My well travelled XM...

[David Hallworth]

It’s been near as makes no difference 5 years since I last posted in this thread. I’m ashamed to say that the last trip discussed in this thread was also the last time I used my XM on the road.

Paul spent a lot of time telling me that I should use the XM more than I did. He was right, I’ve had it 14 years now and I’ve done 4600 miles in it.

I was sitting having coffee yesterday morning and decided I’d try and get it MOT’d. A quick phone call later and an MOT appointment was booked for 0930 this morning. I went into the workshop last night, took the cover off the car, connected the battery up, checked the lights all worked and then set off for the MOT this morning.

The petrol light was on so I stopped on the way and stuck some fresh Tesco Momentum in it and I arrived at the MOT station at 0915. The car went straight onto the ramp and just after 10am I got handed a piece of paper which at the top said “MOT Certificate”. I was pleased and amazed to note that it didn’t even get an advisory. The emissions were on point too at 7HC against a limit of 200, and the CO was 0.02 against a limit of 0.3.

I realised on the way home that the Michelin tyres on the car were fitted when the car was in Malaysia and upon looking I noticed that they were dated 2007. There were some cracks visible but they were tiny. I decided I wasn’t prepared to take the risk on them so I’ve ordered 4 new boots and will fit and balance them when they arrive this week.

I’m going to take Paul’s advice and try to use the car a bit this summer in him memory.

David.

[Dieselman]

Yep, Paul was right, cars are meant to be used. Don't worry about polished paint and shiny wheels, just drive them for enjoyment.

Well done on the MOT pass and I personally wouldn't worry about minor tyre rubber cracking, especially on Michelins...they do tend to do that.
If there was any concern the MOT tester would have either given an advisory, or failure for cracking tyres. That is the only advisory I have collected on my Xm's in the last few years after one of them sat with flat tyres for a while after first acquiring it.

Tyre manufacturing dates are a red herring, Tyres will gradually go hard and will gradually deteriorate, most noticeable by becoming noisy on certain road surfaces as the rubber loses elasticity, but if kept out of sunlight are still serviceable after many years.

Manufacturing dates didn't used to be embossed on tyres and nobody cared less.

[David Hallworth]

Having used the car a bit over the weekend there is definitely more tyre noise then I remember.

Considering it's only 4 small patches of rubber keeping you in contact with the road, and given that I do tend to drive quite quickly, I'm glad I've got a new set arriving tomorrow

Then I've got the joyous job of configuring the centreless balancer for 5 studs as it was last used for the 4 stud wheels on my Xantia.

[Dieselman]

Increased tyre noise is a result of the rubber no longer being able to dampen the road surface vibrations in the audible frequency.
Old rubber will have become harder, but the main reason is due to tread wear. The less rubber, or the fuller the tread blocks, the more noise will be transmitted.
As old rubber is put back into use the plasticisers in the compound would become more active, so the rubber is likely to soften again.

I'm not aware of any studies that show older rubber provides less grip, which is why premium part worn tyres provide better grip then medium and budget new tyres do.

I appreciate you have already ordered new tyres, but in essence, I wouldn't bother replacing tyres based just on the production date.