tyres

[Sydsmith]

Ten years that's better, but still makes tyres a significant cost per mile when running a classic car for only a few miles per year.

I have three the SP250 and V8 250 tyres have a couple of years left, the 15 is fitted with 4.50/5.25 17" the car has been standing for 7 years and all the tyres have cracked walls so well past their use by date and will have to be replaced before I venture it out onto the road. I am in for a hefty tyre bill over the next few years.

The main point of course is that though tyres may look fine and drive OK what would happen if you had an accident with tyres past their use by date, what would be the insurance companies attitude to a claim?

[Chris_R]

Without any specific regulation on tyre age there's not much that can be done by insurance companies unless the tyres are visibly cracked which would fail an MOT and then it could be argued the car was not roadworthy. I'm aware of one fatality where the coroner specifically attributed the unfortunate MG owners death to the age of the tyres which had failed causing the car to crash and rollover on the M6.

[marchesmark]

Syd,

Just my opinion of course, but I think cheap tyres are a false economy. We could debate the safety aspects of cheap vs expensive tyres, but beyond that, if you are only going to do 1000 miles a year, don't you want it to be memorable for all the right reasons? Even if decent tyres are twice the cost, on your calculations that's just an extra 10p a mile to drive a decent handling, well behaved car, as opposed to fighting the thing on every bump, pothole and corner. And there's every chance you'd enjoy it so much you'd do more miles in it!

I do also think the difference in brands is much more pronounced in pre-war crossplies than modern radials. My own car is a lot happier on a set of Blockleys than it was on old Lesters which were't up to the job, and in fact I would thoroughly recommend Blockleys if they have the right size; they are one of the few pre-war tyre brands tested to modern standards.

Mark