I think this needs its own thread as its getting lost in the tyre thread, and when looking for winters on ebay last night the amount of these useless part warns was ridiculous.

There are a lot of winter part worn tyres coming over from germany and being sold at part worn tyre places and ebay, warning there is a reason that the germans take them off when they get to 4mm they dont work anymore in winter, so dont waste money buying any with what may seem a lot of tread, what is legal and ok for summer tread is useless for winter tyres

I wouldn't quite say it's useless......

On balance a 3mm winter tyre will be better than a 3mm summer tyre in the winter. But it really is false economy buying a part worn winter tyre unless it's got a shedload of tread.

Look at the pictures of this tyre and you'll see that in some parts the sipes have worn away to the tread block and chuck another 1 or 2k miles on it and it'll be a bit rubbish in the snow.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1x-235-45...60657?pt=UK_Cars_Tyres_RL&hash=item20be4e5f11

Running 2 winters and 2 summers is far more dangerous than some part worn winters tbh.....

what worries me is people are going to buy these 4mm tyres and think they are safe so wont adjust driving

dave said:

what worries me is people are going to buy these 4mm tyres and think they are safe so wont adjust driving

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It can happen with anything, I seem to have convinced a lot of people to get winter tyres, I just hope one of them doesn't think they're invincible....

306maxi said:

It can happen with anything, I seem to have convinced a lot of people to get winter tyres, I just hope one of them doesn't think they're invincible....

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if i get some an crash i'm blaming you :devil:

see alot on ebay yes

Some winter tyres have like over 10mm tread on them

You do see some UK winter tyres with 6 - 8mm treads

Ziggy

them 10mm all remolds?

dave said:

them 10mm all remolds?

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quiet probably

ziggy

I've looked at several auctions for part worn winter tyres but the photos clearly show the coloured lines around the circumference of the tyre, but yet the tyres often have less than 4mm - are these dodgy and the coloured lines been added with chalk by the seller to make them look new?

jenks69 said:

I've looked at several auctions for part worn winter tyres but the photos clearly show the coloured lines around the circumference of the tyre, but yet the tyres often have less than 4mm - are these dodgy and the coloured lines been added with chalk by the seller to make them look new?

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some are adding the lines saying they wont take returns if their markings are gone, so sounds like they naff tyres and they put that to cover them selves, cant see the markings being there on delivery after they been chucked around from van to hub then lorry to hub then van again

jenks69 said:

I've looked at several auctions for part worn winter tyres but the photos clearly show the coloured lines around the circumference of the tyre, but yet the tyres often have less than 4mm - are these dodgy and the coloured lines been added with chalk by the seller to make them look new?

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Quite possibly. Having seen a couple of tyres with those markings down the middle on ebay I think almost certainly. I know times are tough for you at the moment, but in all honesty I would just stay off the roads if it gets that bad. Sure we've got jobs to go to and college to attend. But sometimes it's just not a good idea to be on the road even if you've got winter tyres. If it's bad enough for you to not be able to get into work then work have to accept it. I was working for the county council last year and went out to a school in the sticks to put some PC's in and on the way there I had a major moment in the work van (A Peugeot Boxer) and said when I got to the school that if it started snowing heavily I was off. The cow of a headmistress got annoyed when it started snowing and I said I was leaving and complained to my boss, but my boss accepted that it was my decision and mine alone.

This is why I wouldn't touch part worn tyres.

Brand new Hankook winter tyres with lots of sipes


Part worn, but still legal tyre and you can see that a shedload of the sipes have gone and what is left probably isn't particularly deep and won't be that great.


I personally wouldn't bother with anything under 5mm and even then I'd want it really cheap as that's more than half of their usuable life on snow and ice.

