So Much for buying British !

[Yetianimal]

I've put this in as a general warning to all those of you who may be about to buy tyres for ANY make of Skoda (or any other make of vehicle for that matter).

 

To say that I am disgusted with AVON TYRES is an understatement, so please read this and be aware of how this could well affect you.

 

In September 2019 I bought a full set of 225/50 R17 Avon ZV7 tyres for my Skoda Yeti. I bought them from a local tyre dealer near to out then home, but since then we have moved house.

 

I recently took my car up to our local garage for a routine service, and the guys up there pointed out to me that there was significant deterioration to the the tyres. Quite surprised, and knowing that there was plenty of tread left on them, I went out and they showed me the cracking all the way round the tread between the main treads as shown in the photos. The tyre depth gauge shows a still useable depth of almost 5mm so well within the depth legality of 1.6mm. In this state though, they will fail an MOT test. To say I was horrified is an understatement. Visually, the main tread is deep, and I had expected at least another 12 months from them.

 

The car is used purely on normal roads. I cover about 7,000 miles annually, and the car is used daily, apart from during the lockdown, when it had less use, probably like most people. 

 

So I got in touch with Avon.  You need to return them to the supplying dealer they said. As this is 340 miles away, and not part of a National chain, you'll appreciate that's not even an option.

You'll also need to buy yourself some other tyres, while they examine them which might take between 6 to 8 weeks........So you can't use the car meantime.......in a real world that's just not possible.

 

But the biggest hurdle is WHEN WERE THE TYRES MANUFACTURED?    Read that again.....Not FITTED.......MANUFACTURED.

Apparently there is a 4 digit tyre code on the sidewall of tyres. The first 4 letters of that code represent the WEEK of production The second 4 digits the YEAR of production.

 

I suggest strongly that next time ANY OF YOU buy tyres, you insist on the tyres being from a recent production batch.....Mine were not.

 

How many of us check that?  Does anybody check it.  The tyre companies are not interested when they were FITTED, they are on;y interested in when they were made, and if it's over 12 months you are wasting your time with any claim. 

 

I have, since, replaced these tyres with FRENCH Michelin. Duly checked the MANUFACTURE dates as I will do from this day onwards. SO SHOULD YOU.

 

Be aware.....It's an expensive business, and has totally destroyed my trust in AVON TYRES whose HQ is in Swindon,  Bluntly AVON......you deserve to go under. Your Customer Service is an unspeakably large pile of droppings !  Don't expect any business in the future......EVER

 

 

Edited 18 January, 2022 by Yetianimal

[skomaz]

Not an unusual situation - I've had the same cracking issue with Dunlop previously and heard similar stories on Bridgestones - so haven't bought either make since.

[Yetianimal]

It's not so much a problem, as just another example of how these companies weasel out of anything and everything these days.

We end up spending even more money, and they laugh all the way to the bank ! 

Shysters the lot of them.

 

Just another lousy company who have lost another customer, but they won't be bothered.

[skomaz]

Indeed -interestingly your images suggest the issue isn't as bad as it was with my Dunlop SP-01's where I could see the carcass / cords!  I've been tending to purchase Michelin or Vredestein recently and have had no such problems.

[nta16]

@Yetianimal I had two Avon ZT7 put on my wife's Fabia Mk3 about 18 months ago. 

 

You are understandably upset and you make some good points with a thread that would be good in another general section.

 

In your upset I think you might have misunderstood some of the manufacturer's requirements. - Given your last post I will add that you have got some things wrong in that respect.

 

There have been lots of problems with lots of tyres over the last few years for various reasons some with manufacturers but they must also consider if the tyre was made a number of years back how it has ben stored (or even transported) - and your warranty is with the seller not the manufacturer, the same as you have been able to contact the manufacturer you can contact the seller.

 

Generally, but especially in this section, many but certainly not the majority of drivers will know about the four digit date code (and perhaps the three with triangle and without and no code) and the tyre fitting places and tyre manufacturers websites often give this information.

 

For the tyre tread depth although 1.6mm is the legal limit many consider 3mm to be a good minimum for tread depth, you would also normally check the depth across three points of the width and at various areas of the circumference to check for uneven wear around the tyre.

 

So what is your date of manufacture?

 

Edited 18 January, 2022 by nta16

[Ootohere]

@Yetianimal So how long before the tyres were bought and fitted where they manufactured?   I have had some very good Avon tyres and have posts on here about the Snow tyres.     I check the date of manufacture.  ?  Who was it that sold you the tyres?

