Tyre wake up call.

[altvic]

Travelling Friday in Defender 90 300TDI on A483 from Chester direction at c.55mph and suffered a massive blowout to rear passenger tyre. Managed to pull over and RAC came out.
Two valuable lessons learned:
Firstly, carry a spare tyre. I always left mine at home as they are chunky 'mud' tyres, which I thought would last forever!
Secondly, tyres wear out with age despite good treads! My rear tyres were manufactured 8 years ago.
I was pretty lucky to get away without accident / injury and will have two new tyres fitted tomorrow for £370 but worth peace of mind.

 

[Jay20cali]

Unbelievable these tyres are pretty much indestructible just goes to show
U never know

I have restored a few defenders I love them if your ever thinking of selling give me a shout

 

[WelshGas]

Travelling Friday in Defender 90 300TDI on A483 from Chester direction at c.55mph and suffered a massive blowout to rear passenger tyre. Managed to pull over and RAC came out.
Two valuable lessons learned:
Firstly, carry a spare tyre. I always left mine at home as they are chunky 'mud' tyres, which I thought would last forever!
Secondly, tyres wear out with age despite good treads! My rear tyres were manufactured 8 years ago.
I was pretty lucky to get away without accident / injury and will have two new tyres fitted tomorrow for £370 but worth peace of mind.

Extremely lucky.

 

[altvic]

If the California had had a similar tyre blowout I’d likely to have been travelling faster and in outside lane rather then what I was in the Defender; that would have been pretty serious.
I wonder if forum members are travelling with aged tyres?

 

[WelshGas]

If the California had had a similar tyre blowout I’d likely to have been travelling faster and in outside lane rather then what I was in the Defender; that would have been pretty serious.
I wonder if forum members are travelling with aged tyres?

I wouldn't be a bit surprised judging by some of the annual milages reported and some of the low milage vehicles you see for sale.

 

[18hunts]

Caravaners are advised to change their tyres 5 to 7 years old because of degradation, not wear.
You may have tread but you don't have integrity.

 

[altvic]

£375 lighter, two new rear tyres and panic free driving for now. Other rear tyre was was in similar poor state and would have blown at any time. The front were deemed okay for now but I’ll keep a close eye on the vulnerable side wall where rear split.
And more importantly the California will will have a very regular tyre inspection as they are three years old and spend some months into moving in the garage I will make a point of taking regular short drives in the winter time

 

[B J G]

All Terrain tyres can build up quite a bit of heat if used on tarmac and this repeated use may over time cause the sidewall rubber to become 'brittle' and suddenly fail.

There is pressure to make buses and HGV tyre life 10 years from manufacture by the DVSA.

 

[TripleBee]

My tyres are worn before they are 6 years old, so no problem with that.
Also, the California has road tyres, which mean, they are safe to drive at the maximum stated speed. As my stated maximum speed is around 170 km/h, I could do with speed index "S" (180). My van was delivered with "H" = 210km/h. My winter tyres have index "T" = 190.
As said, those offroad tyres are good for ofroading, but less for longer highway runs. Especially when they are aged.
Luckily nothing really happened to you or others on the road.

Strangely enough, the MOT in Belgium doesn't look at the age of the tyres, only for the thread being more than the legal 1,6 mm in the middle. If the out or inside of the tyre are worn on 10 year old tyres, you just pass the MOT, but it's far from safe. They will only fail your MOT of the thread sticks out of the rubber, or the rubber is torn from drought.

Don't forget: those 4 tyres are the only contact you have with the road. If you economise on that (even by buying new tyres from the one or the other unknown brand) you will have trouble.

Be safe all!

 

[em13]

£375 lighter, two new rear tyres and panic free driving for now. Other rear tyre was was in similar poor state and would have blown at any time. The front were deemed okay for now but I’ll keep a close eye on the vulnerable side wall where rear split.
And more importantly the California will will have a very regular tyre inspection as they are three years old and spend some months into moving in the garage I will make a point of taking regular short drives in the winter time View attachment 55155View attachment 55156

Thank goodness you were alright first of all! Secondly, I wish people would take better care of/pay more attention to their tyres like you have. As a biker, tyres are SO important for my safety and are not to be ignored or skimped on. In my mind it's important to look after the thing keeping you attached to the road, so regular inspections and changes after a few years - whether worn or not - just makes sense to me.

