Tyre dressing

To keep my tyres looking "black" and clean, I used to use most of the usual dressings, but with hindsight they were always oily based and not really good for the rubber. In recent times I switched to using just shoe polish, with good results and not so messy to apply. This week I discovered a better shoe polish, still Cherry Blossom, called Regimental Gloss - with even better results. Judge for yourselves !

Aha. A tin of small circles.

OOOOH if the only thing left to do on a camper was to polish the wheels, what a superb faultless camper that would be! Mine may be faultless like that in a year's time, even including working outside in the rain. I've just bought four new tyres and none of them shine! And in the process I found that two of them should have failed last year's MOT as they were 15  years old. The tyre dealer said that for motorhomes they must be changed at ten years, so last year at the MOT they would have been 14 yrs old.
  . . . .maybe if I shined them with Cherry Blossom it would help pass the MOT!
I should add here that it wasn't me that got last year's MOT, I have only just bought the camper.

Interesting that.  There is an MOT clause for passenger vehicles, where tyres on a steering axle over 10 years old will fail, and on single wheel rear axles too.

I don't think there's a tyre age limit in plg MOT's, I think that's more to do with condition. But, yeah, I'd have been replacing them too.

The spare on our clubman was the same age as the vehicle!

Myself, I have 7 wheels. Five on the vehicle, and two in the process of cleaning up. I fit a new tyre when I have the spare funds, then another a while later, and then I can replace a pair when they show wear. Usually 6 months apart. Makes it less expense all at once. The spare is legal, I swap for the best one I take off.

I was having a conversation with a friend, and we were both thinking that rubber doesn't seem to last as long as it did. Things like CV boots, tre boots, handbrake gaiters, propshaft gaiters, none seem to last. I think there's some 'dirty' ingredient that they are leaving out of the rubber which they considered a pollutant, but which increased it's lifespan. I kind of think the same goes for tyres too ..

And... Ooooh @gassygassy, what did you buy?

Peatlander 2 wrote:Interesting that.  There is an MOT clause for passenger vehicles, where tyres on a steering axle over 10 years old will fail, and on single wheel rear axles too.

I don't think there's a tyre age limit in plg MOT's, I think that's more to do with condition. But, yeah, I'd have been replacing them too.

The spare on our clubman was the same age as the vehicle!

Myself, I have 7 wheels. Five on the vehicle, and two in the process of cleaning up. I fit a new tyre when I have the spare funds, then another a while later, and then I can replace a pair when they show wear. Usually 6 months apart. Makes it less expense all at once. The spare is legal, I swap for the best one I take off.

I was having a conversation with a friend, and we were both thinking that rubber doesn't seem to last as long as it did. Things like CV boots, tre boots, handbrake gaiters, propshaft gaiters, none seem to last. I think there's some 'dirty' ingredient that they are leaving out of the rubber which they considered a pollutant, but which increased it's lifespan. I kind of think the same goes for tyres too ..

And... Ooooh @gassygassy, what did you buy?

That clause applies to vehicles with over 8 passenger seats.

From Manual :-

Tyre age

The check of tyre age applies to all vehicles with more than 8 passenger seats, other than vehicles of historical interest.

My fault for saying 'passenger vehicle' I suppose. By which I meant minibus and upwards, which as you are aware has more than 8 seats.

OOOH yes, not only clean tyres, but fridge vents, too - a toothbrush and bicarb does the trick....
Four new tyres this year, changed after 8 years, weren't shiny but they are now. 

Peatlander 2 wrote:..........

And... Ooooh @gassygassy, what did you buy?

Tyres? 
Budget ones, £75 each fitted and balanced. 225/70 R 15 C. Load rating 1150Kg for single wheel. I trust the dealer I got them from, I've been going there years, and they are always the cheapest anywhere. They could have tried to sell me load ratings under 1000kg, but they are quite conversant with the requirements of a motorhome versus that of a van and they wouldn't sell me van ones that they had in stock so they had to order these in. I saw the lower rated ones offered when I put the Reg number in an on line tyre supplier - which were £89 each in any case. So I know the dealer I got them from is a good one. He did ask if I want budget, middle or premium but my theory is that I'll never wear them out, they will crack from age as were the ones I got rid of so there's no point getting posh ones. So the wear rating doesn't matter, the only thing that matters is will they take the weight of the camper (3300kg MGW).
Camper?
A 1999 Pollensa. Why? I was looking for an automatic, old enough not to be stuffed silly with computers, but of some quality. I.e. not a Lunar, Swift or Bailey or thrown-together-with-trendy-pallets for furniture so the only automatic gearbox choice was a Transit. I looked on Autotrader, specified Ford Automatic and saw this one at £14,950 up in God's Own Country for sale privately. I don't think the seller knew it was an AutoSleeper, or that them and AutoTrail were the best UK makes at the time. It has tree wood for doors which I like. Plus 200W of solar panel, a 2000 - 3000 kW inverter and a new complete stainless steel exhaust and cam belt and water pump. The MOT expires in July so I am busy prepping it and fixing the faults. The washroom is a bit falling-to-bits, the horrid plastic cupboards are falling apart and the toilet has a manual flush that coughs and splutters so I have bought a used proper electric Thetford cassette and intend to rebuild the washroom. I have fitted a new extractor / impeller fan above the kitchen area, fixed the unfixed entry step and made the kitchen cupboard doors open and close without scraping the floor. It's all good fun!

I used to polish boots like that when I was in the army during basic training. The instructors would then find every muddy puddle they could to march us through.
Likewise considering the state of the roads so far this year I don’t think it’s worth the effort unless you wanted to do them regularly.