All these threads on Tyres?

[TiG]

Sorry if this might piss people off but it sounds to me that people love the tyres they've got on there cars or always go for type x etc. Same as memory in computers etc.

Isn't it just the case in what you pay is what you get?, sure one brand may be slightly better than another in the same money brand. Just remember i'm a synical b* and i don't believe in hype.

However i'll be interested in peoples views as my Octavia VRS needs some new tyres in the next 4 weeks or so. I think they are 205/55/16's - Continental something or others presently.

The second thing is who do you get to fit them, obviously i've got some rather nice alloys (the standard vrs ones but I still love them) and i don't want some idiot buggering them up. Who do you go to?.

TiG

[XTR]

anyone would think we all have a rubber fetish the rate these tyre treads are coming in......

I was gonna make one too as my car needs a few tyres. So im gonna bite the bullet and buy 4 new tyres and screw the balls of them... then buy my 17" wheels and tyres in a few months time when i have some decent money coming in.

At the moment the car has 185/60/15's! pirelli p6000. I was thinking.... since im replacing all 4... should i put 195/50/15's on... slightly wider tyre and a lower profile.

http://www.mytyres.co.uk/ seem to be rather cheap.... but as Tig says... who do you get to fit them? Well i suppose you cant go wrong with the big names.. Kwik Fit. I'd imagine if they break it... they fix it? At least I'd hope that's the policy. Anyway... apparently its around £6 per tyre for fitting and balancing... So you need to weight it all up and see which way is cheaper... online and fitting locally? or drive into kwikfit or similar and pay the price they quote.

[Moby-Dick]

I quite like some of the mobile fitters - I've used them a couple of times mainly for the conveniance factor - not had my alloys damaged yet by them.

As you say , tyres can be pretty objective. Some tyres will have a well renown good ( or bad) performance in the wet.

For a given [rice bracket, you ought to get a similar performance.

bear in mind that tyre compunds and design are hotly guarded secrets and will vary between manufacturers Ie soft , but sticky yokos , or harder , but longer lasting michellins for example.

it is a decision worth taking some time over , remeber that those tyres are the only things keeping you on the road in the direction you want to go in , so dont skimp on them )

[Barakka]

Originally Posted by XTR

At the moment the car has 185/60/15's! pirelli p6000. I was thinking.... since im replacing all 4... should i put 195/50/15's on... slightly wider tyre and a lower profile.

Oooo, you would be dropping your Rolling Radius quite a bit there, and it will reflect in the speedo readings. When it reads 70 you'll be doing 66 which is quite a bit out Up to you really, you could have a mess around on one of the wheel calculators to get the best price/size match maybe... 195/55/15 or 205/50/15 would be a closer match, but then you're probably talking big bucks again 195/50/15 is usually the best size for 15's as it's the most common size and therefore usually the cheapest size.

As for the fitting of tyres bought online... I only know one person who's done it and KwikFit gave a big fat NO - as did most other places. Something about them being responsible for the tyres themselves if they fit them, transfer of liability type thing. He ended up travelling about 60 miles to get them fitted in the end. But when I had my alloys refurb'ed they said if I wanted to buy some tyres and just drop them in they'd put them on for me no problem

[Rave]

I've always had good service at Watling Tyres. Not sure how big a chain they are though.

Rich :¬)

[5lab]

tbh, you may as well pay £20 a corner (like i do) and have fun getting yer car sideways whenever you want

[Vimeous]

Since you're in MK TiG I've had nothing but great service from the guys at Just-Tyres in Brinklow opposite Kingston Tescos. I've had something like 5 complete sets of tyres in 4 years from them and no problems. They have laser-tracking onsite which about £15 for all 4 wheels (worth checking).

The Just-Tyres in Old Stratford is not as good though. Friendly enough but the facilities can't match.

[Jiff Lemon]

Just my personal opinion but avoid pirelli.

I'm sure they've improved hugely, but back in my days of testing, whenever we found
a tyre gone out of shape, it'd be a pirelli.

As vimeous recommended, get the tracking and alignment checked at the same time you have the tyres fitted - the last thing you need is your nice new tyres ruined in 3 months by duff alignment.

Wheel balancing should be done with stick on, NOT knock on weights, and it's not exactly rocket science to do this so that all the weights sit on the insides of the rims.

[Vimeous]

I don't know the difference between knock on and stick on weights but Just-Tyres use knock-on ones for mine.

[XTR]

Originally Posted by Vimeous

I don't know the difference between knock on and stick on weights but Just-Tyres use knock-on ones for mine.

knock one ones look horrible though..... stick on ones are hidden on the inside of the wheel

[Vimeous]

I assume it's potential damage they may do to the wheel rim that is the primary concern. Alloy's being a softer metal than standard steel rims. However I wonder if the weights applied to the rims on an alloy wheel are in fact made of a different material to those used on steel rims. If they too are softer then there should be no trouble I'd of thought.
I guess it'll take someone with a little more knowledge to explain if that's a correct assumption though.

Exactly how do stick on weights work? How are they stuck on? I'd hate to have to go and get my wheel rebalanced just because a weight had come unstuck.

[Jiff Lemon]

The main problem with Knock on weights is that you then have two dissimilar metals in close contact with each other - Pretty soon your lovely nice alloys will start with surface corrosion.

The chances of stick on weights coming unstuck is very unlikely - they're held on with utterly evil sticky stuff, although the paranoid amongst us (half people I used to sprint and hill climb with) would put a layer of gaffer tape over the top of them.

[TiG]

Thanks for the info guys, I've done a much more detailed inspection of the tyre wear for myself and can definitely confirm its the front tyres that i've eaten, they are legal but we're talking 2 to 2.5mm across the tyre.

The backs are well quite frankly prestine, got a good 6-7mm on them so it just looks like a couple of new fronts. Question is shouldn't you put the same tyres on the car
The continental ContiSport N-1's that i've got on there at the moment as i understand it are quite soft rubber, putting something like a Michelin Pilot Sport N2 would be a much harder compound and could possible make the car handle oddly?.

And sadly I can't get Eagle F1's for my tyres, they don't make them in 205/50/R17's
Other choices i can see are ....

Continental ContiSportContact N.1
Michelin Pilot Sport N2
Pirelli P7000
Toyo Proxes T1-S
Pirelli P Zero System
Bridgestone S-02

I guess i'm going to phone some local companies to get some prices.

TiG

[Vimeous]

As long as you're running the same tyres across the car you should be fine as you'll soon learn the handling properties.

I'd suggest you move your current rears to the front as they'll be more worn and hopefull whatever you buy will be better, giving more grip.
By doing this the front tyres should 'let-go' before the rears if you push too hard giving you understeer which is safer and easier to control in a front-whel drive car when it happens unexpectedly.
Don't worry about lack of oversteer because the lift-off variety is always available.

[Moby-Dick]

I have different brands of trye on the front to the back and its fine.

when you have a FWD car the back wheels are stopping the arse end from scraping the floor , so rear tyres will last a long time.

Pilots are my preferred weapon of choice