Edited 18 January, 2022 by roottoot

[Yetianimal]

The date of manufacture was 14/16 so well over two years old from manufacture even before they were fitted.....I've moved on..... The post is to make others aware. 

[Ootohere]

This is indeed the issue with tyre fitting.  Some tyre places might buy there stock from others that went bust.  Some might buy a container of mixed tyres from wherever and whoever.    Plenty places like that about. Some are even MOT test centres . 

Edited 18 January, 2022 by roottoot

[Yetianimal]

Roottoot, I too have had some very good Avon tyres in the past. But not these! These were shockingly unsafe. I'm 75 and have had around 40 cars, trucks and vans, but I won't buy AVON again. They're clearly not of a good standard any more. 

I know all about sellers responsibilities, having had a number of businesses but not relevant in this case due to timescale. 

 

[Ootohere]

So was the place you bought the tyres at an Avon tyre dealer?

[nta16]

8 minutes ago, Yetianimal said:

The date of manufacture was 14/16 so well over two years old from manufacture even before they were fitted.....I've moved on..... The post is to make others aware. 

Depending on where you buy from that may not be that unusual.

 

The sidewall of the tyre will also tell you the country of manufacture, if you look at that you might get further surprises.

 

[nta16]

10 minutes ago, Yetianimal said:

I'm 75 and have had around 40 cars, trucks and vans

With your age and experience I'm a bit surprised you didn't know about manufacture dates on tyres, but you're generation can generally are more concerned only about tread depth being above 1.6mm rather than tyre age and condition as you were more used to the lax laws and way things were done in the 1960s.  I'm 61 and have mates in their 70s so I know how they think.

 

Edited 18 January, 2022 by nta16

[Yetianimal]

I think as a final say on this, I expect, when I buy a product, any product, that it will do the job for which I have purchased it. 

I shouldn't have to examine manufacturing dates. The dealers should not sell 'old tyres'. 

But such is the way of things in 2022. Nothing to do with age.... 

We used to call it

TRUST.. 

and take it from this 'old codger' as you seem to be implying, 

LACK OF TRUST in a business, or in its products is not a good business model. 

I KNOW you normally change tyres well before the 1.6mm time. I always have done. I probably knew it before a lot of you were born..... 

Getting old doesn't make your mates in their 70's stupid! We have experience, wisdom and  VERY sharp minds honed from a lifetime of work. We are ALL THERE mate! 👍

Right..... Off for my Horlicks!

Edited 18 January, 2022 by Yetianimal

[nta16]

Yeap, you're the same as them!  🤣

 

I didn't say you were an old codger (although I'm beginning to think you might be). 😁  For the last 40 years I've lived near people in their 70s, 80, 90s and even 104, so I'm used to people a lot older than you, but both you and I are old that's just the passing of time.

 

And I didn't say my mates were stupid, they're not, I didn't put that you didn't know about changing tyres before the legal limit of tread (wasn't it 1mm before?).

 

The dealers have not sold old tyres, they're not that fresh obviously, but your normally sharp mind has been blunted on this subject because of your upset, your post and thread was about Avon tyres not the dealer you bought the tyres from.

 

Because of your upset you have been unreasonable (and inaccurate) with what you have put about your dealings with Avon the tyre manufacturer.

 

I'm with you, I think it's terrible how the tyres now deteriorate but it's not just with one manufacturer.

 

My 87 year-old neighbours car had at least two tyres like your photo, cracking between thread (sidewalls were fine) yet last November they were only advisories on the MoT (surprised me too).

 

Same as 61year-olds, 74 year-olds aren't always right (they just think they are more often). 😁

 

You've got it off your chest so don't let any of what I've put keep you on the boil, the information about manufacture dates is good.

 

I won't upset you more by telling you about the Michelins I replaced last summer but they were more than 4 years old from use, and manufacture.

 

[Ootohere]

@Yetianimal

So was the place you bought the Avon Tyres an Avon Tyre dealer or just someplace that happened to have them in stock in the correct size.

Or were they ordered in from someplace to be fitted there?

[Yetianimal]

No offence taken. 

Another thing us Crusties have is incredibly thick skin! 😂 

[nta16]

I had two different sets of Michelin Energy (EB1 IIRC) and the second set got sidewall cracking from about 3 years old (of fitting and manufacture IIRC) not bad but it was there, by about 6 years (I was wrong with 4, last two years, well!) they needed replacing, I would have replaced them the year before normally.  The lack of use even before Covid probably didn't help them and my car is out side 365/6, they didn't do much more than 20k-miles in just under 6 years.

