Tyres "perished"

[Wicksy]

Just had the MOT on my MGB and got an advisory "all tyres perished" . Not a failure I stress.
I've had a good look at the tyres and also done some research on the subject as follows - the tyres are Pirelli P3 Cinturatos with 6,5 mm tread depth on the front and 5,0 mm on the rears. The age mark is 344 indicating manufacture in the 34th week of 1994, the sidewalls at the front show slight cracking/crazing of the outer wall close to the wheel rim and the outer edges of the tread blocks on all tyres show surface cracks as they merge with the tyre wall. There are no cuts or bulges anywhere and the tread shows no adverse wear pattern.
Research suggests that the cracking is obviously age related and caused mainly by chemical and ultra violet action - opinions vary as to wether it is serious or merely cosmetic. Some "experts" say scrap the tyres immediatley as death trap dangerous, some tyre makers specify a 6 year life for tyres but I have not found any actual technical or legal reason to scrap the tyres. There is also the obvious matter of the fact that the MOT test does not specifically include tyre cracking as an failure item so the tyres are technically legal and thus SAFE.
Before I lash out, or not, circa £300 for a new set of boots, anybody got a view - do I need new tyres or not.
Yes I do know they are probably 16 years old but I am not a racer and probably do about 1500 gentle miles per year

[Willy Eckerslyke]

I'm sure other will disagree, but I'd suggest a set of soft compound budget tyres when you're doing such a low mileage. If you spend 300 pounds on a really good make, they'll end up perishing again before they wear out. In my experience, budget tyres are sometimes made in a softer compound so grip just as well as premium tyres, but wear out quicker, which is what you need. The difficulty is choosing a brand which behaves like this and isn't just plain nasty - which I'm sure plenty of us have experienced.

[Mike Whiskey]

This topic is also quite hot with caravanners, with most people saying change the tyres after 5 years, and of course these still have loads of tread on them.

I was sceptical when i started, and ignored the cracking on mine until i inadvertently parked it with the tyre on a large stone. Looking at the cords through the many now open cracks persuaded me that it was actually an issue!

How much does a set of 4 tyres cost, compared to the value of your pride and joy, or the lives of the loved ones you transport in it, or the queue of schoolchildren waiting for the bus (insert own worst case collision scenario here).

Yes thats a bit over emotional, but i was sceptical until convinced by what i saw before my own eyes. I was lucky and didn't have to be convinced by the blow out at speed!

MW

[tractorman]

I'd agree with the budget tyre option, though you have to be careful - I bought some "good make" budget tyres (Toyo I think) for my first Golf and they did wear quickly and gripped really well. I did the same with the Passat (a different quality brand's budget range) and spent a lot of time going in the wrong direction - and they didn't wear well either!

A friend has a 2.5T Ifor Williams trailer and I used to laugh at him panicing about the perished tyres. However, when carrying a ton of sand one day, one gave out at speed. He was lucky though - didn't lose the trailer and got home safely. He put a new tyre on and a week later, another one blew while his wife was towing it (with a smaller load). It's had four new tyres on five years or so - and he's thinking of changing the first two as they are showing signs of perishing again!

OTOH - my smaller tractor has 1/8" cracks between the ribs on both front tyres and the big one has some nice cracks on its back tyres. I must do something about them soon - I'll do the front tyres, they're only about £40 each!

[Luxobarge]

As above.

A few years ago the husband of a good friend got killed by a flying scaffolding trailer with atyre blow out, leaving 4 young children and a wife.....

I think that the research you have done tells you that you shouldn't leave the existing tyres on it much longer, I'd also agree with the budget tyres option but also agree with the "being careful" advice, my old Cavalier had some pretty lethal budgies on, in your shoes I'd try and find an impartial tyre expert to advise me on what budgies are going to give me the "good grip but fast wear" characteristic and go with them.

[spiny]

the tyres will have about as much grip as bakelite, change them

[Mike Whiskey]

Why do the tyres need to wear fast?

Good grip, and a determination to change when worn, or after a certain age regardless of wear should be all thats required?

MW

[Willy Eckerslyke]

They don't have to wear fast, it's just that there's no point spending extra for premium tyres designed to wear slowly.

[tractorman]

I don't know about modern tyres' wear to grip rates, but older tyres that wore well didn't grip and vice versa.

EG, on my old Wolseley Hornet, I had Michelin 'X's and could spin the thing on a dry road - but the tyres took years to wear down. I changed to Good Year G800 (IIRC) and it gripped like a leech. Father's Maxi had Michelins and mine had Good Years - not ideal as I often got the driving job in his car and my parents thought I was being daft with the extra power (mine was 1500 and his 1750)! Oddly, the Metro (with metric wheels) was the reverse fule - the Michelins on the first outgripped the Dunlops on the second - and the second was sold at about eighteen years old with two original Dunlops on the back! However, it lived in a garage all its life and only had 30K miles when it was sold - no perishing on those tyres!

[Wicksy]

Thanks for the replies folks - particularly on the budget option. The anecdote horror stories also make the choice pretty conclusive
I had already considered the budget idea but as said some of the offerings are pretty awful, cosmetically, amount of grip and wear wise; although again as said, with low usage, wear rate is not so important.
The MGOC are selling 175-70-14 Yokohama A Drives for the MGB so that must mean something and I can get them for under £50 fitted so that's probably what I'll do.
Next problem will be getting the tyre fitter to acept that a Wire Wheel must have an inner tube and then getting them balanced - if you have ever tried getting wires balanced you'll know what I mean They usually run better without any weights at all than the results from trying to get them done on the conventional tyreshop machine
Some of the young tyre fitters even have to be shown how to remove the wheel too as they have never seen centrelocks - the LH and RH thread on each side of the axle also confuses them a bit