Tyre size legislation

Does anyone know offhand where I can find the relevant law which prohibits fitting tyres which are smaller than original equipment? The "the Land-Rover you sold me is crap" case is coming up in front of the small claim court.

Stuart

Reply to
Stuart Gray
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I seriously doubt there is such a law in the UK. The only legislation that might contain anything like that is probably construction and use regulations.

Reply to
SteveG

Well, I had it on good authority from a tyre fitter I used to know in the UK, and Land Rover are adamant that smaller tyres should not be fitted. I've tried searching for "Construction And Use", and I can only get the recent amendments.

Stuart

Reply to
Stuart Gray

IIRC it's really only law documents post 1988 that are online, and I think the C&U bit that's likely to apply is 1986?

Reply to
Ian Rawlings

For sure wheels and tyres that are outside of the manufacturer's recommendations shouldn't be fitted .. but that doesn't make it illegal to fit them.

I don't think there's a copy of C&U on the government web site as it's too old. IIRC they haven't bothered converting older legislation into electronic format.

Reply to
SteveG

I agree, it might not be a good idea, but I don't believe it is actually illegal. The only thing that it may do is invalidate your insurance if they are not up to the specification that the manufacturer recommends.

If LR UK say that it should not be done, then I would suggest you ask them to write a letter stating that it is dangerous to fit wheels/tyres that do not meet the OE specifications.

Having been through the small claim court process, I'd say that they are generally in favour of the private individual in terms of having to provide 'proof' - I wouldn't make silly claims or try to over play it because if you have a good case A, it is not necessary and B, it will be sure to turn the Judge against you. Just state the facts as they are, (paperwork backup counts for a lot) and explain your case. Make sure you follow the rules of the Court too - check them out to make sure you have complied. In my experience, the people working at the Court were very helpful whenever I phoned to ask for advice on following procedure.

Matt

Reply to
Matthew Maddock

On or around Mon, 13 Aug 2007 08:01:21 GMT, SteveG enlightened us thusly:

Try

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for affordable legislation inmachine-readable format. nowt to do with me except that I have his e-bookand occasionally it's dead handy.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

Well there certainly used to be one prohibiting inflation > 2psi from the OEM's recommendations. That came out when radials started to proliferate together with thou shall't not wronly mix radials and crossplies.

Reply to
GbH

What size did you have fitted? Smallest factory fitment is 205 ..... ISTR

Reply to
Neil Brownlee

Fitting smaller tyres would effect the speedo reading unless they had also changed the gearing on the drive (which is unlikely). The speedo would read faster than you were actually travelling and the tolerance is IIRC 10% in that direction. So if the percentage change in circumference of the tyre is more than 10% they are illegal IMO by virtue of the fact they are screwing up the speedo.

The other place to look is the type approval and whether tyre sizes are incorporated in that documentation.

Reply to
hugh

Ah! Where would Iget the type approval info?

Stuart

Reply to
srtgray

Having a speedo that doesn't meet EU standards is (technically) an offence but that doesn't make the fitment of wheels/tyres that cause the speedo to be inaccurate an offence.

Type approval is secondary to construction and use, IINM.

Reply to
SteveG

Vehicle manufacturer.

--=20 Regards

Steve G

Reply to
SteveG

Blimey, you pop up everywhere :-)

Reply to
SteveG

A thought just occurred to me ~ and that doesn't happen often I can assure you :-)

By smaller, do you mean width or diameter?

Reply to
SteveG

But selling a vehicle with a defective speedo would be grounds for seeking compensation would it not?

Reply to
hugh

Maybe, but I would think you'd have to prove that the seller knew the speedo was defective. The C&U/EU standard for speedometer readings is only applicable to new units anyway (unless the legislation has recently changed) because the mechanism of the speedo can and does wear with use. In fact when I was involved in designing instrumentation (including speedo's) the C&U regs only covered the design criteria and not the physical item itself ~ manufacturing tolerances were much wider then and we tested some units that were way outside what the design suggested was likely. I'm pretty certain though that the regs now cover the actual manufactured item.

Having a speedo that reads incorrectly because the wrong size tyres are fitted would not be a cause for compensation, to my mind, because if you refitted the correct tyres the speedo would then read correctly.

Reply to
SteveG

Both, wider tyres have a larger overall diameter. So to keep the diameter the same if you fit wider tyres you have to use a lower profile than the original.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff

But we are talking about the state at the point of sale are we not. Which would mean the seller knowingly sold a vehicle which was not conforming to the law by virtue of the impact of smaller tyres on the speed indicator - not withstanding what you have said about speedo design. I wouldn't recommend anyone going along to court and pleading not guilty to a speeding charge on the basis of a worn speedo. My understanding - and IANAL - is that you are required to have an indication of the speed at which you are travelling with a tolerance of zero for reading slow and 10% for reading fast. Smaller tyres would result in an indication faster than you are actually travelling.

This is a debate really about consumer protection I think rather than C&U.

Reply to
hugh

ISTR this thread being a repeat of one some time ago, but ISTR that the previous time around, someone came up with some clause somewhere that showed the smaller sizes weren't legal. Perhaps if the OP did a quick google groups -> advanced rummage?

Reply to
Ian Rawlings

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