How to identify fake and replica tyres
Even in this modern era of autonomous vehicles, a tyre plays an important role when it comes to the overall performance of the vehicle, which is why you would always want your tyres to be top-notch and genuine. However, only wanting will not sort things out for you. With a resolution to buy a premium tyre and spending a few extra bucks, you must also need to be fully educated about the tyre otherwise you could be sold a fake or replica tyre. It is not necessary that the used car dealers always have the fake or replica tires, they often have tires that are good as new.
Knowing how to identify a good tire from a bad tire, is what would help you stay away from any kind of fraud in the purchase of the tires. The worst part about this purchase will be that you unknowingly will place your life and the life of others at risk.
With regards to purchasing tyres, there are a huge number of options out there which is superb since it gives you a wide range of tyres that enables you to locate the correct tyre according to your needs. However, more alternatives are not constantly something worth being thankful for since it prompts hidden evils such as replica and fake tyre.
The stats below show the huge number of accidents that occurred due to Tyre or wheel deficiency and various other reasons:
| Crash-Involved Case Vehicles by Vehicle Condition as Crash-Associated Factor | |||
| Vehicle-condition-related factors | Number of case vehicles weighted | Percentage | |
| Unweighted | Weighted | ||
| Tyre/wheel deficiency | 526 | 192,277 | 5.% |
| At least one adverse vehicle condition | 703 | 262,791 | 7.% |
| Lighting deficiency | 7 | 3,150 | 0.1% |
| Suspension deficiency | 12 | 2,743 | 0.1% |
| Transmission deficiency | 15 | 2,275 | 0.1% |
| Engine deficiency | 20 | 7,347 | 0.2% |
| Steering deficiency | 20 | 7,709 | 0.2% |
| Others | 36 | 18,646 | 0.5% |
| View obstruction | 44 | 18,375 | 0.5% |
| Braking system deficiency | 66 | 25,233 | 0.6% |
| (2019). Crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov. Retrieved 9 October 2019, from https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/811059 | |||
The above table verifies the importance of the tyre in a vehicle that is why you must always be extra conscious when opting to purchase a new tyre.
Envision a moment when you go to the market, and are offered a deal that is unrealistic and you believe that you just got the chance to finally have it. You consequently buy it and after some time, you realize that it was fake –I am sure the majority of us can relate to such occasion. That is a similar case with the tyres too.
All things considered, there’s a surge of fakes tyres and wheels hitting the business sectors at an exponential rate. So now the question is, how would you be able to identify fake, replicas, and counterfeit tyres from the original premium ones such as Michelin, Yokohama, Bridgestone, Pirelli tyres etcetera? Well, the answer is just further ahead, so stay tuned with the article. But before you move on to the identification stage it’s important to know the following drawbacks of counterfeit tyres:
- Increased braking distance
- Fast wear
- Latency in cornering
- Increased chance of a tyre blowout
- Increased chance of aquaplaning
- Shorter lifespan of the tyre
- Compromised overall handling
- Excessive fuel consumption
- Higher noise levels
Ways to identify a fake tyre
Following are some ways you can identify a fake tyre:
Look for Incorrectly spelt original brand name
You may be shocked by stories of how few individuals bought; Direllis instead of Pirelli, Jokohamas instead of Yokohama, and Smidgestones instead of Bridgestone. Obviously, you are shocked but you also got the point, yes, some of the fake tyres are sold under incorrectly spelt names of the premium tyre brands. This means that you must always verify the brand name spelling to be genuine and not some misspelt and visually misleading brand name.
To conclude a tyre with a phoney logo or brand name is the main sign that the tyre is fake.
Absent paperwork or genuine packaging
It is fundamental that whenever you purchase a tyre from reputable and genuine tyre vendor such as Pitstoparabia (an online tyre store in Dubai) there is always accompanying proper paperwork and genuine packaging as displayed on the official webpage of the website. On the off chance that you discover that the tyre vendor that you are purchasing your tyre from does not have proper paperwork or packaging for the tyre than you should never opt to buy that tyre.
Note: Tyres that are being sold as used does not accompany paperwork or packaging.
Missing or incomplete ISO metric tyre code
Purchasing tyres can be somewhat dubious even with all the accompanying paperwork if the details that are typically engraved on the sidewall of the tyre are missing. These details on the sidewall of the tyre are very important since they define key restrictions and specifications of the tyre.
To be on the safe side it is imperative that the details are present on the tyre even if you do not understand them.
PS it’s a great idea to fully understand the tyre code before moving on to actually visiting a tyre shop.
Uncommon colour of the tyre
Besides the occasion when you are looking for a specific colour tyre to match with your car; if somebody is attempting to sell you a tyre and persuade you that green colour is a just a shading of a normal tyre, be warned because the tyre is most probably phoney.
Shake the tyre up
It’s a good and normal practice to give the tyre few gentle kicks, in the event that it starts to show indications of external harm, you can bet that these tyre won’t survive their prescribed mileage. In the worst-case scenario, the old tyre is being sold to you as a new one.
Verify the Platform
It’s a common sense that you should never buy a tyre from just any source since the platform matters. Make sure you always buy from a authorize and reliable tyre vendor.
In the event that you feel that some is off about the tyre vendor make sure to perform a quick Google search for the tyre vendor in order to take a look at review posted via previous buyers. Follow the exact same practice when buying tyres from an online tyre store.
Check the manufacturing date
The manufacturing date of a tyre is the last four digits of DOT(department of transportation) tyre code. For example the ‘3314’. This first two digits of the manufacturing date imply that the tyre has been manufactured in 33rd week and the last two digits point towards the year 2014. So the tyre is manufactured in 33rd week of 2014.
You must make sure that the manufacturing date is not out of alignment with respect to the rest of the DOT code and it does not look re-engraved. If any of the two cases satisfy than there is a high possibility that the tyre is counterfeit and the manufacturing date has been re-stamped to trick the buyers.
PS a manufacturing date must not be older than 5 to 6 years.
Check the tread depth
Measure the tread depth of the tyre and then match it with lawful necessities and the particulars of the same tyre. In the event that the tread depth does not match, then you must be looking at a fake tyre.