 

[Hotel California]

I've taken off a set tyres just last week that came on the Cali from new in 2012 , they had 03-2012 as production date and still had 5-6mm in the midlle left .
The steels are now away for a sandblast and respray in black and new Cross Climats will be fitted soon .
The original tyre Goodyear Marathon done about 50.000km , i use a winterset also .

I took no risk , 8y is enough ....
Allthoug i sold the set of 4 yesterday for 80€ so somebody will be putting them back on.
My tyre specialist wanted to trow them away as they usual do , but i thought i give it a go trying to sell them with result , three days online and they brought up 80€!

 

[AndyWT]

When I got my current T4 Cali imported from Germany to Italy the spare had never been used 18 years old. It was completely shagged still inflated distorted and ready to pop and this was after it had been through a full inspection by the Gov testing station for its new plates. Straight to tyre shop.

When I came to replace the 4 M&S tyres recently I wanted original size 205/65R15 102/100, nope not allowed have to follow reg document, when imported it had 195/70R15 104/102.

Seems in Italy tyre shops have to follow exactly as stated, can be bigger if same load rate but not smaller, so I have Mich Agilis 195/70R15 104/102 which if you inflate as stated on the tyre 4.5 bar which is like having wooden wheels.

104/102 would give 3,800 kg, way over my GVW 2,800 kg forget the data, F 3.5 R 3.2 bar as per the Cali spec works just fine, nice comfy ride and irons out the B6 harshness over broken blacktop.

 

[TripleBee]

That is strange. The official document from VW will tell you all the tyre sizes that are allowed. So the original 205 should be no problem.
You can't put on a size that is not on the document, but all the rest should be no problem.
Strange.

 

[AndyWT]

No in Italy and several other countries it what’s on the registration document issued by the Government Dept of Transport, which is the same as your V5 using the same codes, what’s in the owners manual and sticker on the door frame are not accepted. VW EU type approval most likely has several sizes listed, optional for the late T4 Cali’s was 195/70R15 97 or 102/100 with updated suspension, but there’s very few 195/70 with a low rating now, anyway I’m happy with the Mich Agilis Crossclimate, didn’t want a bigger tyre as the gearing is too high already for what we do.

 

[B J G]

When I got my current T4 Cali imported from Germany to Italy the spare had never been used 18 years old. It was completely shagged still inflated distorted and ready to pop and this was after it had been through a full inspection by the Gov testing station for its new plates. Straight to tyre shop.

When I came to replace the 4 M&S tyres recently I wanted original size 205/65R15 102/100, nope not allowed have to follow reg document, when imported it had 195/70R15 104/102.

Seems in Italy tyre shops have to follow exactly as stated, can be bigger if same load rate but not smaller, so I have Mich Agilis 195/70R15 104/102 which if you inflate as stated on the tyre 4.5 bar which is like having wooden wheels.

104/102 would give 3,800 kg, way over my GVW 2,800 kg forget the data, F 3.5 R 3.2 bar as per the Cali spec works just fine, nice comfy ride and irons out the B6 harshness over broken blacktop.

I did read that as a safety margin to allow for the load put on a tyre during cornering or heavy braking when weight transfers from rear to front a 25% extra load capability above the vehicles grosse weight should be applied.
Makes sense as how often does braking occur whilst cornering?

This would require a 106 or 107 load rating for a Cali. Bit more than the 103 used by VW. Commercial tyres obviously are in the safety zone advised.

 

[Legin]

Glad your all ok. This 8 yrs is an interesting one as the only degredation failures I have had were at 8 yrs. It seems a particular issue if the vehicle or trailer and caravan in my case stand for long periods outside. I now replace at 4 years if the tyre is subjected to this kind of use.
I have a trailer (heavy duty) which I swap for a new one every 4 years as it works out the same cost vs what I did in the past which was service it , replace tyres and change wheel bearings and brakes.Then sold it at 6 yrs as it was starting to rot. I now have the benefit of a new rot free warrantied trailer which I barely service , next one is collect tomorrow as it happens.
Im also replacing my motorbike ones at 4 years but this is more because they have gone hard and have flatten off than perished.