Hi,

I'm not aware of any law requiring it, and it does usually cost extra for balancing.

Both balancing and tracking are your choice but probably a false economy to not balance a newly fitted tyre / wheel combo. Tracking is very sensitive on these cars and its easy to wear tyres out pretty quickly so tbh if it's not been done in a while its probably worth at least having it checked.....

edit: sorry, forgot - tracking is usually chargeable as well, yes

 

Selling safe part-worn tyres - Trading Standards Institute

Part Worn Tyres - YouTube

They have to be marked, which most are not.

Be very careful with part worns that you know for certain where they come from. A test of them recently showed that only about 5/50 met the safety requirements.

I have seen at some rather unscrupulous breakers yards them pulling them off accident damaged cars where wheels have taken a real bashing.

You often get the story from sellers that they come from main dealers who automatically change tyres on used cars for new ones. I have yet to see this take place.

 

You often get the story from sellers that they come from main dealers who automatically change tyres on used cars for new ones. I have yet to see this take place.

A dealer will chance the tyres on a demo car before selling it, or a trade-in if it's going back on the forecourt, or a brand new car if the buyer specifies, or some new cars come on steels which are taken off and fitted with alloys that are shipped directly from the factory.
I used to work in a dealers and at one point when it was tyre/wheel clearout time, it took four or more LWB van loads to clear them out, and they went to local tyre fitter. Bet he loved that day.


As for people recommending budget tyres - I wish you would think before you type. Budget tyres don't grip as well, take longer to brake, and importantly perform very badly in the rain. And this is the UK.
They are referred to as 'ditchfinders' for a reason.
Add to that the fact that Alfas are generally owned by people who enjoy a more spirited drive (hence buying the Alfa, right?) and they need that grip. It's not a 998cc Daewoo we're talking about here.
Budget tyres are fitted by people who can't afford to maintain their car properly or who don't care about it. It is a false economy and dangerous to boot.

Part worns are a minefield too, most now come out of Germany with 3-4mm left on them, but check the inner wall for damage and check the date stamp on them so you don't get really old ones. Buying from a breaker is a good idea as you can get tyres that were perhaps recently on the road, maybe even fitted fairly recently before the car was crashed or whatever.

My BMW runs part-worn Bridgestones, my Alfa has brand new Falkens, my Skoda rally car has part-worn Pirellis on it and my Kawasaki has brand new Metzelers. my Fiat van has brand new budget tyres on it and it's had three or four of them in the last year.
Anyone who does any serious amount or intensity of driving will know that running the correct tyres is a MUST. And that a named brand does not the right tyre make. Michelin Eco tyres for example - best avoided at all costs.

 

By the time you've taken fitting into consideration you probably could have bought budget new tyres.

 

Not meaning to drive in fear.... But what happened to me with a part worn probably happened times before.

Travelling down the M4 with my £20 budget on my old BMW, there was clearly 5mm on tread on the tyre so I thought it was a bargain, Dunlop too. Anyway just passed the Newport (South Wales) junction heading East, tight left hand turn (speed reduces too 50mph), tyre pops, The whole side wall has seperated from the roof of the tyre. Car didnt spin but going from lane 1 to 3 and back to 1 so fast was one of the most frightening experiences I have had.

From that day on I swore never to have a part worn, you just never know the life it has had prior, ramming up and down curbs, turning into bends at speed, running at speeds exceeding the tyre rating etc etc etc. Just is not worth it.

If you want a cheap tyre get a budget..... They are online and cheap enough.

Blackcircles

Asda (yes asda)

Tesco (what dont they sell)

And much more online merchants.

 

. Just is not worth it.

If you want a cheap tyre get a budget..... They are online and cheap enough.

Blackcircles

Asda (yes asda)

Tesco (what dont they sell)

And much more online merchants.

