Winter driving - Fullway Snow Trak - counterfeit? - CaptainKephart

Hi all, My local Trading Standards office has advised me that they think the Fullway Snow Trak tyres may be counterfeit. The fact the sybmbols on the tyres are mirror image and in the wrong place (see this photo: www.fullwayfullrun.com/images/fullwaysnowtrak.jpg) is just the sort of thing that makes them suspicious and they are investigating.

So I don't know if the Snow Trak is a copy of the Snowtrak or vice versa - or a copy of something else.

There's been a discussion of the performance of the tyres here: www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=94082

I suppose potential buyers should confirm for themselves that the tyre will do what they want and not buy otherwise. Good idea to ask for a technical specs / a data sheet about the tyre's construction, rubber etc and / or some independent test data (which says who did the tests, where and what the results are).

Winter driving - Fullway Snow Trak - counterfeit? - Collos25

Why would anybody go to the trouble of copying these tyres a top brand I could understand but a cheap chinese product I cannot see it.

The marks do not have to be in a certain place they are certainly not in Germany it depends on the make of tyre.

Winter driving - Fullway Snow Trak - counterfeit? - jc2

Does the tyre have an "E" or an "e" mark?

Winter driving - Fullway Snow Trak - counterfeit? - CaptainKephart

I'm afraid I don't know - the tyres are back at the garage at the moment while we're working out what to do. What should I look for and what would it mean?

Though, with the Alpine snowfake symbol being wrong I'm not sure I'd trust anything on the tyre wall. Thanks.

Winter driving - Fullway Snow Trak - counterfeit? - jc2

The E or e mark is the approval number awarded by EU governments or their representatives after checking both prototype and production tyres and the manufacturing methods and facilities.If there is no number,the tyre is illegal and the seller can be prosecuted."E" is an ECE approval-"e" is an EEC approval-either or both should be on the sidewall.

Winter driving - Fullway Snow Trak - counterfeit? Site hacked - CaptainKephart

Thanks, that helpful.

Incidentally the www.fullwayfullrun.com/ site has been hacked - it was off air for a few hours - somebody doesn't like what it's implying. Maybe the tyre is counterfeit after all . .