Part worn tyres
Trading standards along with Tyre safe have visited many part worn tyre dealers over the last year and found many are selling dangerous or illegal tyres. One check where they bought 50 tyres found 49 to be illegal with some classed as dangerous and one as potentially lethal. They also found that when they compared prices, that most part worn tyres were actually more expensive per millimeter than new tyres. Part worn dealers often say that their tyres come from Germany as they have different regulations to the UK, and should one tyre get a puncture, then tyres must be changed in pairs. Meaning that one good tyre is thrown away and finds its way to the UK. This is not true, Germans are not that stupid, they do not throw away good tyres. The truth is that part worn tyres come from vehicles that have been in accidents in the UK, or they are tyres that have been damaged and should not be repaired according to British standards. But the part worn dealers put patches over the damaged area and sell the tyre, hoping the patch will last and you will never see the inside of the tyre. I was called out to a customer who had just had 4 part worn tyres fitted to his car and one had developed a bulge on the side wall, and he wanted us to fit a new tyre. While there I checked the other 3 tyres..... tyre 1 had a screw still stuck in the shoulder (Mot failure), tyre 2 had a 25mm long split withing the tread (Mot failure) and tyre 3 had tread that went from 6mm on one side to 2mm on the other side( illegal to sell as a part worn tyre). This customer had paid £80 for these scrap tyres! We put new tyres on all his wheels for him. For these reasons we at Hometyre do not sell part worn tyres, they are dangerous, and should really be called 'Part safe tyres'. You would not buy part worn brake pads, so why would you risk your life buying part worn tyres?