My spare tyre is below the legal limit by quite some distance and there is no way I could use it in the event that I had to, however I do have break down cover so if I get a flat its not the end of the world.
I need to get this sorted but I have a few questions:-
I know it is not apart of the MOT but could I get fined for this?
I was thinking of getting a cheap part worn for the spare for about £15
My other alternative is to buy a new tyre for one of the wheels then use one of my existing tyres for the spare.
On my last car I went for the third option as one my spare was ilegal and one of my other tyres was breaking up but then three weeks later I got rid of it ( So I don't want to make the same kind of mistake again.
My question is how urgent is this tyre in terms of the law?
There is also a very minor blow on the back box so this may have to be changed too.
Edited by Pugugly on 07/04/2009 at 12:24
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why not just pop into your local fast fit tyre place, when you have a spare (no pun intended) 30 min, and get them to put a budget (but good quality) new tyre on, as its your spare, as you never know when you might need it
Kindest Regards
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I assume its treadless rather than threadless ?
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I see you cottoned on to that too.
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Careful no one tries to stitch you up on the new one.......
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Thats certainly the most straightforward idea. For a Corsa I would imagine a cheap budget tyre wouldn't be much more than £20 or so?
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I think you will find that a condition of you breakdown cover is that you have a serviceable spare for them to fit at the roadside, they wont just recover the car if you haven't, unless it is a car that was not supplied with a spare wheel from the factory.
Edited by andyp on 07/04/2009 at 12:32
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For somebody who is so conscientious about minor details I cannot understand your thinking in not buying a new pair of decent make tyres, (and fitting then at the correct end). For the past 45 years and probably 900,000 miles (scary?), including time as a penniless student, I cannot remember not buying tyres as pairs.
The recovery services will probably refuse to fit an illegal spare and certainly I hope will not spend my money on recovering a vehicle without a serviceable spare.
p
Edited by pmh2 on 07/04/2009 at 12:39
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its a fine and penalty points
if monies too tight to mention then buy a british remould
i reckon a new tyre balanced and valved plus the enviroment charge would make it difficult to get a 165/70/13 all in for 20 notes
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pmh2 I did on this on my Fiesta, fitted two brand new Pirrelis at a cost of £80 and the car only lasted another few weeks. I do intend to get some decent tyres on before the car is possibly used for a trip to Wales in the summer but before then all I am doing is driving in 30 and zones with the odd 40 it is not a major worry and also what I have learnt from my past experience once you start that it is new shocks etc etc you just end up replacing the entire car.
All my existing tyres have at least 4mm thread and its all even wear so it seems a bit premature to replace them, one of the rear is a Firestone and I suspect this is the original spare so I will check the DOT code on it in a minute.
My plan is to buy a brand new spare and use it on the car then using one of my old tyres as the spare which will still have more than enough tread to be legal. I will inspect my tyres now.
Belboy money is a bit tight but I don't want to be spending money unless I really have to because I will be skint when something big goes wrong. I have budgeted for the brakes to be bleeded, new front pads, new exhuast and then there is all the unknown stuff none of this is urgent so my plan is to get one job done each month.
I will get this tyre sorted today thank you :).
Edited by Rattle on 07/04/2009 at 12:48
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.
Edited by jc2 on 07/04/2009 at 12:51
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Quote
There is no legal obligation to carry a spare tyre and it does not have to comply with the legal requirements while it is stowed away. However, when fitted to the vehicle (for example, following a puncture) it must then comply with the law. A spare tyre is not a testable item in the MOT test, though the examiner may draw your attention to an unserviceable item as a matter of courtesy.
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How about a wheel and legal tyre from a scrapyard.
Don't know how much it would cost but I would imagine a steel wheel with a worn tyre has little value to the scrap trade.
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I thought about that but its just hassle and I am not even sure if the ones near me would sell one there seems to be all sorts of laws about scrap parts now. I think I will just use the slightly iffy tyre as a spare and get a new one on that although I am now suspecting it won't cost any more to have two new tyres.
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Same as using a secondhand one... for a spare and if all the others are pretty evenly worn I'd just go and buy a sh one... I used to do that any never had any problems.
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Yeah National are doing two Barum Brilliantis for £65 but they don't offer the best grip in the wet and this the problem I always have with tyres is drawing the line.
Just need to get the thing legal atm then in the summer when I might be doing lots of country/higher speed driving I will get two brand new decent tyres and get it all tracked.
