Oh No, Another Tyre Question

Stuffed ( snipped-for-privacy@rse.non) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

What's available in 155/70? The sidewall height if 145/80s is about half way between 155/70 and 155/80.

Stuffed proclaimed to uk.rec.cars.maintenance ...

From a friends experience, dont go with the Energy of any kind. He switched to some from a cheap nameless brand and found himself having to temper his driving style to not slide with them, especially in the wet. Take that as you will.

Yoko's are fairly well rated usually, but ive never had any of the tyres in your list.

Coyoteboy ( snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Not my experience.

I've got Energys on the XM at the mo - sure, they're not quite as good as the Pilot Primacies, which weren't quite as good as the Pilot Exaltos - neither of which are available in the size I need any more.

But they're definitely better then the P6000 which was on one corner when I got it.

Which? magasine do tests on tyres regularly, and will tell you which ones to avoid, as some grip far less than others. See if you can get a copy, or get on to their website.

Having read up a bit more, it seems they're good at that. Low rolling resistance, long life, at the expense of any pretence of grip. The Kormorans on my Rover seem to offer the same sort of characteristics at a fraction of the price! They've also induced a few clench moments...

Seems the 760s are boggo standard reasonable make tyres, the 306s seem to be a little more "sporty" but still quite "comfort and safety" oriented. Still, from the list the 306s seem to be the best option for what I'm looking for so unless I come across a dire review/ opinion I think that's what I'll go for, barring any other recommendations. I get the feeling A539s would suit me perfectly, but I don't know if they're even available in my size, let alone where I could get them locally and how much they'd come to.

I'd rather be going up a little if anything in rolling radius, and 155/70 seems to be about a 3% drop :-(

Besides, it comes to about 2 - 3mm lower, and I need all the ground clearance I can get! ;-)

No problem, By the dearest.

After more hunting around, it appears the Yoko S306 isn't available any more (or at least not through anyone round here), so the search is back on.

Went to a place in the next town, and they dug out the various ones they carry in stock and let me have a look over them.

Options now seem to be:

BF Goodrich £70 a pair Firestone F590 approx 70 a pair Firestone Multihawk approx £72 a pair Continental something or others £75 a pair Goodyear somethings £75 a pair.

Another place tried to flog me Pirelli stupidly sticky tyres for £180 - I like the idea of sticky short lived tread, but not the thought of asking for a mid range reasonable tyre and being offered something way out of budget!

Seems the problem is I've got 13" rims and really can only stretch to a

With the current list the Firestone Multihawks seem a fair option as they seemed to have a squarer shoulder and so should have less clearance problems than the others, and the BFG's have, using the thumb and nail test, the softer/ stickier rubber. Trouble is the BFG has the roundest/ widest shoulder of them all.

Anyone got any experience of any of the above? Or better still, anyone know of an actually nice sticky 30 - 40 quid all in tyer that'll fit my damned wheels!?

Yes.

What about these?

They look the part, and if I can find them for that sort of money locally (cheapest price on fitting 3rd party tyres round here is £12.50 each!) they could be an option.

However, the phrase "Long life and excellent cost performance" sort of puts me off. I think it's the word "cost" before the word "performance"...

ROTFL

They cost £13.95

You live in Knightsbridge?

Ahh so you are considering budgets then

Buy the dearest then.

"Fred" >

I can't afford to and shouldn't have to to get something half decent. But local (within 15 miles) places don't tend to carry anything other than the standard Michelin Energy, Firestone economy, and whatever their favourite big name budget arm rubber is. I've only found one place that even contemplated selling me Yokohamas, Toyo, Khumo and the like result in a blank stare most of the time, and those that are willing to make an effort end up finding they can't source in my size.

I remember running India GTs on a 10" Mini years ago - They were dirt cheap, didn't last long, but stuck like superglue to fingers. So I'm not totally anti budget tyres, just anti buying ones that are tarmacophobic.

Went with the Firestone Multihawks in the end as they seemed as good/ bad as anything else easily available in my size. Had a bit of fun as the tyre place only had 4, and one "broke" (or was mangled) during fitting, so had to finish fitting them today (and for some reason still used the tube that was on the rim with the old tyre - Sometime I'll try and get a tyre place to remove that and stick a nice new valve in).

Now running 165/70/13 in place of mix n match knackered 145/13, and have found no real difference in steering weight. There does seem to be more traction though, a spot I usually get gravel airborne just had the clutch slipping this afternoon. The clutch has been flakey since I got the car, something is amiss in the hydraulics as bite is very high up and the pedal always feels very solid. Had a look and there was no free play in the pushrod, and after taking it off to wobble the clutch arm I couldn't get it back in till I'd ground a bit off! But I digress from the rubber issue.

Outright cornering grip seems to be a bit better, especially as I've set the pressures at 27 all round, instead of the 32/28 on the front, and 30 on both rears. Lift off oversteer might be a touch worse, or it could be that I simply don't have to avoid halfwit coach drivers mid roundabout most days...

All in all the tyres seem OK. Nothing special, but not dire to the point of possibly dangerous crap like the Kormorans on my Rover. The price was good too - I wanted to try and haggle a tenner off (by taking the old tyres to the tip myself and avoiding paying the disposal fee at the fitters), in the end they knocked 33 quid off and chucked the tyres themselves. So £108 for 4 reasonable brand new tyres :-)

I picked up the other wheel from the local branch instead of the one in the next town, and they reminded me why it was better to go 10 miles down the road - The first place got the torque wrench and set it to the right figure for the car. Second place got out the torque wrench to look professional... Then seemed to crank it forever, to the point I asked what setting they had it on. Turned out to be 50% higher than book spec. They nearly did that when I went there a couple of years ago with a car with alloy nuts, I was quick to put those wheels back on myself!

In news:Xns99245170C4BEFadrianachapmanfreeis@204.153.245.131, Adrian wittered on forthwith;

Michelin tyres always work well on Hyperactively sprung Citroens though. Last for ages on 'em an all.

Pirellis tend to grip more, wear faster and ride worse.

My favourite tyres are Avons, but only because they're somewhere in between the Michelins and Pirellis characteristic wise, are cheaper, and they always seem to be very forgiving at the limit.

A tube? modern tyres are NOT designed or recommended to have tubes in, under any circs. but a brand new tyre? Valves should always be replaced along with the tyre. And how can you damage a tyre with a tyre machine? I sounds like you have been done and have potentially dangerous lumps of rubber on your car. The local tip will not take tyres in any case as they are considered trade waste.

Mrcheerful

Pete M ( snipped-for-privacy@bogoffwithzepressedmeatblueyonder.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

I'll certainly go with you on Avons as a good compromise.

The message from "MrCheerful" contains these words:

Ours does. There's a whole skip of 'em, neatly stacked.

Where? I have about twenty to get rid of, I get rid of a couple extra when I buy new tyres, but there always are too many.

Mrcheerful