 

There have been changes with tyres, the construction and/or compound in the last few years as those that have bought the same make and model of tyre recommended by those using that make and model of tyre have found a difference in performance to those that were purchased in earlier years.

 

I was joking when I put you might be surprised if you checked the country of manufacturer, it can sometimes change or even has been different to a set.

 

[Breezy_Pete]

I bought a replacement tyre for my box trailer last summer. It was an online purchase through a local outlet, and cheap, but I was a little disappointed to find it was 7 years old.

Seems absolutely fine though, so I wouldn't necessarily conclude that age is the problem with your Avons. 

More likely to be a 'cost saving' change to materials used, knowing the world in 2022 (and 2016).

[nta16]

8 minutes ago, Wino said:

More likely to be a 'cost saving' change to materials used, knowing the world in 2022 (and 2016).

Or  just a change of material or supply problems for materials.

 

Because of availability and my time constraint I had to get my third (or fourth) choice of tyre last summer.

 

Covid, containers (and dare I put Brexit issues) for the last couple of years have caused issues, before that even things like the Japanese power station getting flooded, we live in a small world, a global village.

 

AFAIK their isn't an age limit for tyres though various manufacturers would have their own limits for what they'd recommend for use, and there would be other concerns as well as age, normally storage (and perhaps transport).

 

[Routemaster1461]

I drive vintage buses. One of the buses I drive is a Class 6 and falls under the new 10 year rule. The vehicle was off the road because the two front tyres went out of date, and the owner bought 2 replacements. The replacements were both over a year old, so instead of getting another 10 years he only gets another 8 or so years. The tyres will never wear out. Also, the manufacturing dates are on the tyres, but on some, if not all, the date branding is only on one side, so this causes a problem if fitted with the date on the inside.

[nta16]

4 minutes ago, Routemaster1461 said:

I drive vintage buses. One of the buses I drive is a Class 6 and falls under the new 10 year rule.

Vintage, probably I'd call them classic, and Yetianimal current. 😁

 

Our local area beer-bus is a 1961 Bristol Single Decker, (Gardner engine, and that's the full extent of my knowledge) they'll no doubt be be looking for remanufactured  🙃 - but this is unallowed thread drift, back to topic. -

 

14 minutes ago, Routemaster1461 said:

The replacements were both over a year old, so instead of getting another 10 years he only gets another 8 or so years. The tyres will never wear out.

 

One of the reason such rules regulations come in are illustrated below, Mr. R. G. Evritt's 27 year-old "new" tyres after being fitted, he originally put the photos up as a safety warning a few years back.

 

 

 

 

[Routemaster1461]

On 18/01/2022 at 10:33, Yetianimal said:

 

 

I have, since, replaced these tyres with FRENCH Michelin. Duly checked the MANUFACTURE dates as I will do from this day onwards. SO SHOULD YOU.

 

 

 

Just a quick note. Although Michelin are a French company, it is not a guarantee that the tyres will be made in France. I have had German Michelins, my C3 has Spanish Michelins and my daughter's car has UK Michelins. So I suspect it may be difficult to specify French made Michelins. I'm having 2 new Michelins on our C3 on Friday. Manufacture date and originating country will be interesting!

[Ootohere]

There could well be Michelin tyres still waiting to be sold that were manufactured in Dundee before the closure there in 2018.

http://bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-46097215

 

I liked my TIGAR tyres manufactured in the Michelin owned factory in Serbia and  bought at ATS Euromaster which is also owned by Michelin as is BlackCircles.

 

Edited 19 January, 2022 by roottoot

[ckyliu]

Avon aren't British, haven't been for decades. The factory at Melksham stopped producing car tyres in 2018, they just do motorcycle and race tyres. The brand is currently owned by Cooper (USA), who in turn are owned by an Apollo (India) which have many factories across the globe. I think Goodyear had a go at buying Cooper, so it might be American again by now. Your tyre was probably made in the Far East, as with most budget and mid-range tyres.

Edited 19 January, 2022 by ckyliu

[nta16]

I was going to put I didn't think Avon were British anymore but I wasn't sure about the motorcycle tyres, I couldn't see a country of manufacture on the Avon we have, must be on the inside.

 

The Nexen has made in Korea (doesn't say which).

 

Edited 19 January, 2022 by nta16
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