Tyres

Hi Kymart and welcome

Your last sentence is a recommendation only and is aimed at caravan tyres.

You are using a motor vehicle and I've never heard of any such a ruling for a car, van etc. You will of course be governed by the depth of legal tread which is a minimum of 1.6mm. I doubt a vehicle of 15 years old will be on original tyres anyway. I'm surprised about the dealer not knowing if he is selling them, seems odd to me. Is the dealer MOT/ servicing the van for you if so he should check the tyres. If not then check the tread depth and feel for splits and bulges, especially on the inner tyre walls. If in doubt take them to a reputable tyre dealership for their opinion. 

Safe tyres are vital. 

Welcome to Motorhoming.

Five years is the time when you look at your tyres very carefully.  They may not need changing at that point but by 7 - 8 years they probably will.  You can see how old the tyres are by looking for a code on the tyre wall; it will be something like 1017 meaning that the tyre was made in the 10th week of 2017, 4015 means 40th week of 2015 and so on.  As you are buying from a dealer he has the responsibility to ensure that the m'home is in reasonable condition for it's age ('mercantilable quality') and is fit for purpose ie roadworthy in every respect.  If the dealer does not know how to tell how old the tyres are he should not be in business; just ask him to show you how old the tyres are, he should show you the code. He really should do a full mechanical and habitation service before you collect it.  I assume your driving licence covers a motorhome?

Wise to go on a short local trip first.  Get the seller to run through everything with you when you collect it and on you first trip do it all yourself to ensure you check everything and are familiar with all the various controls.

Post posting edit.  Just seen  other posting.  It is not the law that tyres on caravans are changed at 5 years.  But after this time they can deteriorate due to the sun and being static for prolonged periods.

Content has been removed.

Sorry about double post!!!!

So far there is no legal maximum age for a vehicle tyre.

For peace of mind just take the van to a tyre specialist they will check them for free.

If you are picking up your new to you motorhome from a dealer they should have checked the condition of the tyres and hopefully they would not be passing on a vehicle with obvious defects?

If you do need to change them you should seriously think about a good set of motorhome tyres like Michelin Camper  or Continentals

See picture below for where to look for age.

David

Two bits of my experience with tyres.  My wife's last car had only done 25k miles from new and at 7 years old, on close examination, all the tyres had cracks around the sidewalls and had to be changed, regardless of the fact that they still had 5mm of tread on them.

I have just had to change the tyres on our three and a half year old Bailey Barcelona when I discovered serious cracks and splits in the sidewall of one of them.  The tyres were Michelin - so a reputable make, supposedly, - and the van is in use for at least a week every month, so hasn't been sitting there idle. Although the other three looked OK, they have been changed as well just to be on the safe side.  Again, there was plenty of tread left at 7mm.

Having experienced a blow-out on a boat trailer a few years ago - on the M5, I never want to go through that experience again.

The user and all related content has been Deleted User

Over the years, I have twice changed tyres on 2 low mileage VW polo's which had plenty of tread left and were technically "legal". On both occasions they were 7 or 8 years old, a quality brand, and on both occasions it involved all 4 tyres. On both occasions there were tiny cracks visible but only on very close inspection. On the first car one tyre split open on the drive overnight and on the second, I changed them all on finding the age and more tiny cracks. I understand a blow-out at speed is a memorable experience, should you survive .....