What makes the perfect Winter car

[BTB 500]

My space saver is the one that came with the car....so at least 2009! I've never had to use it but I would. To be honest I've never heard of anyone replacing a space saver tyre just due to its age!! But personally I like my road tyres under 5 or 6 years old....its rare they last that long anyway. And I change tyres over 10 years old on anything I buy regardless of what it looks like.....it will have hardened and wont grip anything like as well as a new one...even of the same tyre.. When I sell caravans I cant let anything go out of the gate with tyres over 5 years old.

Caravans are a bit different in that the tyres are almost always permanently exposed to UV and they typically spend most of the year standing in one position (with a lot of weight on them). Also you often only have two of them, so losing one is a 'bad thing' Hence I do replace my caravan tyres based on age (same with gas hoses, of course) ... even though I have Tyron bands and TPMS.

As far as cars go the tyres on a rarely used 2nd / 3rd car kept in a cool & dark garage won't age any quicker than spares do. But a low mileage car parked up outside in the open is a different matter.

 

[ALFAitalia]

Yes....the NCC wont let us sell a van with 5 year plus tyres on....so in reality we have to replace them at just over four years as we probably wont see them until the next service in 12 months....We don't even stock Tyron bands anymore. Thing of the past with a very minimal effect on safety. When caravan wheels had a deep centre well that the band filled it certainly stopped a tyre dropping into it a popping the off the bead.....but for the last 15 years or so caravan alloys don't even have a centre well....just a gentle slope from side to side.....making it much harder for the tyre to come off when flat....and harder to change tyres!! Now the Tyron band are just narrow things that live in the bottom of that slope. Obviously dealers that sell them and Tyron themselves will have a different story.......! And of course you can still get an insurance discount for having them.

When they worked...


Now!