Are my tyres illegal?

[mk4gtiturbo]

vRS TDI DSG 16k miles still on original tyres.

 

They have 4 grooves going around the circumference of the tyre on three of the groove the wear bars are not showing, but on one of them it is.  I thought the legal limit was 1.6mm over 75% which I am, yes?

 

I will be changing for Eagle F1's shortly but wondering whether I need to do it sooner?

[meb90]

IIRC the legal limit is 1.6mm tread over the central 3/4 (75%) of the tyre for the whole circumference.

 

So I would say you are probably still OK, but its not far off!

 

Edit: Just found this link

http://www.kwik-fit.com/uk-tyre-law.asp

[Ootohere]

Even if they are legal, do you think they are safe for the Winter Season.?

 

Any reason they are so worn in that kind of mileage, ? ie Tyre Pressures correctly set, alignment all correct?

[Crogers]

Wish I could be on 16,000 when mine wear out, I will be lucky to get to 10,000!

[themanwithnoaim]

I reckon they'll make it to payday Matt although, an officer of the law may advise "you to change them very soon"

 

Is it the outside edge thats wearing fastest and more the nearside than offside, bloody roundabout don't half knockout front tyres on diesels.  I've still another 1-1/2 maybe 2mm to wearbands (9-1/2K), thinking of swapping the fronts with the rears and getting all four together, getting very even wear though mind, I'm still running at summer holiday pressures, could be why.

[Orville]

I rotate my tyres back to front in order to even out wear, but as soon as one tyre gets close to the limit I replace the lot. Typically the near-side (left in the UK) wear faster due to our roundabout direction, so I usually end up with about 2mm on the left's and 3mm on the right's when the old ones are replaced.

 

In the wet you definitely start noticing a loss of traction at the 2-3mm point.

[mk4gtiturbo]

Even if they are legal, do you think they are safe for the Winter Season.?

 

Any reason they are so worn in that kind of mileage, ? ie Tyre Pressures correctly set, alignment all correct?

 

I hear stories that they just wear quickly. SportContact 2 - won't be using them again

 

I'm not suggesting that I keep going indefinitely on them, I trying to work out if I need to change them this weekend (tis the Mrs birthday) or if it could wait until next weekend!

 

Wear is in the middle, and yes I have noticed a little flashing orange light on the dash more often recently!

[kallekilponen]

1,6 mm! Wow! That would make me sweat just thinking about it. I felt pretty nervous with my tread being down to just 5 mm this autumn. I would surely have swapped them for the spring if I weren't getting a new car.

 

This chart gives a pretty good idea on how important having enough tread is in the wet:

 

 

I hear stories that they just wear quickly. SportContact 2 - won't be using them again

I had those as the first tires on our Volvo, they lasted ok for a couple of summers, but the SportContact 3s I got after them were finished within a year...the compound just wasn't meant to last...

 

The new SportContact 5s have been pretty good, I've used them for a couple of summers now and they're just gotten to the point where I'd swap them, though not nearly as worn as yours.

Edited 23 January, 2015 by kallekilponen

[KenONeill]

I hear stories that they just wear quickly. SportContact 2 - won't be using them again

 

I'm not suggesting that I keep going indefinitely on them, I trying to work out if I need to change them this weekend (tis the Mrs birthday) or if it could wait until next weekend!

 

Wear is in the middle, and yes I have noticed a little flashing orange light on the dash more often recently!

Which makes me think that you've been running them over-inflated. Do you rely on garage airlines?

[skomaz]

Even if they are legal, do you think they are safe for the Winter Season.?

 

In the state they are they are probabaly still better on snow than new F1s would be...  

[mk4gtiturbo]

Which makes me think that you've been running them over-inflated. Do you rely on garage airlines?

 

To be honest I didn't checked them until the pressure monitor trigger in the summer but when I checked them they were spot on the recommendation.  Possibly I will lower the pressures a psi or two when the new ones are on.

[KenONeill]

To be honest I didn't checked them until the pressure monitor trigger in the summer but when I checked them they were spot on the recommendation.  Possibly I will lower the pressures a psi or two when the new ones are on.

AIUI pressure monitors set themselves to the pressure the tyre is at when the engine is first started after it's fitted rather than using $recommended_pressure.

[gadgetman]

Wish I could be on 16,000 when mine wear out, I will be lucky to get to 10,000!

Michelins is what you need

[Outofthi5world]

Wish I could be on 16,000 when mine wear out, I will be lucky to get to 10,000!

I got about 8,000 on the last set I had. They were crappy budget tyres though so I've put Hankooks on now.

[gordysmit]

8 to 10k on all my tyres on front any way fabia estate tdi remap you 140 ish and 183k on clock