The OP is in Ireland so most if not all of the above aren't applicable


meandmyalfa156 try Camskill or Eiretyres if you want to get tyres online, I've used both in the past & will do again. Just make sure you can find a tyre-fitter who will fit tyres sourced elsewhere as some will only fit tyres they supply.

 

Its a foolish thing buying part used tyres its the only part car that has contact with the road .In my option you should buy good quality tyres if you cant afford them you should not be driving the car. Its not only your life you are risking both all other road users

 

Its a foolish thing buying part used tyres


Not allways...
For ex my tyre size 205/55/16
U buy brand new tyre 8mm tread budget for £60 branded can be double
Then u buy 6-7mm sh tyre for £25-20 and I talking about pirellis, dunlop, michelin etc
That mean u have an 75-80% tyre for 25% of the price...

 

Hi, im a tyre fitter, thy MUST balance at least the front wheels,
And about budget tyres be aware some of them are remolded which is more dangerois than any part worn tyre, and the cheap chinese ones are poorly made.
If u want to buy tyre from a budget go for good brand part worn tyre 5mm plus tHey usualy come from germany and they will last more then the chinese ones. Take your time and find matching ones and allways balance them...

 

Speaking of the cheap tyres Alex.... Are the rumours true about Wanli tyres? falling appart in bits / lumps??

 

If they are remolded is, I had customer who bought cheap remolded tyres from ebay as new budget one, I fitted for him week after tyre exploded on m25... Insurance didnt pay nothing and the guy is in court with the people whp sold him tje tyre. In the other hand never had complain for the part worn tyres.(we test all of them befor sale may be that why...)
When u buy part worm chek the bead, repairs near the side and signs like they was used with low air presure. If its all fine no pronlem...

 

But I agree the best thing is 4 brand mew tyre...

 

Hmmm.... I detect tyre snobbery at work.

If re-treads were so appalling, there would be a million posts on here about them. There's not a hint of ****eness according to the forum and the Forum speak the Truth.

Colway, made in Britain. Used on aeroplanes, trucks and on the autobahns without major incident, as far as I know. Dunno if one cheap remould made in China de-laminated once, back in 1923... but I bet many a conventional tyre had issues (the least of which is that even new cheapo tyres are still not that good).

We should let the OP buy new re-moulds and then report back in a year's time..



Ralf S.

 

I didn't think remoulds were sold much these days, due to them not being much cheaper than new budget tyres.

I have only had one car that was fitted with remoulds.

It was my first car, a Fiesta back in 1996. The tyres were Monarch and seemed to be ok.

 

75% of airplane tyres area remoulds. Good remould are fine, Colway have been used in rallying for years. Rubbish remoulds are rubbish but then rubbish real tyres are also rubbish.

 

9 out of 10 budget tyres are rubbish.

In the 205/55 R16 size which is the most common, the price difference between budgets and high end tyres isn't all that great.

£15-20 per tyre is pretty typical, and isn't a lot when you consider they tend to grip better, last longer and make the car handle better.

 

Sure are....

Unlike car tyres, they are faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar cheaper than a brand new shoe.

Tight rules surround them.. As you would expect

 

Its true all our tyres come from germany, and just a veru few isnt good and we mist return them.
The guy who suply us told me that in germany os not alowed to fix punctures and if u think about the autobahn where is no speed limkts I tend to believe.it.
Tnat mean if the german buy himself a bramd new pirelli and after 300 miles he have a nail.in it... That tyre will be sold as pqwertyart worm somewhere else like uk...

 

I've always said that I'd take a lot more notice of all those who say they would never fit part-worn tyres
if they can assure me that whenever they've bought a second-hand car they have immediately changed all the tyres for new.......

And that they've never driven a hire car or courtesy car without insisting on all the tyres being changed for new.....

 

Well with a used car you can be more sure that the tyres were not from a crashed car.

Unless you buy a damaged repairable...

 

All tyres on my gta are part worn. 6mm front and 7mm rear. Just check for internal sidewall damage, punctures and cracking.