205 R16s vs 205 80 R16s...What?

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dodgyrob

dodgyrob

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Right, this is doing my head in, I can't find any answers and Ive been searching like mad.:mad:

On the back of me Landy I have 205 R16 tyres and on the front 205 80 R16s.

My spare is a 205 R16 which I will have to chuck on the front to get through the M.O.T but have been told I cant have one 205 R16 and one 205 80 R16 running together on the front. Is this right and if so whats the bloody difference between them:confused:

Any help on this would be much appreciated because if it fails the M.O.T on tyre sizes I will have to kill the M.O.T bloke.

Thank you
 
They should be the same mate. the 80 is the profile of the tyre. The side wall is 80% of 205. You could get a tape measure and measure from the bead to the tread and see if there is a significant difference
 
I have a similar question.

my 110 is due an mot and my spare is buggered.

I have the old 7.5" x 16's on the old style steels. I have a set of disco steels and a couple of decent BFG M/T's that are 225 x 75 x 16. They measure out at a couple of inches smaller on the diameter. Would this be passable as a spare at mot? I'd have thought not personally but I dunno what the crack is with those daft space saver spares on cars so thought I'd ask.
 
Bede said:
I have a similar question.

my 110 is due an mot and my spare is buggered.

I have the old 7.5" x 16's on the old style steels. I have a set of disco steels and a couple of decent BFG M/T's that are 225 x 75 x 16. They measure out at a couple of inches smaller on the diameter. Would this be passable as a spare at mot? I'd have thought not personally but I dunno what the crack is with those daft space saver spares on cars so thought I'd ask.
Click to expand...

spare tyres are not an MOT'able item. you can have a racing slick on there if ya want MOT tester can't take it into account at all
 
redhand said:
spare tyres are not an MOT'able item. you can have a racing slick on there if ya want MOT tester can't take it into account at all
Click to expand...
Not true!!! If its on or in the car it has to be legal. Plod can give you three points for a bald spare and you will fail an MOT if the examiner checks it. If its no good then leave it at home for the MOT. There is no legal requirement to carry a spare.
 
Is that right? I always thought it was a pre-requisite.

Happy days then, thanks.

I don't want to spend owt on a spare as I intend to buy a full set of proper tyres on modulars at a later point

On a final note, thanks for not giving me the sarcastic arsey answers that I fully expected! I like this forum and find it very informative as a bit of an automotive novice but feel it gets spoilt by arseholes sometimes getting on their high horse! Much appreciated.
 
Its why some cars dont have a spare but they give you a can of gunk and a poxy feeble compressor in its place. Absolutely no good if you have a hole bigger than a pin prick to seal whereas you could rip the tyre off its rim and fit a spare and be on your way. No way I'd accept the so called "space saving" option.
 
Shifty1962 said:
Not true!!! If its on or in the car it has to be legal. Plod can give you three points for a bald spare and you will fail an MOT if the examiner checks it. If its no good then leave it at home for the MOT. There is no legal requirement to carry a spare.
Click to expand...


Not true, wether the spare is legal or not does not come into the MOT, you only test the 4 tyres fitted to the vehicle. The plod can't give you 3 points for a bald spare either, its not a legal requirement and therefore you can not brake a non exsistent law
 
Jongould said:
Not true, wether the spare is legal or not does not come into the MOT, you only test the 4 tyres fitted to the vehicle. The plod can't give you 3 points for a bald spare either, its not a legal requirement and therefore you can not brake a non exsistent law
Click to expand...

Only becomes an issue if or when you fit it! So having an illegal spare isn't the most sensible thing to do;) but until you fit it it don't matter!
 
Jongould said:
Not true, wether the spare is legal or not does not come into the MOT, you only test the 4 tyres fitted to the vehicle. The plod can't give you 3 points for a bald spare either, its not a legal requirement and therefore you can not brake a non exsistent law
Click to expand...
So 24 years 12 of them as a traffic cop were a waste of time then? I've given FPNs for bald spares and even been to court when peeps wanted to argue the toss. Guess what? All of them lost. The only way you can get away with carrying a bald or illegal spare is to make sure it is not capable of being used by cutting off the valve for instance.

My MOT examiner confirms that any wheel and tyre capable of being fitted to the vehicle must be legal if it is in or on the vehicle at the time of the MOT. That includes the boot, the back seat, or the roof rack!
Any MOT examiner not checking the spare risks losing his ticket.
Its why some MOT stations wont MOT with a boot full of ****e or kids toys as they are not allowed to empty the contents and they can not get to the spare wheel.
 
