Does tyre-dressing rot tyres ?

Losing the tread from a radial remould at 100mph plus is exciting.

MrCheerful

Anyone doing 100mph on a remould is probably looking for a bit of excitement. ;-)

Tim

and it was really old and had been standing still for a few years. I was much younger and take more care since. I went out and bought 4 new tyres a few days after the incident. The car: an ex-1300 Cortina Mk3 with a 3 litre Essex lump from a Capri.

Do Colway still do remoulds? They were the tyre of choice for budget rally teams, and had a decent reputation.

Sadly not. They were excellent value for money - and IMHO a better tyre than many a budget brand which cost more. But 'remould' was tainted in the public view - even although they remould aircraft tyres.

I'd not be keen on running *any* old tyre which has been unused for years up to its maximum. And I'd be surprised if that remould was ever rated at

and when you were twenty or so?

and what was really lucky was that I had recently removed the locked diff, or I would probably not be here, nor my passengers.

Didn't have a car capable of 100 mph. ;-)

Which was why I built one or two or more, thinking about it, quite a lot. :)

Not sorry to see the end of remoulds, although I never had a radial remould.

I had one of a new pair strip on my way to a continental holiday, bought two replacements and subsequently got my money back. And I was being careful to do 100 miles at 50 mph (and not highly loaded).

Yes. Many will remember remould stories and tar them all with the same brush. I remember being in a near new very expensive car where a tyre wrecked itself on a motorway. Perhaps I should be wary of new tyres. ;-)

I've just changed the spare on a 'P' registered car.

Not been used (or perhaps once?) since we bought the car around 2007. Given that the 4 wheels in use had been "reprofiled" with slightly skinnier rubber it was probably not used by the previous owner either.

Who knows, it could have been original.

Anyway, looking at it one day I saw fissures all round the tyre following the gaps in the tread. So obviously beyond serviceable life.

I also had a camper tyre with loads of tread blow out on me (thankfully at very low speed) and AFAICR that was less than 10 years old but starting to suffer from small side wall cracks.

You probably can't tell by looking at it, but I would be tempted to change it for a new one and then rotate the wheels including the spare on a regular basis (as they used to recommend for all cars). I seem to remember a diagram where you swapped corners diagonally with one tyre going in as the spare and the spare coming out.

One thing - IIRC some "sportier" tyres are asymmetric and so need to be fitted to match the side of the car they are on. As far as I can see this makes rotation (apart from front to back on the same side) a non-starter unless you get the tyre changed round on the rim. Your spare is also only "correct" for one side of the car.

Ah -

Dave R

Hi, Silicone based tire dressings definitely do degrade tires. I regularly used the aerosol-based products on my car every week when cleaning it.

I have had two separate experiences with degraded rubber in recent years until I figured it out. I bought a very expensive set of premium all-weather tires for my Hyundai Tuscon. Within a year these had deteriorated to the point where the side walls and edge tread were crazed and cracked. Thinking this was a manufacturing fault with the rubber compound I contacted the supplier and was given a full refund. I then changed to another premium brand and again bought an expensive set of all-weather tires. About 8 months into their life, it was picked up as an advisory on an MOT that the side walls and tread were crazed and cracking.

The MOT tester said he had seen it on countless occasions with dressed tires. He blamed the silicone in the tire dressing for attacking. the rubber and drying out the surface making them crack. He even said that the silicone compound on the tire was actually dissolving his rubber gloves that he had on while carrying out the inspection.

I have since swapped to a water-based product on my latest car and after 18 months have not had an issue..

So be very aware, the silicone-based sprays definitely cause rubber deterioration in your tire side walls.