Buying Used Tires - Are they Safe?

Buying used tires has become very frequent over the years. People are opting to buy used tires instead of new ones, as they are unaware of the dangers associated with used tires. Buying used tires seems harmless to the average driver. Often, you will see people boasting that they got the best deal by buying used tires at a fraction of the cost.

However, it is one of the most dangerous and foolish things a person can do. Not only are you endangering your life but those of others as well. Apart from this, you are compromising the performance of your car as used tires cannot offer the same qualities of a new tyre.

Moreover, if you are up to date with the latest laws regarding used tires, then you know that used tires are banned in the UAE since 2012. The Emirates Standardisation and Metrology Authority (Esma) has prohibited the sale or used of used tires throughout the UAE. Even importing used tires into the UAE is banned.

Nevertheless, people are continuing to flout the ban. Tire sellers are openly selling used tires, while drivers are continuing to buy them without pay much attention. The compromised quality of used tires when coupled with external conditions result in a disaster waiting to happen. Therefore, in this article, PitStopArabia aims to inform its readers about the dangers of buying used car tyres.

Waste of Money

The used tires that you have bought or decided to buy might not be in the condition that you thought them to be. An average person cannot possibly know the state of the used tire. The tire tread might be worn out, and you would not have realised it. Even if you inspect the tire tread and find it in good condition, it is not a guarantee that the tyre is safe for driving.

Likewise, you cannot know under what conditions were the tyres being driven or how much load they carried. All these factors can impact the condition of the tire. Therefore, if the tires were being driven in conditions other than the ones they were made for or carried more load than their capacity, you are buying a tire with compromised quality.

Under such circumstances, you will be required to replace them. The result is that you will end up spending more money than you would have spent in case you had bought new tires.

Tires May Be Past Their Maximum Life

Tire manufacturers believe that tires can last up to ten years. However, their opinion is based on tests that are carried out in laboratories and not real-life conditions. Based on the data from real-life conditions, most tires last only six years. Even car manufacturers state that tires must be replaced after five to six years, regardless of how little they have been used.

Considering this, it is quite challenging to know how old the tire is. You might be buying a tire that is past its maximum possible life or nearer to it. If this is true, you are putting yourself in the way of danger and wasting your hard-earned money. However, there is one way to find out a tire's age. For this, you will have to locate the letters' D.O.T.' on the tire's sidewall.

These letters will be followed by a four-digit code, e.g. 1817. The number means that the tire was manufactured in the 18th week of the year 2017. Even if the tire has considerable life left in it, the conditions under which it was driven cannot be known. Therefore, you are taking an unjustified risk.

The Tires Might Be Damaged

The tire might appear in perfect condition from the outside. However, from the inside, the tire might be one pothole away from bursting. Even if the person selling the used tires tells you about the conditions under which the tires were driven or their age, they cannot know about its internal state. Assessing a tire's internal damage requires professional skills and tools.

In many circumstances, the rubber inside the tire might be worn out or worse, cracked. The tire was repaired too many times, weakening it in the process. These are all scenarios which cannot be possibly considered by the buyer or the seller. Since internal damage cannot be seen by the naked eye, you might end up buying a used tire with serious internal damage.

Before you ask, how can tires be internally damaged, you must realise that internal damage to the tires is very common. It can be caused by:

• Small sharp particles which find their way into the rubber;
• Driving over potholes or conditions other than which the tires were designed for;
• Too many tire repairs.

Manufacturers Only Approach the Original Buyers in Case of Recall

A product recall is not something uncommon. Every type of industry has faced issues with the products produced and had to recall their products. The tyre industry is no exception. The top tire brands have had to recall their products over the years. Bridgestone had to recall their tires just last year in the USA. Similarly, it had to recall tires in the year 2000 as well.

Although manufacturers issue a statement regarding product recall, many people are unaware of it. Moreover, manufacturers only approach the original owners or retailers in case of a recall. It is impossible for a manufacturer or a retailer to keep track of a product once the original buyer resells it to someone else.

Therefore, by buying a used tire, you are in no position to know if your tires have been recalled or the manufacturer has released any important news regarding them. The only way you can know about it is by regularly checking the manufacturer’s website.

Quality Cannot Be Determined

There is no way to know how many times the tire was repaired. Often, drivers adopt quick fixes while repairing their tires. For example, a punctured tire which requires a more elaborate repair will simply be fixed by a quick patch up. Likewise, some devious buyers repaint their tires to make them look new.

The result is that you cannot know the real quality of the tires. Only after you have bought them, you realise that you purchased a bad set of tires.

Overspending

Buying used tires might seem like a cost-effective option for people on a tight budget. However, considering other factors, you will end up spending more than if you bought new tires. How? The reason they end up overspending is that the cost of dismounting, purchasing the used tires and installing them is higher than the cost of installing new tires.

Moreover, many shops offer free installation if you buy new tires from them. Therefore, purchasing a new set of tires will help you save more money than you planned on saving from purchasing used tires. Furthermore, if you are buying a tire with half tread life left, consider the overall cost.

You are buying tires with half tread life, paying the installer for dismounting the old tires and replacing them with the used ones. Finally, the tires must be balanced. In the end, you might end up paying more money for used tires than you would have for new tires.

No Legal Protection

The used tire industry is illegal in many countries, including the UAE. While in other countries, it is unregulated, meaning that there is no legislation governing used tires. With no set standards, used tires are generally considered unsafe.

Moreover, you will not have the option of taking the legal route in case the used tires lead to some untoward incident. By buying used tires, you are also unlikely to bring action against the manufacturer if the tire develops faults. The reason is that you cannot provide proof that you own the tires. Ownership rests with the original buyers alone, and only they can file claims.

Their Previous Record is Shady

If you carefully analyse tire statistics from around the world, you will conclude that used tires are more likely to increase the risk of an accident. In the USA alone, 11,000 accidents occur every year because of used tires. Likewise, accidents from used tires will continue to rise unless the sale and use of used tires are restricted.

Conclusion

If you have read even one of the above points, you will have realised by now that buying used tires is never a safe option. Regardless of how well known the seller is or well the tire appears, used tires bring with them too many unwanted risks. Therefore, it is better to always opt for new tires.