Hi all

It's been many years since I've logged in to the Ford Owners Club Fiesta Forums and its great to be back!

I sincerely hope that everyone is keeping well and are following the COVID-19 guidelines?

We are going to view our new Fiesta in its factory delivery state this afternoon!  The dealer has sent us some great external & internal photos of the vehicle in its delivery state, with factory labels, plastic seat covers and paper floor protection but, from the photo of the mileometer, the vehicle only has 6.4 miles 'true miles' showing, which is about what I would expect on a new vehicle delivered on a transporter but, after zooming in on the front tyre treads, I would have thought that with just 6.4 miles 'on the clock', the multi coloured lines around the contact surfaces of the tyres would still be visible?

Maybe these lines are actually still there or, maybe tyre manufacturers no longer use these multicoloured lines?

We have purchased many new vehicles since 1990 and, most of them were Fiestas, with all of them having less that ten miles and clearly showed these multicoloured lines (I think there must be a name for these lines but, I don't know what it is)?

I'm sure that, along with many other members, this question has been asked many times and, I know that I've certainly asked, "how many true miles can be reset by the dealer during PDI"?

I am pretty sure mine didn’t have these on the tyres when I got it, mine had 7.4 miles showing on delivery day. Got to peel the plastic of the sill plates and Sync screen which was satisfying!

I have recently bought, two pairs of tyres, Michelin and Goodyear. The Michelin didn't, but the Goodyear did. I bought Michelins last year and Goodyears last month. I can't tell if the original PS4s had them as I bought the car 2n'd hand with 9k miles on it.

 

Edited March 9, 20215 yr by Jim H
Correction

Wow the first profile I've seen with a negative/red reputation 😂

 

It's ok, I gave his post a like and sorted it. 😁

Thinking about it, I too received my car with delivery milles on and I'm almost certain it didn't have the lines on the tyres, but the tyres were pristine new ones. So either the manufacturers aren't using them for certain lines anymore or the tyres the dealers get to fit on factory builds/new cars don't have them.

We have had 4 Fiestas now from new with between 4 and 7 delivery Miles on them. The tyres have either been Continental or Michelin.

None I can say have had multicoloured lines around the circumference if the tyre.

A red spot on the sidewall yes but not the lines.

What do these lines actually mean? Is the red dot a suggestion of where to line up the valve?

I don't know but wonder if they're a leftover from the manufacturing process?

The stripes are printed onto the tread rubber before the tyre is formed.  They're essentially like a barcode that lets the assembly guys know which type of rubber it is - obviously they're not easy to tell apart otherwise!  They also help align the tread rubber within the tyre forming machine where everything gets pressed together.

The red & yellow dots are added after the tyre has been made.  The yellow dot shows the lightest point of the tyre - line this up with the valve stem to reduce the need for balance weights.  The red dot shows the high point in the 'roundness' of the tyre - line this up with the low point in the roundness of the rim if marked to 'square' the tyre and rim together.

These marks aren't standardised though, so different manufacturers can use different colours, or in some cases none at all.

Thanks Tom  - really interesting 🤓