More balls

yes in theory, more footprint on the road but overheating or beyond manefacturers spec?

If it is so bald as to all the "tread" layers of the rubber have worn away and it's down to the differently formulated bands underneath it will have little grip wet or dry. If it's down to the cords then anything is possible...

Malc ( snipped-for-privacy@ubht.swest.nhs.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Here we go again...

Bald != Slick.

By the time a tyre gets bald, it's fooked, and grips about as well as the Andrex puppy on lino.

Malc ( snipped-for-privacy@ubht.swest.nhs.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Oh, yes... Bad form an' all that.

I did find myself idly wondering if the plod let him off the second bald front ("It's very borderline") because of the camera.

Kiddo had had his licence for 9 months = 6pts, retest.

TBH, I hope not. It would have been a difficult call, but I think he made the right decision. The little turd's had a scare, and is on a final warning for the next 15 months with his licence anyway. Banning him would have achieved nothing. Hopefully, this is the "You're not immortal, bozo" slap that he needs.

It looked like they let him off the completly as I remember the copper said something like "if I had seen that on the road you would have got..."

The message from Adrian contains these words:

I had one of them as a yoof and it made a hell of a difference to me over the years.

yeah. they also had a go at a motorcyclist (noth the one that was stopped) for overtaking on a white line. Which there's nothing wrong with so long as you don't cross the line.

annnnnd, he didn't know his left from his right when pointing at the chevron signs

One tyre below legal limit, one borderline IIRC.

Even if this were true(*), it is next to impossible to guarantee dry weather and dry roads on every trip. For that reason, tread is required. Just like working lights, wipers, etc, even if you're going out through the day when the sun is shining.

(*) Road tyres are not made from the same compounds as race slicks, which grip mostly because they are so hot as to be almost melting. It's far from clear that road-going compounds also grip much better in the dry. Even if they did, their on-the-limit behaviour might be to suddenly let go completely. I think treaded tyres will "scrabble" to some extent.

This old chestnut. I remember seeing a car show where they tested, albeit one car and one brand of tyre, new with borderline legal and indeed in the dry the car with the worn tyres set faster lap tmes & stopped more quickly. This was a long time ago & probably wouldn't get shown on TV these days. Now if the tyres had *no* tread I dunno what the outcome would have been. Some high-performance tyres are dual compund and do indeed get grippier the more they're worn.

( snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Probably new tyres "scrubbed" or "shaved" - which are a different kettle of fish to aged bald, as they've not had all the heating cycles and the rest of the abuse.

Or it's on a bend, which leaves you unsighted - asking for trouble.

I'd assumed that the yoof was approaching from the other direction so the bend went to the left, but sadly for him - he went straight on! I also thought that he was let off the tyres with a warning. I didn't see the earlier part of the programme, but SWMBO thought the copper was being inconsistent. I thought he made the right decision. Even if he was insured fully comp the insurance assessor is not going to be impressed with slick front tyres.

It sounded as though he didn't really have enough money to be running the car!

They only seemed to have about 50p between them and no mobile.

I know. I wasn't arguing the need to have tread. I just thought I'd comment on what I thought was a duff conclusion and see if I could stir up a discussion or something.

Ah, sorry, I read your post too quickly. I would tend to agree. An attitude of total superiority seems to be pre-programmed into most traffic cops.