306maxi said:

Quite possibly. Having seen a couple of tyres with those markings down the middle on ebay I think almost certainly. I know times are tough for you at the moment, but in all honesty I would just stay off the roads if it gets that bad. Sure we've got jobs to go to and college to attend. But sometimes it's just not a good idea to be on the road even if you've got winter tyres. If it's bad enough for you to not be able to get into work then work have to accept it. I was working for the county council last year and went out to a school in the sticks to put some PC's in and on the way there I had a major moment in the work van (A Peugeot Boxer) and said when I got to the school that if it started snowing heavily I was off. The cow of a headmistress got annoyed when it started snowing and I said I was leaving and complained to my boss, but my boss accepted that it was my decision and mine alone.

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Don't worry I wont be buying 2nd hand winter tyres off the bay of dodgy traders. I will however be doing everything I can to get my landy back on the road ASAP! (blown head gasket ) as I know that will get me pretty much anywhere and if I do get stuck it's self sufficient for several days - more than enough to dig my way anywhere I need to be getting. That however won't help me if the Mrs goes into labour before the landy is back on the road so I'll have to venture out in the car to get her to hospital.

dave said:

what worries me is people are going to buy these 4mm tyres and think they are safe so wont adjust driving

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Too many words in that sentence. What worries me is people who won't adjust driving.

Found a few on ebay with 7mm tread, some part worns are from emergency vehicles as I think they change them after minimal wear? I read this somewhere but can't remember where, so I will have a hunt around.

Bookish said:

Found a few on ebay with 7mm tread, some part worns are from emergency vehicles as I think they change them after minimal wear? I read this somewhere but can't remember where, so I will have a hunt around.

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That worries me even more - emergency vehicles will have been driven hard with heavy acceleration and braking, with a large chance of being driven up and down curbs all of which may have stressed the tyre.....

On the other hand they might not have been and could be very bargain-basement

we had a bad winter last year and probably wont have another for many years to come but it seems to have started a massive hype for winter tyres and other similar gear.

in my 4 years on the road i've always got by with normal tyres and a bit of common sense, that's in a lot of different cars too including 2 BMW's!

most of the folk on here with small FWD cars and ABS should have no majour difficulty in the snow with careful driving.

no doubt ill get hammered for that so i'll go hide

x Alex x said:

we had a bad winter last year and probably wont have another for many years to come but it seems to have started a massive hype for winter tyres and other similar gear.

in my 4 years on the road i've always got by with normal tyres and a bit of common sense, that's in a lot of different cars too including 2 BMW's!

most of the folk on here with small FWD cars and ABS should have no majour difficulty in the snow with careful driving.

no doubt ill get hammered for that so i'll go hide

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ABS is in fact a BAD thing in snow. You will brake far better on snow (or gravel for that matter) by locking up your wheels. The snow builds up against the front of the tyre and brakes far better than a rolling tyre on top of snow.

Before doing the typical thing of saying that you can "get by" on summer tyres, you should actually try driving in the snow on winters. The difference is like night and day.

You go from avoiding accidents sometimes just by sheer luck, to avoiding them because you're in more or less complete control.

306maxi said:

ABS is in fact a BAD thing in snow. You will brake far better on snow (or gravel for that matter) by locking up your wheels. The snow builds up against the front of the tyre and brakes far better than a rolling tyre on top of snow.

Before doing the typical thing of saying that you can "get by" on summer tyres, you should actually try driving in the snow on winters. The difference is like night and day.

You go from avoiding accidents sometimes just by sheer luck, to avoiding them because you're in more or less complete control.

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the punto gripped fine last year in thick snow on newish normal tyres so there's not much point if they do the job and work for me.

like i say though, i very much doubt we'll see a winter like last year for a while and if we do the council's are going to be prepared.

x Alex x said:

the punto gripped fine last year in thick snow on newish normal tyres so there's not much point if they do the job and work for me.

like i say though, i very much doubt we'll see a winter like last year for a while and if we do the council's are going to be prepared.

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Grit doesn't magically make all the snow go away though, it gets rid of some, but if it's falling as quick as it was last year there's no chance.

Your definition of fine is obviously different to mine. In recent tests, on snow a winter tyres stopped from 20mph in 20 metres, brand new summers? 72 metres! That's 50 freaking metres more braking distance. If you think that's fine then you need to have your head read