tyre life

A lot depends on how you drive. If the car you are looking at has done 19k on the original tyres and they still have 4mm left, it hasn't been thrashed!

My '99 1.8 LX came with Continental Eco-Contact. I found these really good, but fronts sometimes only lasted 10k miles! (I always get the tracking checked, wear patterns are always equal, but I do change them at 2mm). I kept using them until recently.

I'm currently using Goodyear Eagle NCT5's. These seem to be lasting much better, but absolute grip is not quite as good and they tend to tramline a bit on poor surfaces.

HTH

Chris

In message , Nospam wrote

Probably whatever was the cheapest at the time of manufacturer. I don't think that Ford use a single source of tyres.

I purchased my car second hand with 9.5K miles on the clock and I needed a new set of front tyres at around 18/19K. I now need a new set of front tyres at 41K. The back tyres are still okay and I don't rotate them.

20K miles for a front set of tyres may not be out-of-order.

It depends on the driving style.

Thanks for the reply.

It seems that they might be the original tyres then, if yours came with Continental Eco-Contact.

I was going to change them at 2 mm also.

I will trade tyre life for better grip, especially in the wet.

I have been looking at the specs on the kwik fit web site of various tyres, but I would much prefer personal recommendations as to the best grip than the sales info they give out.

Thanks again.

[snip]

At the moment I've got Toyo T1-Rs fitted at the suggestion of the (non-Ford) garage I use. They're much quieter than the Pirellis they replaced and a little quieter than the Continental Eco-Contacts on my brother's Focus. They're good in the dry and excellent in the wet. After

5k miles they seem to be wearing well.

Won't handling characteristics get strange if the tires have greatly different amounts of wear? I.e. worn front with unworn back tires may have more grip in front when dry, but more grip in back when wet.

In message , Timothy J. Lee wrote

I haven't noticed much difference in handling but I don't wear my tyres down to the UK legal minimum before replacing them. The Ford UK owners handbook details a fall off in safety with treads below 3mm.

Tyre manufacturers recommend that the better tyre is fitted to the rear so as front tyres wear a lot faster than rear tyres by not rotating them the majority of the time the optimum configuration is maintained.

The cult of tyre rotation seems to be more of a North American tradition much in the same way they believe oil should be changed every 3000 miles. The UK Focus handbook does not suggest tyre rotation is required

In message , Alan writes

I got a graph from one of the high street tyre resellers websites sites.

the graph states that the stopping distance at 80 km/h are:

tread Breaking depth distance (mm) (m) 7 24 6 23 (yes less) 5 24 4 25 3 27 2 30 1 37

In message , Nospam wrote

The UK highway code gives the average stopping distance figures for

50mph (80km/p) of 53 metres (175 feet) which is a _lot_ more than your figures. Other web sites give similar figures of around 170 feet.

I'm sure the weight of the car and the tyre pressures would change the figures.

It's not just stopping (braking) distance that falls off with a reduced tread depth. The warning in the Ford owners handbook mentions the danger of aquaplaning with tread depths of 3mm or below.

While the common US habit of oil changes every 3000 miles are a waste in most cases if you use the correct spec oil, tire rotation does have the following advantages:

1. All of your tires wear evenly, so that you avoid handling oddities that may occur with greatly different amounts of wear.
2. All of your tires wear out at the same time, so that you can replace them as a matched set of whatever tires you want, instead of having to match your old tires with your new ones.
3. You are less likely to have tires deteriorate by age before they are worn out.
4. It's free because you can rotate the tires whenever the wheels come off for brake pad inspection.

On 12 Jun 2006 21:15:36 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@sonic.net (Timothy J. Lee) wrote Re Re: tyre life:

Not if you:

1) Sell oil and/or oil-change service. 2) Want to conjure a justification to void a warranty.

Whilst this may be true I've yet to experience any sort of problem by not rotating the tires. Mine stay on the axle they were balanced on otherwise I would have to have the balancing do on every tire rotation

I guess unlss you pick some rare brand/type this should never really be a problem as replacing with the same model just relies on the fitting shop having them in stock

I can't imagine this happening unless you do only a very low annual mileage

As I mentioned above this is only safe if you have the wheels balanced of the car (IMHO this is not the best option)

With my last two cars I change my tires at about 65K miles, with tread still on them, but IMO not adequate for another winter. Michelin all seasons on NA Chrysler Mid sized cars; LeBaron GTS 2,900 lbs and Concord 3,400 lbs. In the past on other cars with GoodYear I got about 30K miles and only

20K miles with Firestone. Yes I rotate my tires; the only way to get the full wear out of them.

It's the much more extreme climate in NA.

For 3,000 miles in 4 to 6 months it is desirable to reduce sludge. I keep my cars 10+ years and never have any unusual engine maintenance. At 100K miles my engines still run as new, with no added oil necessary.

Tire models are always different when I need a new set. They change every few years.

True, but I only need a set at least every 4 or 5 years. If I didn't rotate they the rear tires on a FWD car would be in dangerous territory after 6 years.

Where I get service, not the dealer, the pad inspection and rotate is free every 12 months.

Wheel balancing off the car is how I've done it forever. I have no balancing problems, although I only drive up to 70MPH.

Not so sure about that. Last time I balanced a tire, it was balanced on the wheel. You are actually balancing the wheel/tire assembly. However, I've heard if you don't rotate your tires, you should not have to balance them as often. YMMV, and wheel/tire variances make general estimates semi-worthless. I balance on my Focus when I rotate, and then only the fronts (formerly the rears). The light Focus rear end (and I've got a ZTW!) will unbalance a wheel in 3-5 K miles, which kinda sucks, but it's just periodic maintenance. My old GTI was the same.

I've rotated tires for years, both on FWD and RWD, and have seldom had to balance tires during their life. Since I went to lovely Michelins about 30 years ago I've never had to rebalance tires.