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Thanks I have had a good look at my tyres and one of them is slightly cracking at the side wall but it has 4-5mm on it, I suspect this must be the original spare.
I suspect it is legal as the car passed the MOT only two weeks ago so I will use this as a spare and if I need to use it it will at least get me to the nearest tyre place to get a new one.
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;-)
Me suspects Rattle already knows the answer to many of the questions that he poses, but if he didn't pose the question, he and all those he hooks would be threadless.
;-)
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Don't let this needle you Rattle. It's just a loose end situation. Bob in to your local tyre fitters and for a few quid you can have the whole thing sewn up. Leaving it unresolved could lead to a tangle with the law in the future. Best to unravel it now.
Edited by Humph Backbridge on 07/04/2009 at 13:08
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classic Humph..;)
i just wish i could get to the point and cotton on as quickly.
Edited by gordonbennet on 07/04/2009 at 13:54
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I'm getting tyred of all this gratuitous punning, leaves me feeling very deflated. Better watch out for Mr Plod though, can't pull the wool over his eyes. He can do you for having illegal spare, can he knot?
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No,its only when its on the vehicle as opposed to in the vehicle that it it becomes illegal.
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I have to say, he put it rather harshly in a previous thread, but I have to agree with Mapmaker. You scare the living daylights out of me Rattle. I'm glad I don't drive anywhere near the centre of Manchester, where I believe I read that you are usually to be found.
Have I read your posts here correctly, that after assuring us that it's only the spare which is a worry, you're now telling us that one of the tyres currenty on the car "is slightly cracking at the side wall but it has 4-5mm on it"?
Are you really going to continue driving round with a tyre which is patently unsafe and a spare which can not be used for the sake of £40? £20 if you just replace the one on the car?
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if its surface cracking and not to the cords then i wouldnt worry about that tyre seeing as its pootling round manchester
as for the spare an hofficer of the law can do you for carrying a dangerous spare wheel with intention to fit if he so cares
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Why not ditch your spare completely and save weight/fuel and buy a can of inflator gunk instead?
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Because Rattle knows that no tyre place will repair a punctured tyre that has had gunk put in it.
Edited by Armitage Shanks {p} on 07/04/2009 at 15:01
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a can o' gunk is still cheaper than using an illegal spare, getting caught and fined/points/loading on insurance
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Assuming the officer cottons onto it and threads his carcass through traffic to Rattles car...
Could put the wind up him and then leave him feeling deflated if he gets points, perhaps.
For a cracking good show though - I would go to a scrapper and buy a mostly worn but legal wheel for a fiver - then save up and buy pairs.
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On a serious note this thread highlights yet again that when you buy a car or own a car, you need to have the money available to run it.
If money is so tight that a lot of time and effort is to be used up to try and find out if you need a tyre, then hunt for the cheapest one cos thats all you can afford, well what is he going to do when he gets a bigger bill?
It has been said before, if max budget is say £2k, then spend 1.5k and have some left over for repairs. It just does not make sense to use every penny on the car purchase itself.
Thats what my dad did when he bought his first Singer.....
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I must say I am amused by posts expressing fear of Rattle's presence on the road with a slick spare tyre and a couple of cracks in the wall of one of the ones on the car.
May I remind you all that Rattle's car has yet to have its brake fluid changed? And he's an inexperienced driver too. If I were you I would avoid Greater Manchester altogether, and advise your friends to do the same. If enough of you do it Rattle will have the roads to himself, as we used to before they got cluttered up with all these damn cars.
Can I have my cheque now Rattle?
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Trust you to put a different spin on the yarn Lud !
I'll stop now I promise...Lost the thread somewhere.....
This keyboard Tourets is a terrible affliction y'know.
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Tourets is a terrible affliction y'know.
My wife sometimes accuses me of suffering from Tourette's syndrome. She may be right too. Sorry if I've posted this before, but:
There was an old man with Tourette's
Who murmured: 'Among my regrets
Is my failure to shine
In the murmuring line:
An effect of this (*) Tourette's...'
* Any two-syllable obscenity, the more outlandish the better, uttered in a mad shout.
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An illegal spare is a waste of space, unless you are seriously going to contemplate using it to get you home if you do ever have a puncture, and are willing to take the risk. Otherwise its only use is as a temporary prop while you swap wheels round, because it's safer than bricks, or so you can still push a half-dismantled non-runner out to where the scrap man can pick it up. As such, it's useful to have one or two propped up at home.
