replacement front tyre or tyres?

Had a front tyre puncture some months ago after visiting a DIY store. The puncture was on the tyre shoulder, so all the tyre shops refused to repair the puncture. I had no other option than replacing one front tyre.

I am now in the situation where this tyre has 2/3 thread life, whereas the other front tyre is getting near its limit. The car uses 16/205/55, so the tyres are not cheap. What should I do about this asymmetry?

You can usually get a better deal on two tyres, but I would hate to throw away a perfectly good tyre. As the car uses space saver spare tyre, there is no redundant wheel.

I would like to restore the symmetry rather than getting into a rot with premature tyre replacement cycles, also for safety reasons. What do you recommend? Will tyre fitters e.g. make a deal on the partly worn tyre?

Reply to
johannes
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No.

Just replace the punctured one with a matching tyre and forget about it.

Reply to
SteveH

Hmmm. I was thinking of replacing it with a cheaper brand. It might wear quicker, but that would be OK since I could eventually replace both tyres at the same time.

Reply to
johannes

rotate a tyre if you're bothered to even the wear, if you can't be bothered buy 2 new tyres. a cheaper one's probably got even less grip than the part worn.

Reply to
Duncan Wood

One suggestion would be to buy a cheap full-size steel wheel from a breakers yard and put the part-worn tyre on that and replace your space-saver with the full size wheel. It would mean that if you have to put the spare on when you are away on holiday, or away from home, you won't be bothered about the speed restrictions on the space-saver.

Reply to
Ret.

But probably more grip than a tyre near its limit? Also, If the cheaper tyre is Z rated, the grip can't be all that bad for driving within speed limits?

Reply to
johannes

Rating means very little, just means it won't blow out at high speed, doesn't relate to levels of grip offered.

Cheap tyres are a massive false economy, given that they're what's between you and a brick wall.

You only realise you shouldn't have bought cheap tyres when it's too late.

Reply to
SteveH

Maybe, there's a lot of variation

Z just tells you it won't overheat.

Reply to
Duncan Wood

I find it hard to believe that all cheap tyres are so bad. Surely, they not be allowed if they were bad. And what about the MOT?

Reply to
johannes

There's no BS standard for grip in tyres - just a standard to ensure they can be operated up to their rated speed.

Cheap tyres are a minefield - some are OK (I use Nankang XR611s on my track car), but most are shocking - especially those branded 'Roadstone', 'Wanli', 'Ling Long' etc.

Reply to
SteveH

Are you still with the 9000?

What tyre have you go on the front? Is it unidirectional? Near Side (passenger side) or off side (drivers side)?

I found that the near side tyre always wore out a bit faster ... (still does on the 9-5). Depending where your good tyre is they might even out by the end of life.

Are the rears OK is one perhaps worn enough to replace and make a brand new pair?

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If you get one new tyre by the time your part-worn is worn the new one may be sufficiently worn too to get rid of both.

If you put an uneven pair on the front the car may start pulling. I would be tempted to put them as a pair at the rear and the rears to the front (yup, and you look out of the window, see the snow and you think you want new tyres on the front).

If you got the space to keep the tyre perhaps try keeping it ... but you may be stuck with it and never use it.

If it helps a little. Charles

PS. my 9000 had 15" and SAAB Edinburgh back then sold me a 15" steel rim for £50.

I would look at buying one new tyre, place the pair of New + part worn in the rear

Reply to
Charles C

Bad form replying to your message ... I meant to reply to Johannes OP.

What I meant to say to Ret is that a full size wheel (any size) does not git in the spare space of a SAAB 9000. And it takes too much of the boot to carry in the boot. Also he would have to look for alloys ... I don't think there were steel rims at 16".

Reply to
Charles C

Seems odd. Then why is there a 1.6mm thread limit. If grip doesn't matter?

I don't have track car and I find that most motorcyclists are just speed addicts. So many times I see motorcyclists with cleverly doctored licence plates, obviously designed to be obscure. Once nice one I saw on M25 had a very strong light bulb over the plate, and no cover glass... (sorry about this diversion)

Reply to
johannes

No idea. I assume to stop people driving around on tyres down to the cords.

That, and it's an easy to define measure, whereas grip isn't.

Yes, and? I fail to see your point.

An emergency stop at 30mph carried out by a 'speed addict' and one carried out by Mr. Careful are both 30mph emergency stops.

But the 'speed addict' is likely to stop before mowing down the child, as they're more likely to have fitted tyres with decent levels of grip, rather than no-name teflons.

Reply to
SteveH

But I've never seen a motorcyclist driving 30mph in a 30mph zone...

Reply to
johannes

I think you'll find that *most* motorcyclists respect 30s, 40s and many

50s, as they are much more aware of the risks than the kind of person who'll fit teflon shit to their cars.
Reply to
SteveH

OK. My Rover 75 estate came with a space-saver spare but shortly after buying it I noticed someone in the 75 owners club had fitted bigger wheels to his car and was offering the oem wheels for sale. I bought a brand new un-used full sizem matching alloy with unused tyre off him for a song. It fitted just fine in the full-size space vacated by the space-saver.

Reply to
Ret.

But a driver with budget tyres, keeping a safe distance from the car in front, is less likely to become involved in a shunt than someone on expensive tyres and tail-gateing!

I've yet to see any evidence that drivers on budget tyres are more likely to crash than drivers on expensive tyres.

I agree that some budget tyres (the really cheap Chinese crap such as Wanli or LingLong) are poor - but I don't accept that *all* non-big-brand tyres are poor.

Reply to
Ret.

Oh, that's fine, then.

I'll halve my spending on tyres and double the distance between me and other cars.

I'm sure that'll save me if someone pulls out / walks out into the road unexpectedly.

I've seen plenty of evidence that budget tyres need a lot more distance to stop a car, especially in the wet, than branded tyres.

Read into that what you will.

Most are. The problem is, you don't know which ones are until you've had your accident.

Reply to
SteveH

Which? recently did a test of 'Green' cars. Most of the 'Eco' models of mainstream cars were fitted with narrower tyres than the 'ordinary' cars - and all (apart from one) had longer braking distances than the 'ordinary' cars. Should the sale of 'Eco' cars be banned do you think?

There are a thousand and one factors that contribute to cars being involved in accidents. Type of tyres are but one. I've used 'mid-price' tyres such as Nexen, Falken and Federal for many years - without the slightest problem in relation to grip or handling or braking.

Reply to
Ret.

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