NCT - driving unsafe car

griffin100

I've got an nct in a few days and one of the things I'm pretty sure I will fail on is tyres. Before I spend the money on a set of new tyres I want to see what else needs doing (car has 260k miles on clock so it may need a bit of work - if it needs a lot of work I'll scrap it). Having read some other threads it appears that if the testers thinks my car is not roadworthy they will call the Gards if I try and drive it off. Does this apply to a car with failed tyres? Has this happened to anyone else? Any advice appreciated.

Chris_Heilong

just put it trough and see what it fails on, you will be fine.

slimjimmc

The NCT will only report a car that is dangerous if it is driven away, that's not the same as not road worthy.
Do you think the tyres are dangerous and why?

griffin100

slimjimmc wrote: »

The NCT will only report a car that is dangerous if it is driven away, that's not the same as not road worthy.
Do you think the tyres are dangerous and why?

The tyres are very worn and well below the pass limit. There are no bulges, cuts, wires showing or anything like that. I should have replaced them a couple of months ago but didn't.

CiniO

slimjimmc wrote: »

The NCT will only report a car that is dangerous if it is driven away, that's not the same as not road worthy.
Do you think the tyres are dangerous and why?

If tyres have virtually no thread left, while they can still be perfectly safe on dry road, they might become incredibly dangerous on wet road, making car skid like on ice.

slimjimmc

griffin100 wrote: »

The tyres are very worn and well below the pass limit. There are no bulges, cuts, wires showing or anything like that. I should have replaced them a couple of months ago but didn't.

Ultimately it's up to NCTS to decide if the tyres are so bald as to "constitute a direct and immediate risk to road safety such that the vehicle should not be used on the road under any circumstances" (quote from NCT manual).

Tyres below the 1.6mm legal limit will fail, but if they're as bad as you believe then I guess there's a reasonable chance they'll declare them dangerous.

fasttalkerchat

griffin100 wrote: »

The tyres are very worn and well below the pass limit. There are no bulges, cuts, wires showing or anything like that. I should have replaced them a couple of months ago but didn't.

If there's no bulges or wires they aren't dangerous in that sense. I wouldn't worry.

griffin100

Thanks to all for the comments. Had it tested this morning and it failed on one tyre only which got a fail dangerous / car unsafe to drive on the report. Other three tyres passed which surprised me tbh. Tester told me to get the one bad tyre changed ASAP as it was really bad. Other than that only some bulbs to sort and excessive travel on the hand brake - looks like another year of bangernomics for me so

CiniO

griffin100 wrote: »

Thanks to all for the comments. Had it tested this morning and it failed on one tyre only which got a fail dangerous / car unsafe to drive on the report. Other three tyres passed which surprised me tbh. Tester told me to get the one bad tyre changed ASAP as it was really bad. Other than that only some bulbs to sort and excessive travel on the hand brake - looks like another year of bangernomics for me so

How did you get your the car from the test centre to tyre shop?

Cheensbo

CiniO wrote: »

How did you get your the car from the test centre to tyre shop?

Carried it on his back i'd say :pac:

Sleepy

Most cars do come with a spare...

CiniO

Cheensbo wrote: »

Carried it on his back i'd say :pac:

Sleepy wrote: »

Most cars do come with a spare...

I was just curious if NCT guys allowed him to drive off a "fail dangerous" car without calling the gards?
Because if they did, it means that the whole "fail dangerous" thing is fiction really.

Cheensbo

CiniO wrote: »

I was just curious if NCT guys allowed him to drive off a "fail dangerous" car without calling the gards?
Because if they did, it means that the whole "fail dangerous" thing is fiction really.

I know, was just prodding at you, nothing personal

IMO the guards have better things to be doing than chasing down someone who's on the way to getting a bald tyre replaced...

And the NCT folk probably took a view that, the tyre has been driven on for god knows how long, and will more than likely hold out until the op gets to the tyre shop...

I think instances of an actually dangerously defective vehicle - i.e. no brakes/snapped chassis etc etc are more pressing than a motor with one defective tyre... on perhaps a dry day..

It doesnt make it fiction - it makes sense, theyd be calling the guards a lot if they did on every occasion where there was a bald tyre in the test centre..

griffin100

There was no mention of calling the Guards or not driving the car. I was told in clear terms that the tyre needed to be replaced immediately. It was only when I looked the report that I seen reference to unsafe to drive.

I'm actually surprised that the other three tyres passed - I would have put them down as failures but it goes to show how little thread 1.6mm is.

truedoom

griffin100 wrote: »

There was no mention of calling the Guards or not driving the car. I was told in clear terms that the tyre needed to be replaced immediately. It was only when I looked the report that I seen reference to unsafe to drive.

I'm actually surprised that the other three tyres passed - I would have put them down as failures but it goes to show how little thread 1.6mm is.

I'm surprised it wasn't more along the lines of "You need to get that tyre replaced NOW....by the way, my brother has a tyre shop across the road.....*hint hint*" :pac::pac: