I've been observing a local Citroen car near me with seriously bald front tyres. I walk past it when walking the dogs. The car is in regular use.

6 months ago the I noticed the front tyres were almost totally bald mainly on the outer 3''.

Today the metal wire of the tyres is visible around the whole tyre!!!

What would you do??

Ring 101?

Speak to owner?

Mind your own business?

Found this - Assume 101 is local non-emergency police? I would almost consider it a duty as you could be saving their life/lives and potential people they hit when the tyre blows.

Driving and vehicles

Contact your local Police directly with any of the following issues:

• using a mobile phone while driving
  
• speeding on the roads
  
• not using seat belts when driving
  
• bald tyres on a car
  
• children not using booster seats.
  

Will see if I can get a pic when I see car next and yes could save someone's life by ringing non emergency police on 101.

I've seen some comedy tyres when on holiday in North Africa and similar places but this Citroen is up with the best. The car looks very tidy otherwise.

You could leave a note on the screen giving the driver until the end of the week to sort it or you'll contact 101? Might want to add how dangerous this is and that each tyre will cost them a minimum of 3 points and a £60 FPN if the police see them, that is of cousre assuming the driver has a licence and insurance etc!

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Yep, I agree, contact the police.

Report the owner as he's obviously mad - he bought a Citroen!

You could leave a note on the screen giving the driver until the end of the week to sort it or you'll contact 101? Might want to add how dangerous this is and that each tyre will cost them a minimum of 3 points and a £60 FPN if the police see them, that is of cousre assuming the driver has a licence and insurance etc!

I

This does seem a fairer approach. If it was your eldely relative who wasnt aware of their tyres would you not rather someone did the kind thing rather than grassing them up? At least if they still dont change them you can call 101 guilt free.

You could leave a note on the screen giving the driver until the end of the week to sort it or you'll contact 101? Might want to add how dangerous this is and that each tyre will cost them a minimum of 3 points and a £60 FPN if the police see them, that is of course, assuming the driver has a licence and insurance etc!

^^^ + 1

Pinched this from another site...

"One defective or bald tyre could see drivers hit with a fine of up to £2,500 and three penalty points or up to £5,000 and 6 points for two defective tyres.

In fact if all four tyres were defective, the maximum fine could be as much as £10,000 with a whopping 12 penalty points."

Do something - I've seen a tyre this bad exactly once, and it was caused by a FUBAR lower ball joint.

Can't you discretely disable the tyre :think:

Coz slicks have more grip.

And the wire is a built in tyre chain for the snow FTW!

Contact the local Police. Pound to a penny of poo, if the tyres are shot there will be other issues with the car, such as absence of MOT and insurance.

Edited 13 February, 201313 yr by kevberlin

Report, if it had a blow out or skidded into someone you would never forgive yourself. Leaving notes threatening to report could lead to a smack in the mouth.

As for wire in tyres, back in the 50's there used to be a winter tyre called "Wiresole" which had wire moulded into the tread. The company (Firestone?) tried to get my Father to equip his fleet with them. They had a demo on a track somewhere and my Old Man had one of his drivers drive a Jag past the stand they were in and lock up its wheels, to a shower of sparks from the tyres. He turned to the tech reps and pointed out his trucks carried fuel oils..... They didn't catch on commercially.

Edited 13 February, 201313 yr by P6bJOHN

Contact the local Police. Pound to a penny of poo, if the tyres are shot there will be other issues with the car, such as absence of MOT and insurance.

Someone is bound to say this is sexist of me, but the case I quoted was a lady driver who only took the car to the garage "because it's making a lot of noise at the front".

I'd drop a note on it. Give them a week/weekend then report.

I put a new set of tyres on mine one time and by three months later the inside edge was on the wire. I'd not have noticed if it weren't for the convenient placing of an MOT. I'd visually checked the wheels at a glance plenty of times, but as it was the tracking that was messed up I only saw the outside 3/4 of the tyre which was a happy 7mm or so.

I'm not the biggest stickler for checking these things, but I'm sure I'm not as lax as most. So I could imagine someone with little car knowledge not looking at their tyres simply due to ignorance rather than a blatant attempt to save cash or any malicious reasons.

Give them a chance to rectify it first. They may not have even noticed or know their tyres need replacing.

Went past the place where this car parks but no sign of it. Must be under steering around town somewhere!

Don't want to be a Noris from correnation street type vigilante so will try and have a word with the owner first. It's probably a female with no knowlage of cars lol!

If I get a mouth full for offering my advise I'll ring police .

Edited 13 February, 201313 yr by mr rooney

Me personally would knock on the door and tell them, leave it a few days and if they are still the same, ring the 101.

Worse case scenario (touch wood it doesnt happen) would be you walking your dog and that car youve seen with 2 bald tyres has crashed and ran over someone due to it going pop. You then think back and think, "**** i should of done something". You could prevent it, i would.

They might not know they have bold tyres - it wouldn't surprise me one bit.

I would just ask them if they knew initially.

There must be something clearly wrong with you if you couldnt see you have bald tyres over a 6 month period. Either cant be arsed to change it or actually havent seen it.

They might not know they have bold tyres - it wouldn't surprise me one bit.

I would just ask them if they knew initially.

If they don't know they have bald tyres then they are too irresponsible to own a car.

There must be something clearly wrong with you if you couldnt see you have bald tyres over a 6 month period. Either cant be arsed to change it or actually havent seen it.

I think you might be very surprised to find out just how many people just don't check their cars AT ALL! some see the annual MOT performing this task. I'm not defending them in any way, it's just that as enthusiasts we look after our cars, but not everyone else is the same- SWMBO wouldn't have a clue what to do I'm afraid. Her idea of checking the tyres is does she have 4 and are they black and round.....if the answer to all 3 is yes carry on.... I kid u not! My ex siter in law bought a car off me, 9 months later she rang me up said it had broken down. A tow to the garage and they confirmed it was siezed solid, no oil in it at all... she then tried to tell me I'd sold her a dud, asked when she last checked the oil she then admitted she never had

I think people are cutting corners more with the recession and rising living costs unfortunately :(

I think you might be very surprised to find out just how many people just don't check their cars AT ALL! some see the annual MOT performing this task. I'm not defending them in any way, it's just that as enthusiasts we look after our cars, but not everyone else is the same- SWMBO wouldn't have a clue what to do I'm afraid. Her idea of checking the tyres is does she have 4 and are they black and round.....if the answer to all 3 is yes carry on.... I kid u not! My ex siter in law bought a car off me, 9 months later she rang me up said it had broken down. A tow to the garage and they confirmed it was siezed solid, no oil in it at all... she then tried to tell me I'd sold her a dud, asked when she last checked the oil she then admitted she never had

Quality!

Totally agree with above!

On lunch today with 6 work colleagues all of which drive half decent cars I asked the question what's the minimum legal tread depth of a tyre.... not one of them had a clue. I then asked what pressure do you use in your tyres .... no one had a clue. Then asked how often do you check tyre pressures and they all said they let the garage do it every year when they have a service lol! They thought I was mad checking tyre depths and pressures.

Pretty scarey really!

Mind if I ask what industry/job role that is? Just out of curiosity.