Part worn tyres

[Jerzy Woking]

It rarely rains here, and when it does, I don't go driving. The roads, especially the motorways, don't drain well, and water sits on the surface, increasing aquaplaning. 

The decent brand BF Goodrich tyres on my 1.3 Doblo have been wrecked by the sun in under 3 years. Big cracks in the sidewalls that I hadn't noticed because I just looked at the tread. I would imagine most part worns here are the same, so I will steer clear of them.

[horriblemercedes]

28 minutes ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

Sub-brand of Continental, of Slovakian origins.

Perhaps, but I guarantee that a known brand would be better.

 

It's not just grip. Cars just drive and feel better on good tyres. They're more than just a thing that allows a car to get an MOT.

 

 

[AnnoyingPentium]

3 minutes ago, horriblemercedes said:

It's not just grip. Cars just drive and feel better on good tyres.

Better than the shite that was on it before. Felt like going sideways constantly plus they were deafening before. Feels better planted and more nimble.

3 minutes ago, horriblemercedes said:

They're more than just a thing that allows a car to get an MOT.

I bought them by choice when I fitted my alloy wheels to the car.

Would I buy them again? Probably not. Would I buy part worns? Probably. Depends what deal I'm getting with the tyre place we've used outside of Budget since Budget was just absorbed into Kwik Shit Fit.

[Tenmil Socket]

13 hours ago, Dave_Q said:

Used to quite like a part worn but all the places near me seem to want £25-30 for something with like 4mm tread, by which time you might as well buy a new one for £40-50.

This...

[beko1987]

Ive run part worms before and been OK. Alot of it was the place I used was good (by the football club in Wycombe). Xm got a nice set of not_bad tyres, when I met Amy we replaced the fucked deathtrap tyres on her corsa with way better tyres for a decent cost. 

Were always fun for snow tyres too. I remember I got a nail in the tyre on the xm so went in and they had winter tyres about, did I fancy it. Was late August so I thought fuck it, go on then! Warmest dryest winter I've known that year was 🙄 They just wore fucking quickly and I've never bothered again. 

But then I went there once and the selection was pretty bad and the price had gone up a fiver. Was also about the time we discovered online tyres, when they first burst on the market and I bought 4 rainsport 3's for my green zx... Was maybe £40 more expensive than part worns were for the set... 

Nowadays I'm not quite as skint, and my Xsara wears £32 fitted national tyre special budget brand, which seems a reasonable price to me. I can have a van come out for that cost, or limp to a branch anywhere (and hope they've got one in stock 😂) Not touched part worns since, bar buying cars with good tyres on. Had a set of laguna 2 alloys and tyres over 2 cars 😂 

I'd not hesitate to if needed though, I'd ask to see inside the tyre first. The Wycombe garage did that, they'd happily show me the condition first. Used to get alot of taxi trade, which is why the tyres were so good. Must have dried up and then I went back and got a pair of fairly end of life mitchelins fitted, by people I'd not seen before

[colino]

I'm sure some parts of the country will be different, but there are only two part worn specialists left close to me.  They are shit. They are not connected but use the same updated business model.  They no longer bother stamping the tyres,  they no longer buy in containers from Germany.  What they now do is buy in tyres from real tyre places in the area,  they pay £6 for a brand, £1.50 for the weird names.  Do they care they are available because the honest tyre bay has condemned them and they are unfit for repair?  Of course not.

Incidentally, the tyre bay s selling them pretending they are just disposing of them are just as complicit with these criminals.

[dozeydustman]

I’m currently running part worn winter tyres on the C2. We quite often visit friends and family who live in isolated places up dirt tracks so the mud & snow wheels make a lot of difference. £85 for 2x 2017 Hankooks with 7mm and 2x 2019 Fuldas which had barely been used, purchased on eBay. I paid £60 for the pair of Hankooks…. Fuldas are ok for a cheaper brand, by far from the best so £25/pair is a bargain. They’re very noisy though.

Matching pairs on each axle. They’re in good condition and the friendly independent tyre man certified them as in good condition with no case damage.

If you get a tyre 2-3 years old, certainly no older than 5 years with a good amount of tread you can get a bargain if it’s priced well. It’s when they charge £30-40 a boot for a used budget which retails for £notmuchmore new that gets me.

[sierraman]

Few people will inspect a part worn properly or even know what to look for, obviously on here most people will have a fair idea. Generally where it’s a price led decision for Mr Average they’ll just chuck any on, could be 20 years old they’d be non the wiser the fact of the matter is they can’t afford new tyres. Last ones I went to view several years ago at a well known place in Rotherham put me well off the idea, they wanted £45 for a pair of Continentals, duly went to view them, they were sat in a pool of muddy water outside, checked the date codes and they were 14 years old so effectively scrap. Like hell were I going to fit those. 

[grogee]

1 hour ago, beko1987 said:

 (by the football club in Wycombe). 

Please tell me you're not a Wanderers fan. Anti-football bar stewards. 

[Bren]

I have bought them in the past. But not any more - they aren't cost effective.

[wuvvum]

3 hours ago, horriblemercedes said:

I've never heard of Matador tyres which tells me this is probably a good reason why to get decent part worn ones rather than not 

I've got a Matador on the Rover and I've had plenty on vans over the years.  They're a decent budget brand - by no means high end but in a different league to the no-name Chinese specials.

[beko1987]

47 minutes ago, grogee said:

Please tell me you're not a Wanderers fan. Anti-football bar stewards. 

No I hate all sport, especially football 😂 But it was in the industrial units by the grounds

 

[grogee]

1 minute ago, beko1987 said:

No I hate all sport, especially football 😂 But it was in the industrial units by the grounds

 

Then we can be friends. 

[Zelandeth]

None of the tyre fitters I use will fit part worn tyres which pretty much makes the decision for me.  Though given that virtually every tyre I've had to replace in the last ten years has been because they're perishing rather than having worn out would put me off ever buying used ones anyway. 

It really feels like that's way more of an issue these days than it used to be - my guess is that it's because harder rubber compounds are being used in the name of lowering rolling resistance and fuel usage.  I don't remember ever having issues with tyres perishing back when I started driving, even when I was bombing about in some right old trash on probably 20 year old tyres!  First time I really noticed it was on the 107, on which the tyres started to perish noticeably after just over two years (Continentals).  They were binned before the first MOT despite having next to no wear on them.

[cobblers]

I've bought part worns in the past when I could genuinely not afford anything else. However unless you get really lucky, per mile you'll probably end up paying more to drive around on someone elses castoffs.

New, decent tyres in common cheap sizes are £35-45 a pop. Part worns with 4mm on are £25, but they could be decades old, nipped, feathered, noisy etc etc.

The tyre place I used to use will buy and sell literally any old shit as part worns - I had a set of sawtoothed worn winter tyres on some alloys that came with a van, they were absolutely horrific and at least ten years old, they were lethal and sounded like an air raid siren. I got a pair of new tyres fitted and they even joked with me "some tight fucker will buy these mate, we won't charge you for disposal".

 

[AnnoyingPentium]

3 hours ago, wuvvum said:

I've got a Matador on the Rover and I've had plenty on vans over the years.  They're a decent budget brand - by no means high end but in a different league to the no-name Chinese specials.

I agree. Better than the Arrowspeed and Toledos I had on the Fabia when I bought it.