MOT tyre condition

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OK.
It looks like I'm shopping at Black Circles & Wheel Worx tomorrow.
For ongoing protection of alloy rims, does anyone have experience of AlloyGator or similar?
Uniroyal Rainsport 3 tyres have excellent reviews on the other MB forum. They even have sharks on the sidewall!
 
I am sure the manufacturers would like us to replace at 6.5mm!!

But the latest tech on tyres is about minimising performance degradation throughout tyre life.

Personally I would replace at 2-2.5mm in wet months and under 2mm -still legal in summer.
 
The tryre's resistance to aquaplaning is reduced as the thread depth goes down.

The reduction in wet performance is gradual.

The tyre manufacturers say that below 3mm thread depth the tyre will be operating outside of its performance envelope.

However thread depth should have no impact on dry performance or grip. These will be reduced through repeated flexing, aging, and exposure of the rubber to cold weather and UV light, all of which are only indirectly related to mileage and thread depth.

So the tyre with the low thread depth is likely to perform less well also in the dry, but this will be due to age and other factors and not directly related to thread depth.

The tyre manufactures say that a new tyre should not be fitted to the car if it's older that 6 years, and not be used at all if it's older than 10 years, regardless of thread depth.
 
+1 for Goodyear F1 so far as noise and comfort are concerned. (Dunlop also very good on noise)
 
SLK is in for MOT in about 1 months time.
All 4 tyres are dated late 2012/early 2013. There is 5mm tread remaining on the fronts & 3mm on the rears.
However, all 4 tyres are perished around the outside of the tread
Will it fail MOT due to this?

Age-related degradation isn't unusual on vehicles that do low annual mileage, particularly if parked outside (exposure to UV plays a big part in this). Very common with caravan/trailer tyres - those never really wear at all and are supposed to be replaced every 5-6 years regardless.
 
Would the regular application of tyre gel delay the type of degradation seen in the OP?
 
It might do - I'm sure I've seen some brands mentioning that as a feature.
 
SLK is in for MOT in about 1 months time.
All 4 tyres are dated late 2012/early 2013. There is 5mm tread remaining on the fronts & 3mm on the rears.
However, all 4 tyres are perished around the outside of the tread
View attachment 78735
Will it fail MOT due to this?

Your tyres will pass an mot with that perishing, tyres have a life of ten years so you are still within the life expectancy of them, i would not fail them on an mot for normal wear or tear or even mention the perishing as an advisory unless its really bad
 
Fronts 225 40 ZR18 92Y
Rears 245 35 ZR18 92Y
Want to spend as little as possible!! But equally, want a good tyre. One never knows when the car may be sold on so sticking cheap & nasty tyres on would not help a sale. Also want the car to be reasonably safe.
So, probably middle ground on price.
Goodyear Eagle F1 also came up on my initial first search, £81.90 supply only or £97.50 fitted

Let me stop you there. When it comes to tyres and brakes in general “Want to spend as little as possible” is the wrong attitude.

Those are the two things keeping you on the road and not a ditch or wherever else you want to imagine. There is no such thing as cheap good tyre. The top manufacturers invest millions in rnd, and along it comes a small chinese company claiming very similar ratings. That is total bull.

At the lowest end of the premium spectrum you should go for Eagle F1s. Those are good tyres at reasonable price. If you want the best of the best and are prepared to swallow it, Michelin is your friend. I have a set of Primacy 3s on my car and they are brilliant. No PS4s due to sizing.

In terms of the best going at the moment, money no object, PS4s are your pick.

Your call at the end of the day, just my 2p’s worth.
 
Choices so far
Dunlop Sport Maxx RT2 total £369
Goodyear Eagle F1 total £389
but haven't looked into the others mentioned above yet (tonight's job).
I'm surprised that the rears are typically £40 - £50 more than the fronts!
Hi if you use Wheel Worx ask them about fitting new tyres they are very keen on prices and then you will get it all done at once,I take it you are using the Bury St Edmunds branch
I was going to buy the tyres & ask wheel worx to fit them. Yes, Bury more convenient than Colchester.
 
Choices so far
Dunlop Sport Maxx RT2 total £369
Goodyear Eagle F1 total £389
but haven't looked into the others mentioned above yet (tonight's job).
I'm surprised that the rears are typically £40 - £50 more than the fronts!

I was going to buy the tyres & ask wheel worx to fit them. Yes, Bury more convenient than Colchester.

Just to put those numbers in prospective, to show it’s not all bad, that is roughly the price you would expect for 4 tyres on a mazda 3 in sport trim with 17s.

And on the other end of the scale I just got 2 new runflats for the bmw which were 245/45/19 and it was £470. Shave off £70/80 if you go for standard rubber.
 
Bought the tyres from www.tyres-guru.co.uk, total price £366.80 for 4 x Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3.
For ongoing protection of alloy rims, does anyone have experience of AlloyGator or similar?
 
Let me stop you there. When it comes to tyres and brakes in general “Want to spend as little as possible” is the wrong attitude.

Those are the two things keeping you on the road and not a ditch or wherever else you want to imagine. There is no such thing as cheap good tyre. The top manufacturers invest millions in rnd, and along it comes a small chinese company claiming very similar ratings. That is total bull.

At the lowest end of the premium spectrum you should go for Eagle F1s. Those are good tyres at reasonable price. If you want the best of the best and are prepared to swallow it, Michelin is your friend. I have a set of Primacy 3s on my car and they are brilliant. No PS4s due to sizing.

In terms of the best going at the moment, money no object, PS4s are your pick.

Your call at the end of the day, just my 2p’s worth.
This years Auto Express tyre test put the PS4 in second place drawn with the Dunlop Sport Maxx RT2. Both were beaten by the Contintental PremiumContact 6.
 
This years Auto Express tyre test put the PS4 in second place drawn with the Dunlop Sport Maxx RT2. Both were beaten by the Contintental PremiumContact 6.

That is fair enough. The last contis I tried were the 3s. While I rate them highly for the phenomenal grip they provide, they wear faster than you can sneeze so to speak. I have read that with the 6s longevity is improved a great deal, but not had a chance to try them out yet, and unless they bring out a run flat in very odd size I probably never will.

In fact I did run the last Mercedes of Contis and loved them.

I do recommend Contis, but I always warn people about the wear. So far though I’m very impressed with the Michelins. Even at low tread they have very good grip, where most others will fall off noticeably.
 
!.6mm is recommended more for the reason of structural integrity, but anything 3mm and below is considered the danger of Aquaplaning. In fact 1.6mm or 3mm the risk of aquaplaning is more or less the same, hence the reason now that it will be an advisory on your MOT. And that is reported on any part of the tyre irrespective of percentage like the 1.6mm fail aspect.
 
The TWI bars moulded into all tyres are the manufactures 'minimum' but I would never go that low on my car. Might work if you lived in the Nevada desert and never expected to see rain.

3mm would be the absolute minimum for me.
 
Had same wear pattern on my W205 on fronts only. MB recommended that front and back are swapped (same rotation only) although this obviously only works when tyres same size (mine is C250). The rear tyres wear normally in the centre, so swapping will allow you to get some extra miles.
Type pressure sensors will need resetting once swapped
 
Car currently has slightly darker shade of grey than standard on the alloys which I quite like.
Any opinions on whether to go even darker?alloy wheel.jpg offside roof down.jpg
 

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