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I am just about to put my car in for its MOT. It should fly through however I have a nail in one of my rear tyres. I assume that this is an MOT fail?

Can they fix this easily or will I need a new tyre? Because I have 17" wheels, I am going to cry if I need a new one as they are over £100 a corner!

That will fail ... you need a new tyre anyway if it has a nail in it as that will be a slow puncture and is bloody dangerous!

Personally I'd get it checked out first before putting it through its MOT becaise the garage will charge you more for the tyre.

If you take it to euromaster or one of those cheap tyre places they might be able to put a plug in it for you - won't cost more than a few quid.  Better to do that before the MOT, otherwise the MOT garage might say its unsafe to drive and insist you get new tyres off of them, and if your tyres are fairly old, they may also insist you change left and right at the smae time...

Taking mine to the Swiss equivalent soon, but the suspension is fucked - problem is here you have to get it through an MOT before you can sell it on, and its going to be expensive... I either fix it or scrap it, and I can't bring myself to scrap it !

I get free MOT's for life from the dealership I bought the car from (Honda), trouble is as you say, a new tyre may cost me a fortune from there.

depending on the size of the nail and where it is positioned on the tyre you can get it plugged as genf_stfc, has said.

will only cost about a fiver as i had it done on one of mine once.
had a fuck off nail in it and had it plugged which worked a treat and never had a problem with it

Thanks for joggin my memory - I've just realised my MOT is up in three weeks  :oops:

I'm going for an early test in case of problems....

I'd personally get a new tyre.

Ralphy, what size wheels you got on the Type 'R'? Is it 18's?

No 17's mate

So same as mine then. How much you spend on tyres?

My tyre size may be different to your's though

The Type R has 205/45/R17 tyres


I pay £109 a tyre from mytyres.co.uk

Thats for Yokahama Parada Spec 2 though

The standard Bridgestone Potenza's are about £70-80

Mines are 215/45/R17. No idea what that means, but any idea how much I am looking to spend if the worst comes to the worst?

Depends on budget really mate.

I never cut corners when it comes to tyres, allways buy a decent one.

By the way, 215 is the width of your tyre in mm

45 is the side wall figure (45% of 215 = 96.75 mm)

So your sidewall is 45% of the width 96.75 mm

I'd go for Michelin Pilot Sport, Yokahama Parada Spec 2 or Toyo Proxes T1-R's

Thanks mate, not sure what tyres I have on the car at the moment to be honest, plenty of tread on them though.

Probally Michelins on a Ford.

Yokahama stick to the road like glue but wear quicker

I had them on my previous Type R and could enter bends at insane speed.

Get a new tyre for the rear wheel (one with the nail in) - and then swop that wheel to the front and vice versa.

Assuming it's a front wheel drive car - its better to have the newers tyre on the front giving more corner grip, improved braking, accelaration grip etc. (Only really useful if you drive reasonable quick)

Sometimes worthwhile swopping tyres around. If you drive front wheel drive and accelarate quickly or drive fast (Ralphy?), your fronts will wear down much quicker than your rears. When they're nearing 10mm of grip, swop them with the rear tyres - You'll make your tyres last twice as long = less money spent on tyres.  8)

I always thought that the "45" as you have above is just the height of the wall in mm, rather than a percentage ?  I'd go and measure mine with a tape measure, only its in the shop...

Its a percentage - Ralphy is spot on

mot or not,get that tyre fixed or you may have a blow out.that is the main cause of them.if you aint had one believe me you dont want to.small price to pay for your life

Actually, I suppose it must be, mine are something like 205/55/R15 - if that was 55 mm, then if I put 17 inch rims on I would need 30mm walls to make sure my speedo went around at the same rate and I'm not sure they make them like that.

You learn something new every day !

http://www.torquecars.co.uk/Tuning/alloy-wheels.php

Really useful calculator for anyone wanting to change tyres/wheels.

For example my Focus is 185/65/14
so...
15 inch alloys: 195/55/15
16 inch alloys: 210/45/16
17 inch alloys: 235/35/17

Apparantly lower profile (that's the middle number) tyres look better - so your aim is to get that as low as possible

 :king:  Chav  :king:

Northern Red, your wrong about one thing there mate.

New tyres should allways go on the back

You don't want more grip at the front than the back else your be sideways around a bend.

Lower profile doesn't just look better but corners better due to less tyre 'wallow'.

There is less air to be pushed about when a car corners.

I stand corrected - but you shouldn't really be driving fast enough to slide around corners anyway  :old:

I did it on my fiesta as it was front wheel drive and I was told that due to accelaration, braking etc your fronts wear down quicker than your wear, so if you switch them halfway through their life, you get a longer stint out of them. Seemed to make sense...

You can drive as fast as you like on a track day  :wink:

Honda just called me and apparently I passed my MOT and there was no mention of the nail. (Perhaps I imagined it)

However I have a small crack on the windscreen under the wipers which apparently can be replaced for nowt under my insurance. Ralphy, if I do this, do I lose any of my 8 years no claims bonus?

8 years ncb ?

Haven't you insured your NCB?

You can after 5 years

Edinburgh_STFC, i've replaced my window twice under insurance and its not affected my NCB. Shouldn't be a prob

I have absolutely no idea!  :oops:

Cushty! I would check my insurance documents but they are in my car, which is still at the garage! They are phoning me tomorrow to see if I want to replace it. I think I might as long as it doesn't affect my NCB that I have lovingly built up! 8)

Most comprehensive insurance has glass coverage, so for about 50 quid you can get Autoglass (or similar) out to replace/repair your windscreen and no effect on NCB. Not sure you get the same coverage third party, so best to check.

Cheers! I have comprehensive cover but not sure about the excess. The guy at Honda seemed to think it might be free. Fingers crossed!

Honda?

I thought you a Focus ST170 ?

As Ralphy said, definately pay the few extra quid and ensure your no claims bonus, 8 years is a lot to loose!

Driving in London a few years ago, I indicated and changed lane on a dual carriageway, someone ran into the back of me (in crawling 10-15mph traffic). I thought it was his fault for running into the back of me. Wrong! After much correspondence with my insurance company, apparently I was at fault due to 'lane priority'  :roll:

If I hadn't insured my ncb, I'd have had to start all over again and I'd be paying a lot more than the £25 a month I do now for fully comp.

There's always an excess with insurance, normally 50 quid, some up to 100 quid. But if you can get it done free, then why not. Beats paying over 500 quid for a new windscreen any day.

I do! I bought it from one of the 2 Honda dealerships in town. I have free MOT's for life on my focus obviously provided I get all the work done there.

You want a Type R really  :soapy tit wank:

Just can't admit it  :wink:

Out of my price range Ralphy! Too expensive and the fuel consumption is just a tad too high, especially as I do most of my driving in the town. I did look at an S2000 though. Gorgeous cars!

S2000 is mad

Revs to 9000 rpm but doesn't 'feel' as quick as the Civic due to weight

Corners better though with rear wheel drive

Finally got my car back! The nail was only small and hadn't gone all the way through the tyre so they have removed it! Replaced the windscreen and just had to pay a £50 excess so not too bad.

Just thinking, the crack in the windscreen would explain why the outside of it kept getting condensation from it I guess.