Tyre fitment / stretch guides,

11th May 2015, 11:14

Hi Saxp, apologies for my ignorance, I’m pretty clueless when it comes to tyres. I’ve seen a lot of people with large wheels and stretched tyres. I understand there is a law against this, but what is that law? How much stretch is too much? Is there an ‘operating range’ in which tyres are legal? I am considering buying wheels which have little bit of stretch on my tyres (or I assume it is a little) and I want to make sure it’s not illegal or will void my insurance etc.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Cheers.

11th May 2015, 12:13

Think they're not allowed to be strecthed at all from what I know. Just depends who you get as well. N.Ireland may be different that England though.

13th May 2015, 12:42

For anyone else who may ask this question in the future. I just had my MOT (at a main dealer) with 20”x10J running 255/30 R20, so about 7% under manufacturer recommended fit – and they passed fine. To be fair they don’t look stretched at 255, and are within the operating range of the wheel. I think it’s only if you get silly, that they will start failing MOTs and voiding insurance etc.

13th May 2015, 13:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stissy

I think it’s only if you get silly, that they will start failing MOTs and voiding insurance etc.

Like so:

13th May 2015, 14:59

I think stretched tyres come under abit of a grey area,
I had quite a lot of stretch on my old wheels, and passed mot fine,
On the 106 I had a little bit of stretch (as in you wouldn't noticed unless you properly looked)
And I had an arsey copper try give
Me 12 points, gave me a week to change them as there was a " new law " coming out , couldn't tell me what this "law" was though...
Never changed them and never had trouble since,
And even so , some of the new beemers/Mercs have a bit of stretch from factory

13th May 2015, 18:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ali123

I think stretched tyres come under abit of a grey area,
I had quite a lot of stretch on my old wheels, and passed mot fine,
On the 106 I had a little bit of stretch (as in you wouldn't noticed unless you properly looked)
And I had an arsey copper try give
Me 12 points, gave me a week to change them as there was a " new law " coming out , couldn't tell me what this "law" was though...
Never changed them and never had trouble since,
And even so , some of the new beemers/Mercs have a bit of stretch from factory

The thing is though, if your car has passed an MOT with stretched tyres, then they're road legal. Regardless of what the police say, you can play ignorance and claim that as far as you're aware, the tyres have been through an MOT and as such, are safe.

13th May 2015, 19:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stissy

The thing is though, if your car has passed an MOT with stretched tyres, then they're road legal. Regardless of what the police say, you can play ignorance and claim that as far as you're aware, the tyres have been through an MOT and as such, are safe.

you know how it is though man, theres no telling the 5-0 otherwise!

but either way though ive been perefctly fine with them,
been pulled quite a few times by both traffic and the normal police and apart from that one time never had any more bother about the stretch dude

13th May 2015, 19:47

It use to be a simple case of "as long as the tread is in the wheel arch" then it's fine.

But people take the piss with that logic, so I wouldn't be surprised if there's some sort of coppers discretion law in force now.