they weren't a thing here back then. The company is a (today) well repected japanese "medium" range brand. But the tires were cheap compared to the tires of Michelin, Goodyear, Dunlop i had used before.
And those Grades for fuel efficiency and wet grip you mentioned... One tells you rolling resistance (which has effect on your fuel costs but nothing safety related) and the other one tells you 1 single charachteristic on their perfomance in the wet. (Don't remember if it is wet braking or aqua planing resistance.) As far as i remember it is not a combination value of the whole wet performance. -> an wet A rated tire could even be less safe in the wet over all than a B rated one.
My general rule for buying tires from "premium" manufacturers is: a bumper always is more expensive than the price difference between a set of quality tires and budget tires.
There's a guy who is into tire testing, he has a video about the difference of cheap and non cheap tires in the wet: th-cam.com/video/_wo-9112aHw/w-d-xo.html
I usually just change them when the car starts sliding 🤣
**eurobeat intensifies**
Change pants too.
Never skimp on tyres & brakes!
I try to avoid using tyres marked "horse drawn vehicles only". They do exist!
Ditto “not for road use”
Why are you using Pilot Sport tyres in conditions where it can snow? Don't get me wrong, those are fantastic tyres but I wouldn't want to use them when it's constantly below 7c. These are summer specific tyres and they don't work optimally in cold conditions. Your braking distance and overall grip is worse in the cold than they are when the weather is hotter.
To be honest if you cannot google all the info for your tyres that’s scary ( not you , I mean anyone else) , also though if your tyre health is not picked up via services or MOT then something else is going on .👍
If you drive a powerful car - buy premium tyres such as Michelin, Pirelli, Continental. If you don't drive such a vehicle, buy tyres from those same manufacturers (plus Bridgestone, Goodyear). You might think they're expensive, but would you rather be wearing greasy sandals while jogging or proper running shoes? It's the same with tyres!
It's always disappointed me how little attention people pay to their tyres. They're the only thing keeping you on the road, yet they are frequently ignored, unless and until it's MOT time, and the car fails... then it comes down to the cheapest available option.
The last 2 cars I've bought, the first thing I've done is change the tyres, even though they were fairly new. The first car was fitted with a dealer own brand, but they were woeful, and lasted a week. My new car arrived in January, and even though they were running Michelins, I swapped them for decent all seasons, since the snow was falling pretty freely. Wouldn't fit anything else now.
My mate had a pick-n-mix of tyres on her car, some of them decent, some unpronounceable. In the really bad rain we had just yesterday, I got a message from her saying the car was now behaving better than ever in the wet after getting a full set of decent tyres a few weeks ago.
You don't always have to pay top whack, there are decent mid range brands out there. But anyone who thinks they can get a full set of good tyres for the price of a few service station coffees isn't living in the real world, and they likely won't be for much longer.
Yes, it's one of these things that many people ignore. I even had a "Black Circles" fitter a few years ago question why I was replacing old tyres. I had bought a second-hand car that had done very little mileage, but its tyres showed the effects of age and sunlight, with visible cracking in the sidewalls. The owner(!) of this tyre business looked at me as though I was deluded when I told him why I was replacing these tyres (after he queried me because they had loads of tread left).
Devil's advocate here a bit but is it really necessary to replace the tyres at the first sign of cracking (if the tread is good)? In your own example tyre there at the end... that tyre is 14 years old and _didn't fail_. We want to be safe absolutely, but also tyres are expensive and we shouldn't change them too soon and potentially be wasting tyres that could go on happily for a few more years.
Depends how deep the crack is, if it's deep enough to expose the cord/ply used in the construction, it's not legal to use. If it's caused by the rubber deteriorating, then that's usually the case.
5:05 unless you drive a VW Polo.. where its located on the inside of the fuel flap... 😂
Completely illogical?
Seems like a good idea to me. Every time you fill up with fuel you have a reminder to check your tyre pressures.
Good quality budget not second hand.
Could be worse, might have been on the label stuck to the floor of the boot, under the toolkit foam 😶
Wouldn't recommend using run-flats, the reduced driving comfort, increased weight, lowered grip and higher fuel consumption isn't worth it.