What's something small that really annoys you?

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1937 posts

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# 2146964 18-Dec-2018 10:55

https://www.nzta.govt.nz/vehicles/choosing-the-right-vehicle/check-your-car-safety-basics/tyres/

Most tyres have moulded tread-depth indicators which are flush with the tyre tread when it has reached the minimum depth. The minimum legal tread depth is 1.5mm within all principal grooves that contain these moulded tread depth indicators. These must be at least 1.5mm around the whole circumference of the tyre.

Geektastic

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# 2146987 18-Dec-2018 11:20

MadEngineer:

https://www.nzta.govt.nz/vehicles/choosing-the-right-vehicle/check-your-car-safety-basics/tyres/

Most tyres have moulded tread-depth indicators which are flush with the tyre tread when it has reached the minimum depth. The minimum legal tread depth is 1.5mm within all principal grooves that contain these moulded tread depth indicators. These must be at least 1.5mm around the whole circumference of the tyre.

Should also say that changing your tyres earlier than that is safer.

invisibleman18

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# 2147052 18-Dec-2018 12:22

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eracode:
invisibleman18: Selling something a bit large (in this case a golf bag) for posting on TradeMe and clearly stating "Pick up only. Must be picked up from Churton Park, Wellington." Then inevitably someone from the other end of the country buys it and wants it posted.

Has happened to me several times - extremely annoying. There are some real idiots on TM.

I monitor the bidders and if they are obviously not from my pick-up area and have not made contact regarding mailing or some else picking up, I simply remove their bid and/or blacklist them without further ado.

And on the flip side, the other one is when they do arrange to come and pickup and you spend the evening waiting in for them and they don't turn up or even get in touch.

frankv

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# 2147072 18-Dec-2018 13:04

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Rikkitic:

networkn:

Tyre dealers who tell you the tyres on your car tyres wouldn't get a warrant and should be replaced immediately, second opinion from another professional with measuring device shows they aren't anywhere NEAR as bad as that and probably have 3-6 months driving left on them.

My mechanic, with whom I have a longstanding relationship and whose judgement I trust completely, explained to me that it is a safety issue. Tyres that are worn but still legal don't grip as well or stop as well or drive around corners as well or handle as well in the rain. They may not be illegal, but tyres with only 3-6 months driving left on them are definitely not as good as newer ones would be. Usually you only discover this during an emergency.

You need to get a new mechanic.

Worn tyres grip *better* than new tyres, except when the road is wet. Stopping is the same as grip. I don't see how they drive round corners any differently.

Remember that the 1.5mm limit is an arbitrary number set by some bureaucrats. A tyre does not instantly transition from safe to unsafe at that point. It only transitions from legal to illegal. There will be continuous transition from relatively safe to relatively unsafe across the whole life of the tyre.

Having one worn and one new tyre on the same axle could potentially cause issues, especially in the wet when the worn tyre will lose grip earlier than the new tyre, and therefore potentially causing the car to turn. Of course, that's mitigated by ABS nowadays, so the downside is just longer braking distances.

For mechanics and tyre shops, erring on the side of safety (cos, like national security and locking up criminals and wars on drugs, you can't argue against it!) has significant economic benefits. Replacing your tyres with "only" 3-6 months left on them means that (a) you turn over your tyres 25% faster, so they increase their turnover by 25%, and (b) they can sell your tyres to the discount used-tyre place down the road instead oy paying to dispose of them.

Rikkitic

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# 2147088 18-Dec-2018 13:28

frankv:

You need to get a new mechanic.

I was paraphrasing my mechanic so don't blame him. The main issue is rain. Worn treads don't handle it as well and if it is wet, all the other things come into play. We had this conversation because someone had tried to negotiate a gentle highway curve at normal speed and had ended in a ditch. The reason was rain and worn but still legal tyres. It does make a difference but that usually only becomes obvious in an emergency.

I don't think there is ever a bad time to talk about how absurd war is, how old men make decisions and young people die. - George Clooney

nzrock

109 posts

Master Geek

# 2147111 18-Dec-2018 14:05

One person supports this post

NZ customs

they are holding my package to ransom.

I paid them on the 30/11/18, ( I have a receipt ), but they lost the money in there system, and will not release the package until they find the money.

At this rate i will not get it until next year. It was going to be a Christmas present.

Greg

geoffwnz

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# 2147115 18-Dec-2018 14:10

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Rikkitic:

I was paraphrasing my mechanic so don't blame him. The main issue is rain. Worn treads don't handle it as well and if it is wet, all the other things come into play. We had this conversation because someone had tried to negotiate a gentle highway curve at normal speed and had ended in a ditch. The reason was rain and worn but still legal tyres. It does make a difference but that usually only becomes obvious in an emergency.

