Due to get the old fun tintop re-MOT'd after 4 years off the road. Checked everything over and bar a few minor things like PS belt, flasher relay and a couple of bulbs (and about 3m of sill welding!) it's ready to go. Until I spot the front wheels. Now the problem is I can't remember if the front wheels were on the back originally, or if they were always on the front. I got it 4 wheel aligned before it came off the road because it was handling funny (though it was not far out and had been done before). I cant remember whether I did the alignment after spotting an axle was wearing the inner edge too, or which axle it was. So all in all I have a car with possible alignment issues, but possibly not, and a pair of tyres that are questionable for the MOT (inner shoulder wear to about 1/4 of the way in, outer 1/8th pretty much bald) and circumferential splits of about 10mm around the bald tread area, possibly from age and sitting. nearly 6mm across the rest of the tyre.
Question is, do I try to get it through the MOT with the tyres like that, in order to try to identify if the wear continues on a sacrificial set of rubber bands, or do I buy new and hope to catch them before any significant wear occurs and wastes another £200 quid axle set of tyres? It's late/early and I need to find some good tyres ASAP if it's going to not have a months insurance and tax wasted at this rate! Anyone know a good tyre place in glasgow that doesnt try to pass off nexen's as performance tyres, or flog you sport contacts as their only higher end tyre? Not keen on running split tyres on a fast car that gets used harshly, but the bills are currently never ending so a hiatus would be nice!

[Edited on 7/5/11 by coyoteboy]

Imo just get on ebay and find some decent branded evenly part worns, 1 to get it thru the MoT and 2, to identify any future wear on tyres that dont matter.
You can usually find decent brand tyres with 3-4mm tread for about £10-20 each. should either last you the summer if the geometry is ok, or give you a few weeks to identify any problems.

Ask what their re-test policy is.....can you bring it back with new boots in a couple of days for a quick pass at no cost? If so I'd give it a try on the old rubber - you'd be surprised what can pass.

Might be worth checking the lower suspension arm rear bushes for movement as weak bushes can cause rapid tyre wear especially on the inner edges due to the suspension "floating" . They would have to be badly affected to fail an MOT. Adjusting the tracking when the car has weak bushes is a waste of time , depending on what car you have it may be possible to get some uprated bushes?

Checked it over further can't find much in the way of play on any arm (there's a tiny amount in the rear radius arms but nothing to speak of, less than a rubber-bush style bush would give, this uses sphericals) but the tyres (at least one) are knackered for sure - popped down to my MOT place and he confirmed it. Part worns is an option but I'm wondering whether it's a false economy or a sensible idea. It would get it to pass, but it is ~40+fitting when I could get the same tyres I've got now for 50 each (though I was hoping to uprate a tad due to the poor wear peformance of them). Currently running SS595's which get some terrible reviews but have always treated me well, but they're lower load index than the originals off the car and I think that's not helping the shoulder scrub.

1.6mm across 3/4 of the breadth of the tyre, and visible for the last quarter. I wouldn't bother if there's a bald strip although £20 (tops) per corner for some part worns will help