Hey folks, I was lucky enough to get pulled into a safety control a few days ago in Luzern at 2am. I was sober, following traffic rules and thought I was in the clear. But the cop stopping cars shouted "Reifen!" and I was directed to pull over. Then commenced the most umpah loompah style ceremony I ever witnessed, as six coppers went over my tires meticulously , discovering that despite being well above the safety mark in the middle, the very edges were about 1.4mm (I mean, the very edge of a new tire is almost down to zero, so this seems like a trap). I'm really not sure where they were measuring, but it was clear there was no way out of this one. Oh, and of course I noticed all the cars pulled off were older models, as the fat white Mercedes were waved on. No joke. I guess they figured there was little chance the rich guys couldn't afford new tires every season. My Ford was a dead mark.
As unluck would have it, I had just ordered new tires that very same day, again, no joke, because I noticed the treads were getting close to the safety mark. I even showed them the order. Do you think that impressed them? "You're too late!" with a laugh. OMG, they are the devil's spawn.
Anyway I asked several times what it would cost me and they kept saying they didn't know. After wearing them down (no pun intended), one cop finally muttered, "it'll be at least 400.- bc the fine for one tire is 100.-"
Honestly, tires are a safety item and the edges are what give you grip in cornering, but I guess you were unlucky considering you bought new tires already.
It has snowed last weekend and might snow this weekend. You really shouldn't drive with such tires. It's really dangerous especially at this time of the year.
In my opinion for winter tires it is best not to go close to indicator. On snow you need to have good thread. Also some of tyre features like little cuts etc disappearing when tyre wears down so it would impact tyre performance.
With summer tires I am more confident to go closer to wear indicator, but choose safe speed on heavy rain.
I understand it would be silly to measure on the very edges where tyre never touches the ground, but could it be that tyre wear was uneven on the surface?
I had this control few years ago. My tyres were quite new, but politely asked the officer how the measurements were done as one of my front tyres had more wear on outside (just noticed at this inspection). His reply was continuous around 75% to 80% of the middle of each tyre, leaving some allowance for the very edges. Looks like rules have changed now.
I do a 2 frank coin tyre tread check once a month at least. Takes less than two minutes.
If it's not too much trouble, can you post a picture of the tire and show where they tested? I'd be interested to see how far towards they edge they go.
Tires are dynamic and move under load. If there is tread on a tire (even the edge) assume that this section will be a contact patch, at some stage, during driving.
I'll check my tires later. Never looked at how deep is the thread in the edges.
Not sure if the last block in the tire edge ends in a wedge with 0mm depth even when new, or a more rounded shape where there's thread with a certain depth.
Thanks for all the opinions. I would go into my current financial situation and how I can’t possibly afford new tires so I have to wait for a Ricardo listing to pop up on my saved search (because I’m always looking for tires knowing the ones I bought last time for 50.- will be done “soon”), which happened the day before and I jumped on it. But I guess that’ll just bring the standard “if you can’t afford to keep your car up you shouldn’t be driving” tropes. Sure, I’ll just dig my grave right now.
Anyway back to my original question: how much will it cost? I found the fine listed at 100.- for “einem mangelhaften Reifen” but nowhere stating the fine compounds per tire. I can handle 100.- as a motivator to check more carefully in the future.
I had something similar happen a few months ago - but one of my bulbs was blown. During the check, they noticed the front tires were misaligned, so wore out unevenly and the inner line was very worn.
They were friendly and polite, gave me a little piece of paper. Two days later, I turned up at the police station with the paper (and replaced tired/bulb of course).
Someone checked the tires, checked the bulb and signed me off.
Nothing to pay. Not sure if they were being nice as I was being nice, but the whole experience reminded me to check the tires more often.
well I for one feel safer knowing such egregious law-breaking is being dealt with severely. What if the OP was forced to brake and magically only the edge of the tyre was in contact with the road? Carnage!
Maybe you should try getting your story straight first ?
QUOTE (from post 1)
As unluck would have it, I had just ordered new tires that very same day, again, no joke, because I noticed the treads were getting close to the safety mark. I even showed them the order. Do you think that impressed them? "You're too late!" with a laugh. OMG, they are the devil's spawn.
UNQUOTE
As for putting used tyres on a car, this is really a false economy, as it costs exactr same amount to put shit tires on as it does good ones, about Chf 25-30 per wheel, fitted & balanced.
As you have not muich money, i guess we can assume you don't have a large car with tires costing over and above Chf 1'000.-- per set of 4.
Good breand (Pirelli, Continenetal) tires for my polo, 185 x 60 x15" cost about Chf 250.-- per set of 4.
Cheap Chinese tires can be found for as little as Chf 150-160 per set of 4