I would suggest the "reason" was driving at an unsuitable speed for the conditions. "Conditions" in this case including but not limited to: Tyre wear, road, weather, driver ability.....

Worn tyres and wet road were very likely to have been contributing factors for sure.

But yes, look at track racing cars. In the dry they run a full slick with no tread blocks. When the rain turns up, they start driving like they are on a skating rink. No grooves means nowhere for the water to go, so very quick to aquaplane.

Note that a worn tyre is not a slick. It's a "bald". Slicks have tread, complete with tread depth indicators. They are very small dimples, but they are there and show how much useful rubber is left.

The casing rubber can be very different in compound to the tread rubber. Tread is designed to grip the road. The casing is not.

MotorDrive Rallying

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# 2147117 18-Dec-2018 14:16

Getting a response to an email enquiry from Customer Services of a very large international maker of noise cancelling headphones addressed to Dear (not my name) and consisting of information that in no way related to the enquiry I made...!

tdgeek

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# 2147121 18-Dec-2018 14:19

geoffwnz:

The casing rubber can be very different in compound to the tread rubber. Tread is designed to grip the road. The casing is not.

I agree, except the tread is there to clear water. It has less grip in the dry than a slick, as a slick has more rubber meeting the road. As to bald, if bald in a road car is the casing, then yes, it wont grip well or consistently

Edit that, context wise. Tread is designed to grip, but the issue is tread is actually a full tyre less a lot of gripping rubber, the gap is there to clear water. Low tread won't affect grip that much, if at all, it will clear a lot less water though, that is a big problem

Rikkitic

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# 2147144 18-Dec-2018 14:47

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I am not an expert on this. I was just passing on what I had been told and what I have also picked up from other sources. My understanding, as above, is that the main issue with tread depth is water. But this is not about skilled racing drivers and how they might handle wet conditions. It is about ordinary kiwi drivers, many of whom are dangerously unskilled, and how much difference low tread can make to their responses in bad weather. You can blame a poor driver for being a poor driver and not 'driving to the conditions', but if that driver's tyres make the difference between getting around a corner or losing control and ploughing into an oncoming car, which could well be mine, I certainly hope that driver at least has the sense to follow the mechanic's recommendations and change the tyres before they affect handling too much.

I don't think there is ever a bad time to talk about how absurd war is, how old men make decisions and young people die. - George Clooney

MikeAqua

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# 2147221 18-Dec-2018 16:31

Rikkitic:

My understanding, as above, is that the main issue with tread depth is water.

Often the issue in wet conditions can be a greasy surface - especially after the first rain in a while. Ther eis coenr in SH6 near Nelson that is bad for this. There were lots of dents in the old barrier arm, which has since been replaced by a wire barrier.

Mike

networkn

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# 2147223 18-Dec-2018 16:33

Certainly is a lot of annoyed people here at xmas time.

freitasm

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# 2147232 18-Dec-2018 17:04

Registered with 3Wise Men to enter a competition. Yes, I know one of the requirements is to allow them to send me an email with offers, so it's not a big price to pay because after a while I can just unsubscribe.

But even before the competition is run I feel like unsubscribing. They sent six emails in 36 hours.

networkn

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# 2147236 18-Dec-2018 17:13

freitasm:

Registered with 3Wise Men to enter a competition. Yes, I know one of the requirements is to allow them to send me an email with offers, so it's not a big price to pay because after a while I can just unsubscribe.

But even before the competition is run I feel like unsubscribing. They sent six emails in 36 hours.

Heh, I have had so many instances of this recently. I sent a polite but firmly worded email to one companies marketing manager. It went in one ear and out the other. I am not sure there was a hell of a lot to slow the message down between unfortunately.

freitasm

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# 2147238 18-Dec-2018 17:16

@networkn:

freitasm:

Registered with 3Wise Men to enter a competition. Yes, I know one of the requirements is to allow them to send me an email with offers, so it's not a big price to pay because after a while I can just unsubscribe.

But even before the competition is run I feel like unsubscribing. They sent six emails in 36 hours.

Heh, I have had so many instances of this recently. I sent a polite but firmly worded email to one companies marketing manager. It went in one ear and out the other. I am not sure there was a hell of a lot to slow the message down between unfortunately.

It is what the cool kids are doing... It's called "nurturing" (seriously). I attend a workshop where the guy simply said to keep sending emails until someone acted - visited the site, replied or did anything. Simply to keep the brand in front of people.

These follow automated rules... "If someone opened the email send another one if no click in two days" or "If someone clicked through send a discount offer for the product they saw" and so on...

It is almost like these marketing people have no self-respect.

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