New Tyre Recommendations?

Gordon H gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Whilst I'd normally say "don't assume based on that", in this case, you're right...

If it's a big national chain, it's almost certainly more expensive than you can find elsewhere.

Either try a fitted price from one of the online retailers, or ring around the small backstreet one-man-plus-dog tyre places.

Can't comment on the P7s, but...

I like Primacies a lot - and have always found P6000s underwhelming.

My personal preference tends towards Michelin, with Vredestein or Avon if I'm feeling particularly skint.

In message , Adrian writes

The ABS has also kicked in unexpectedly on wet roads once or twice recently.

I'll look into that...

Interestingly the rear tyres show the most wear, but maybe they were swapped by the previous "owner" after 11,000 miles of hire use. ;-)

Thanks for the rapid response, I also like the tread pattern on the Primacies, but the price is a killer for domestic use in retirement.

Gordon H gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

A quick check on BlackCircles shows a £7/tyre difference between Mich (albeit "Energy Saver" rather than Pilots - for some reason, they're not being listed) & P7s for my Saab...

Hmm. Looks like they're discontinuing the Prims in my size. I'd better replace that ageing pair now whilst I still can...

In message , Adrian writes

I just got back from a chat with Kev, the man with a dog, in a side street 200 yards from here. He offered me two "part worn" Continentals for £30 each (no puncture repairs) with a decent tread depth. There was another pair with asymmetric patterns similar to the Primacies, but one had a plugged puncture repair in the tread. He also offered to check the _rear_ wheel alignment for free, to determine the reason for the uneven wear pattern across one of the rear tyres.

Evans Halshaw suggested under-inflation, (I keep them slightly above recommended) but couldn't explain why it was not symmetrical wear acrooss the width. I'm not sure whether Kev was B/S-ing about rear wheel alignment, but he seemed to know plenty about tyre tread patterns and their characteristics. ;-)

Gordon H gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

How "part worn"? If they're good, I think I'd go for that. Contis aren't far off my preferred brand list.

Thanks, no thanks.

Quite feasible. But not a hell of a lot you can do about it if it's out, short of replacing the rear suspension.

The other possibles are an out-of-round rim or tyre, but you'd feel that.

Because they were talking crap.

Where abouts in the country are you?

Chris

If it's a MK3 Mondeo, there's always the "worn subframe bush" issue.

This is a recent thread; check out Theo Markettos's recommendaton for

Kostas

Hmm... It is a MK3, and it got a mention from the service in January: "Rear subframe bushes split", an "amber" warning for future attention.

Manchisstoh. South-ish.

In message , Kostas Kavoussanakis writes

Thanks, it does help. I already found etyres in a general online search, and that route does look a good bet, with plenty of choice and tyre spec descriptions. Useful to get some feedback from a customer though.

I was intrigued by the idea of fitting new tyres to the rear, but in the demonstration video it seemed to me that the rear tyres were getting an overload of water shifted by the front tyres... No wonder they aquaplaned!

A full set of P6000s for my 156 Sportwagon cost me about £300, fitted.

Oh, OK. There are a couple of oft-recommended places here in the SE, but no help to you.

Chris

Well if it is, there's plenty of polyurethane bush kits on Ebay for about £30-£40 and it's an hour a side to swap them over. Alternatively, there's new subframes on eBay too for £130 however my personal choice would be the polybushes. Once they're done, they'll outlive the car.

writes

How come that etyres knew my tyre size before I entered it? Spooky.

I've just bought a car which has new Firestone Firehawk SZ80 205/50 tyres pre-fitted all round on 16inch alloys, they're quite sporty considering the previous owner was an old codger and was perhaps unlikely to put them through their paces.

I have no experience of these particular tyres and wondered if anyone has rated them at all?

Stephen.

It might be a good idea to hide youe e-mail address as there are lots of trolls and spammersare out there

Regarding tyres - try autoexpress.co.uk they have tests once a year on the main brands

I've never been impressed by Pirellis on any car I've driven.

Last set of tyres I bought, I got from one of the online retailers, via a link from the AA. Got about £20 off for being an AA member, and 4x Goodyear Eagle F1s came in at about £290 including all charges, so I suspect £313 is over the odds for you.

The tyres were delivered to, and fitted by the local branch of one of the big tyre chains. I had balancing problems after fitting and it was fixed free of charge by the fitting firm, so there are no worries about service.

The other thing to bear in mind when buying online is that you may be able to get cash back from Quidco.

The problem with recommending tyres is that the performance varies by car and suspension setup.

As an example, Caterham developed a new car with better aerodynamics which should have been faster than the old model, but it wasn't. They put it on a chassis dyno and it was clear that the tyres that worked perfectly on the old car were doing horrible things to the wheel rate. They got one of the tyre manufacturers to produce a tyre with a different sidewall, and the car suddenly started lapping at the speeds it should have done.