Condition, security, tyre size and type and tread depth. Spare tyres are not inspected. Note: vehicles first used on or after 1 January 2012 - check of the MIL for tyre pressure monitoring.

Off the vosa website! I used to be a tester and we were told the spare wasn't a testable item! There are several mot and legal requirement clashes. You can drive out of an mot station and be done by the police! It's daft. You can't check for corrosion if the boots full either;)
 
I dont know the legalities of it if you get pulled! Never come across that but if it's illegal it's another thing that shows how bloody stupid the mot is
 
Shifty1962 said:
I've given FPNs for bald spares and even been to court when peeps wanted to argue the toss. Guess what? All of them lost. The only way you can get away with carrying a bald or illegal spare is to make sure it is not capable of being used by cutting off the valve for instance.
Click to expand...

I am absolutely astonished to hear this and if it had ever happened to me I certainly would have gone to court. My argument would be that the vehicle is being tested not it's contents. If there had been a faulty headlamp bulb in the car boot then I would not expect the car to fail so why should a faulty tyre or shock absorber or indeed anything else in but not in use mean that the vehicle can be deemed to be unroadworthy.
 
MrPDude said:
They should be the same mate. the 80 is the profile of the tyre. The side wall is 80% of 205. You could get a tape measure and measure from the bead to the tread and see if there is a significant difference
Click to expand...

That's what I always thought but just looking up about spares an mot site said if its not on the tyre it's 82% which kinda screws things up! But luckily this is not a reason for rejection see below

1. One tyre is of a different nominal size or aspect ratio to any other on the same axle.

Note: Special lightweight or space saving wheels and tyres fitted as a road wheel are reasons for rejection

Note: Tyres with aspect ratios of 80% and 82% are almost indentical in size and can be safely mixed in any configuration on a vehicle. Where this is done, Reason for Rejection 1 does not apply.

In all other cases of mixed aspect ratios on the same axle, rejection is justified.
 
Diesel Do said:
Condition, security, tyre size and type and tread depth. Spare tyres are not inspected. Note: vehicles first used on or after 1 January 2012 - check of the MIL for tyre pressure monitoring.

Off the vosa website! I used to be a tester and we were told the spare wasn't a testable item! There are several mot and legal requirement clashes. You can drive out of an mot station and be done by the police! It's daft. You can't check for corrosion if the boots full either;)
Click to expand...

This inspection applies toTyres fitted to the road wheels only. The vehicle presenter should be informed when it is noticed that there is a defective tyre on a spare wheel.

It's an advisory only! Mot testers have to go on what's in the book! Not doing so gets you in trouble as does making assumptions about what should fail! Think you need to put him straight!
But if it's illegal in the eyes of the law what's to stop em getting a list of advisories off vosa and doing everyone with a dodgy spare?
 
Shifty1962 said:
So 24 years 12 of them as a traffic cop were a waste of time then? I've given FPNs for bald spares and even been to court when peeps wanted to argue the toss. Guess what? All of them lost. The only way you can get away with carrying a bald or illegal spare is to make sure it is not capable of being used by cutting off the valve for instance.
Click to expand...

You are 100% incorrect on this and are showing one of the many faults of traffic cops, I have had many traffics tell me stuff that isn't legal, the carrying of an illegal spare is not an offence and you were clearly not doing your job right. As had been said the law applies to the vehicle and not it's contents, you can not brake a law that does not exist.
 
Shifty1962 said:
So 24 years 12 of them as a traffic cop were a waste of time then? I've given FPNs for bald spares and even been to court when peeps wanted to argue the toss. Guess what? All of them lost. The only way you can get away with carrying a bald or illegal spare is to make sure it is not capable of being used by cutting off the valve for instance.

My MOT examiner confirms that any wheel and tyre capable of being fitted to the vehicle must be legal if it is in or on the vehicle at the time of the MOT. That includes the boot, the back seat, or the roof rack!
Any MOT examiner not checking the spare risks losing his ticket.
Its why some MOT stations wont MOT with a boot full of ****e or kids toys as they are not allowed to empty the contents and they can not get to the spare wheel.
Click to expand...

I was under the impression that you could get away with having a spare tyre that was under the minimum amount of legal tread for M.O.T and it does state on the DirectGov website that the spare tyre is not checked during an M.O.T.

However I was also under the impression that if the police stop you they have the power to issue a FPN for carrying an illegal spare tyre as the chances are if you get a puncture you would fit the spare and then be breaking the law.

But then you could argue you were not going to fit the spare tyre and the police would then have to prove to a court you had the intention of fitting the illegal spare at some point and trying to prove intent on an issue like that wouldn't be easy.

Why are tyres so bloody complicated:confused:
 
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