Tyres: Thread ~VS~ Age (and quality)

cormie · 05-02-2015 2:10pm #1

Quick question for any tyre heads out there. I want to swap around a few tyres I have to ensure I've the best on my vans. I see there's some tyres with lots of thread and look almost unused, but they are much older than other tyres which although are much younger, don't have as much thread and are a little more worn.

One example is a Michelin Agilis 81 which came as a spare with one van, I bought the same model tyre new a few years ago and it was one of the best tyres based on my research and came at a premium cost too. The spare is practically unused, but it's 10 years old :eek:

Would I be better off with this over a more worn, cheaper brand, or should I not even think of using it given its age?

Any feedback appreciated

*Kol* · 05-02-2015 4:05pm

I experienced old tyres on a 320D recently. It was horrific to drive. There was tons of tread but the car wasn't driven a lot so they seemed to have no grip (in the wet was the worst). A new set of tyres turned it into a different car altogether.

antodeco · 05-02-2015 4:09pm

I had a car with great thread tyres, but they were old. Driving along the m50 and the rubber decided to split!

Jesus. · 05-02-2015 4:18pm

Does the NCT have an age limit on tyres or do they just say "keep an eye on them" no matter how old they are as long as they're in decent nick?

edburg · 05-02-2015 4:21pm

Thought it was a max 4/6 years old for tyres with NCT, presuming it same for vans and DOE.

cormie · 05-02-2015 4:23pm

Interesting, thanks for the replies, I just had a round check on all the tyres and I think that Agilis 81 must be the oldest, it doesn't say DOT but it does say 3503 in the same area that would usually have DOT written before it. It's actually unused, still has the little sticky bits coming out of it and everything.

I'm going to do a straight swap of 4 Conti Vanco tyres from an old van to its replacement, putting the less worn on the back as its RWD and better to have less worn on the back anyway from my research and threads here, then with that I'll put two old ones from its replacement back on and two old ones from another van

cormie · 05-02-2015 4:28pm

Just rang a DOE centre, age isn't counted for in the test.

Alanstrainor · 05-02-2015 4:30pm

Age of tyre is just an advisory for the NCT. 6 years +

Tyres: Thread ~VS~ Age (and quality)

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