New tyres with old ones

"John" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

How old is the car? Is it one of those where the spare is hung under the boot floor exposed to the elements?

You won't die even if you run the part worn one down to legal minimum.

The car is 8 years old, we bought it two years ago with 28,000 miles on the clock (currently 59,600). The spare was kept in the spare wheel well in the boot, so not exposed to the elements. Within a month of buying the car we had it converted to LPG, so there's now a torroidal LPG tank in the spare wheel well and the spare wheel/tyre has been kept in my garage for the last two years.

"John" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Should be fine, but if that tyre's the thick end of a decade old. I'd be keeping it as a spare, rather than using it.

Yeah, that's why I needed new tyres anyway. They were getting fairly close tread-wise (still legal though) but they were perishing and cracking on the side walls. This one though, presumably because of being stored in the boot and then the garage, shows none of that - but I do take your point. Having spent £252 on renewing my warranty cover that expired 10 days ago, £350 on a new exhaust last week (which is when we discovered how bad the tyres were), and £390 on the tyres I did get yesterday, I just could not run to that fourth tyre. This is just to give me a bit of breathing space until next month then I'll get it.

On an eight year-old car, I wouldn't even worry about using the manufacturer-specified tyres. As long as they're all the same size and type (not necessarily make) you can use any legal tyres you like.

I'd agree with you if it was something like a Fiesta 1.1 or a Peugeot 106 or something pottering round town but this is a 3.0 V6 barge that I often drive to the Czech Republic/Poland/Slovakia. On the german autobahns I often do around 120mph - not that I'll be doing that until I get that fourth brand new tyre, of course - so I prefer to stick with the Michelins.

How does having a spare wheel hung under the car change things? That all my vans have ever had.

"ARWadsworth" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

I've taken some out to find utterly horrible tyres that I wouldn't trust as a swing. On cars less than a decade old, too.

Ahh. That does not apply to me then. I get more than the average number of punctures (perks of the job and 3 this year already) and my spare is usually brand new. When I do get a puncture that it is not repairable then the spare stays on the van and the replacement tyre becomes my spare.

its a pity because Costco were doing a 20 percent off if you bought 4 michelins, but that finished last week

I've not met any tyres over 4 years old that wheren't significantly less grippy than new ones, what hanging around underneath a car does to this I couldn't say though.

Depends on the car, if it's an M3 then I'd suggest you may not enjoy the experience, if it's a DS23 or an A^ then it'll be fine.

"John" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@bt.com:

Is it too soon to say put the two good ones on the back instead of the front? :-)

[...]

It's always too soon to say that...

Chris

Be very wary of old tyres. I had an extremely scary moment on an old bike. The sudden loss of grip while cornering was eventually put down to

14 year old tyres. The problem was that they were unpredictable, ok to a certain point then they would slip, causing the bike to run wide on corners. Could have been caused by the dual compound nature of bike tyres. The outer edges often have a slightly softer compound than the center stripe. New tyres restored normal service. Dave

Doh, Doh and triple Doh!!! :o)