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An Informative Read ...

Interesting that:

''Cars, light van, trailers - minimum depth of the tread on your tyres is 1.6 millimetres, across the central ¾ of the tread around the complete circumference of the tyre.''

that requirement would see a prosecution when 1/4 of the tread width worn below limit was to one side - as can happen with camber/toe variations.
1/8 of tread width is the limit there then.
 
Hands up who knew what stretch tyres were.

Not me. I had to look it up and it means to stretch a tyre onto a much wider rim than intended. Is this the silliest tyre fashion yet.

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VW’s everywhere use the stretch tyre look, bloody idiots
 
Hands up who knew what stretch tyres were.

They've been around a long time now.

With stretch tyres, the wheels can stick out quite a long way from the car and still pass the MOT as the outer "corner" of the tyre which needs to be within the profile of the wheelarch I think.
 
1. So according to Suffolk police, you CAN use your fog lights in all instances of poor visibility (under 100m), including rain or snow, and not only when it's foggy. This is also what I knew, though I have read elsewhere that it's illegal to use fog lights when it's not actually foggy?

2. It is interesting to note that all aftermarket exhaust system that increase the sound level in decibels, as it contravenes the Type Approval of the vehicle and thus makes driving the car on public road an offence. Makes you wonder, when you consider number of threads on here about exhasut modifications....
 
1. So according to Suffolk police, you CAN use your fog lights in all instances of poor visibility (under 100m), including rain or snow, and not only when it's foggy. This is also what I knew, though I have read elsewhere that it's illegal to use fog lights when it's not actually foggy?

Suffolk Police don't make the rules ;)

Highway Code

Rule 226
You MUST use headlights when visibility is seriously reduced, generally when you cannot see for more than 100 metres (328 feet). You may also use front or rear fog lights but you MUST switch them off when visibility improves.
 
Interesting that:

''Cars, light van, trailers - minimum depth of the tread on your tyres is 1.6 millimetres, across the central ¾ of the tread around the complete circumference of the tyre.''

that requirement would see a prosecution when 1/4 of the tread width worn below limit was to one side - as can happen with camber/toe variations.
1/8 of tread width is the limit there then.

I seem to remember that at one time some one had the idea that when the tyre's were being manufactured, a red colored layer would be included, and when the outer thread layers wore down to the red, and it became visible,,,,bingo. that was it. Replace the tyre. But I have never seen it implemented.Would be a very good idea, I think and take all the guess work out of it.
 
Speaking of poor visibility has anybody noticed the number of cars that drive in reduced visibility with just their daylight running lights instead of headlights and I mean just the front DRL because rears aren’t fitted, especially on the m/w.
 
Speaking of poor visibility has anybody noticed the number of cars that drive in reduced visibility with just their daylight running lights instead of headlights and I mean just the front DRL because rears aren’t fitted, especially on the m/w.
That’s because so many people (younger generation?) now have auto lights so they don’t think about lighting (or driving in general for many of them!).
 
That’s because so many people (younger generation?) now have auto lights so they don’t think about lighting (or driving in general for many of them!).
True. And the now common practice of instruments being illuminated independent of the external lights removes another clue that lights aren’t on when they need to be (albeit that there’s always a “lights on” tell tale indicator).

Regarding auto lights, as the lady who did the handover of my E350CDI in Stuttgart said, the auto lights sensor detects darkness, not poor visibility, so you still have to operate the lights manually in some circumstances.
 
Regarding auto lights, as the lady who did the handover of my E350CDI in Stuttgart said, the auto lights sensor detects darkness, not poor visibility, so you still have to operate the lights manually in some circumstances.

My recollection is that on the w211 if the wipers auto-activated then the threshold of brightness at which the auto-lights would activate was higher - so the lights would activate on a dull rainy day.
 
The bottom line is that as the law stands the correct operation of the vehicle is the driver's responsibility.

The car may have auto light, auto wipers, Distronic, autonomous driving, etc, etc, but ultimately the driver is responsible to ensure that the vehicle and the manner in which it is being operated are in accordance with the Highway Code and other applicable regulations.
 
My recollection is that on the w211 if the wipers auto-activated then the threshold of brightness at which the auto-lights would activate was higher - so the lights would activate on a dull rainy day.
Yes - my 212 does this
 
My recollection is that on the w211 if the wipers auto-activated then the threshold of brightness at which the auto-lights would activate was higher - so the lights would activate on a dull rainy day.
It was my understanding the auto-lights came on whenever the wipers operated for longer than 30secs, this was how they worked on my S203 and W219. Nothing to do with light levels, simply linked to wiper operation.
IIRC dipped headlamps on is a legal requirement when driving in rain on the Continent (Germany in my experience)
 
On my previous Citroen the auto wipers would turn the headlights on if it wiped 5 times in 30secs. My C class does roughly the same.
 

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