I have a 2002 MK5 Polo 1.4 tdi pd that has done only a genuine 12,000 miles and it has spent the vast majority of its life in a garage a lot of periods for two weeks at a time with out being moved. If the period looks like being over two weeks I deliberately take the car out for a spin to avoid getting flat spots on the tyres. I have had the wheels off and checked the tyres and there are no cracks or bulges in fact there does not appear to be anything wrong with them. As you can see from the mileage and the car being garaged the car tyres have not seen a lot of the sun. Looking at the tyres they still look reasonably new and dont seem much worst than the day I bought the car new.
So after 6 years from new would you consider these tyres safe to drive on
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They should be fine, as per your inspection, and they have not been standing on a contaminated floor.
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To be honest i've seen older cars with more mileage on them (used for daily potterin) still on thier original tyres, so if as you say they appear to be sound and ok, i (myself) would use them. Just treat them as you would a "new" tyre for the first 50 miles or so to get them "worked in" again.
Billy
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My view would be that there's a foolproof method of finding out how fit or safe they are. Trouble is, you don't when or where that foolproof method will be applied. I would be very tempted to change them - can't be that expensive (even with premium tyres) on 175/65-ish 14inchers.
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IMO anybody changing these tyres is wasting his money.
Disclaimer: I have absolutely no basis for this assertion.
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depends what you're planning on doing with the car, surely
if it's local pootling with one person aboard you might well make a different decision than filling it up with 4 people, plus luggage and thrashing it through Europe
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With a car doing this sort of mileage it would be worth swapping tyres back to front and vice versa every 6,000 miles. Otherwise you end up with rear tyres still with legal tread that are older than Methuselah and really would need changing due to age rather than wear. It's probably not too late to do it now at 12,000 miles on your car.
I think that tyres are to be date marked, if they're not already, and an age limit will be imposed at MOT at some point in the future.
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"Tyres that have been in storage should not be placed into use if they are over 6 years old, from their date of manufacture. When a tyre has been in use, the effects of aging are lessened to a degree, but such tyres should be replaced after 10 years."
Taken from the RoSPA web site, but I believe that it is attributable to the British Rubber Manufacturers Assoc (BRMA).
(www.rospa.com/roadsafety/advice/motorvehicles/tyre...m)
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Still using some crossply tyres from the late 70s on my trailer. Not a visible defects to be seen. They spend most of their time in a darkish garage, so don't get much UV. No, I wouldn't recommend them for a car, but shows how long tyres can last, perhaps.
JS
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>>Still using some crossply tyres from the late 70s on my trailer. Not a visible defects to be seen. They spend most of their time in a darkish garage, so don't get much UV.<<
That's the main point. Rubber deteriorates mainly by air oxidation, which is accelerated by light (mainly UV) and heat (direct sun or prolonged driving). As I mentioned in another thread, I recently fitted the original unused spare P600 on my 205 GTi - it showed no detectable cracking, and I advised my regular MoT tester that I was doing it 'as an experiment' and he did not say that I shouldn't, as he had already passed the car! The tyre has (presumably) spent all its life out of direct sunlight.
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