But for a serious usable spare the cheapest option is as already suggested - just get a complete wheel from a scrap yard. It's not like the days when you had to go in with your own jack and prop up a tottering pile of old wrecks to get at the bits you wanted. You just go to the man at the desk and ask for a wheel with tyre for an X and he pops into the back of the shed and gets one. £10.
Now you have two spare wheels it's much easier in future buying tyres in pairs if you are in a hurry. You just drop off the 2 wheels you want and pop back later and pick them up.
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Scrapyards have saved me a lot of money over the years. There is a local one where I have stripped everything from a cylinder head to an obscure screw off cars, over decades.
Even yesterday I was there looking at a lock assembly from inside the door, handling it and preparing for a job - which will actually cost me nothing (Fiat quote £340 full lock set fitted) realised the barrels can be swapped in the handed sheaths.. Putting the worn lock on the passenger door where it gets no wear.
Sometimes it`s worth a look at a stripped job in a yard - seemingly easier to work out than looking at a modern `Haynes`.
I know they would virtually give me an old wheel - in Rattles situation. Why not find an old time place like that Rattle and get familiar with Corsas? ( The trade are always up there stripping things off)
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Scrapyards have saved me a lot of money over the years.
Me too oilrag. But most if not all of the ones near where I live have been suppressed ostensibly for public health reasons and carp buildings put up on the sites.
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I suppose we've been lucky - some of the jokes could have proved a lot Corsa, although some are getting a bit tyred now.
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Theadbare really..
Edited by oilrag on 07/04/2009 at 15:59
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Got two new Barum Brilliantis for £65 in the end. The result is I have two brand new tyres, a good spare and its not cost me a lot more than a second hand one would have done. They did one of them safety check things (i.e trying to get me to buy more stuff) and found a big hole in the silencer, I knew this was on the way out but never realised how bad it was, it is only a very slight blow.
I had to an emergency stop on the way back too as somebody pulled out in front of me too.
PS I much prefer driving this car to me old one :) It just dosn't feel like its falling apart like my old one did :).
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Edit Boddy I do have the money and have spent money on it, I also intend to spend money on jobs most people ignore (brake bleeding, coolant change etc) in my situation most people would have left the tyres until they blew out or failed the MOT or got fined.
Once I have done the other little jobs it will be in very very good condition for a 9 year old Corsa.
Now a real moan I have only had this car just over a week and petrol has gone up 3p in that time :(.
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That petrol price rise is your fault, Rattle, all the miles you are now doing has depleted the UK reserves of fuel!
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Actually I have surprised myself as I am still partly using public transport but I still have managed to 100 miles in a week it just makes me realise how many lifts used to need!
I am now also finding I have more time to myself as I can get to places so much quicker and long term I hope that means I can more work so the car will pay for itself.
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I am somewhat worried by this atmosphere of fright conjured up by certain BRs with regard to poor old Rattle's motoring expeditions......only in view of the fact that I live about 400 yards away from Rattle Towers. I'm extremely nervous about going out now ..Perhaps dear old Rats would like to publish a timetable of his future motoring intentions.
Glad he likes the new car though.
Ted
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Hehe Ted :) My car does have 11.5 months MOT so it is probably as safe as any other car on the road.
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Think I'll head for Birmingham tomorrow all the same.....
Was in Manchester today, well, Stockport, but got away with it.....
;-)
Edited by Humph Backbridge on 07/04/2009 at 18:57
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Wasn't there a time (30 years ago) when a duff spare could mean being nicked 4 times as the offending item could be placed in any corner?? Plodmen please!
VBR...............MD
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"Wasn't there a time (30 years ago) when a duff spare could mean being nicked 4 times as the offending item could be placed in any corner?? Plodmen please!"
If that were the case then you could be nicked thousands of times by just walking into Tesco's
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Hehe Ted :) My car does have 11.5 months MOT so it is probably as safe as any other car on the road.
Or alternatively, 2 weeks ago it met the minimum requirements for a 'pass' certificate. An MOT certificate is no guarantee of the vehicles current condition/safety...
IMO ;-)
Peter
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The puns on this thread are so-so at best.
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Oh I don't know, some of them had me in stitches.
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Me too, Humph. In General, it's been a Good Year so far for puns...
I'll get me coat...
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