got stopped last night for being a bit quick through the local car park, they done me for duff tyres on the rear! could of got me for both and had the car towed but gave me 3 points and a £60 fine for one and let me drive the car back home, i was lucky!
If I got points I'd inform them at renewal I think. 3 points for a bald tyre will make no difference, remembering he's already declaring a ban for doing 119mph ;-)
Illegal tyres - sorry, no sympathy from this corner!
Tyres are the only thing that stop the car dragging metal across the ground, without them it doesn't go, stop or corner. Handling and grip are comprimised well before the legal limit, and really, you should just know better...
Depends on the wording of the policy, but all mine have said words to the effect of, "tell us if you get any points." Any difference - well that's a moot point really.
i know i know stupid really i've never let the tyres get that low or even to the legal limit in the past. feel such a c*ck, all the things to get points for!
ah well should have known better and on a RWD car too bit silly eh
also i'm guessing proper slicks have more rubber than a tyre that had tread and had been worn right down. from bald tyres you risk no grip and also a blow out if the tyre heats up and the rubber hasn't enough thickness to expand.
stupid thing is i know this and how dangerous bald tyres can be especially in the wet! and i still got half arsed when it came to getting them changed!
Normal road tires also get softer and more grippy as temperature rises. A bald tire (canvas not coming through) has indeed more grip on a dry surface than the same tire threaded.
In older days (read the days that in the 2cv-circuitracing the rules said "road tires" in stead of "road legal road tires") we raced junkyard tires we had sanded off so you could barely see the threads.
They were 2-3 sec a lap faster than our wets ( which were the same tires but with profile).
We even had our qualifying tire: that was the shaved tire put into a box where a litre of aceton was versed into. It stayed there for a night and went then in a closed plastic bag untill it was put on the car.
It took you 2-3 laps (14 km) around Spa before you were riding on canvas (grip went south somewhat before). We could not lock up the fronts with these tires.
We had all kinds of complaints but it was legal. Two races later everybody did it... and still they wondered why we were fastest. Even after 4 saisons of 2cv-racing they were unable to figure out the fact that our car was 150 kg lighter than theirs could be of importance.
I once asked the European Streetbike champion (drag racing) what were the best tyres to use? He answered "a new one". Turns out hes right.
As tyres get older all the oils and chemicals and stuff evaoporate and dry out. You often see bike racers "sniffing" tyres in the shop. The strongest smelling ones are the stickyest! An old tyre that gone through many heating and cooling cycles is crap in terms of grip compared to a new fresh one. This is especially so on sticky track compound type tyres on bikes but is true of all tyres. The tread depth isnt the important thing here (in the dry) but the remaining caercase strength and wear and the condition of the rubber compound. If you want to race street tyres, new ones with most of the tread shaved off are best. no tread to shuffle/walk.
Go sniff a new tyre, compare it to an old used one. The reason that the old one has no smell is because everything that can evaporate out of the compound has already done so leaving it "dry" - like glue curing - and often a hard crumbly rubber behind.
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