Rover 200. Tyres

If you decide to go for cheaper alternatives which many people do, then ring around several of the well-known tyre outlets and see what each has available, because you can save a lot more than £10 per tyre. The original Dunlop SP Sports are quite expensive !

Andy Pandy To e-mail, address hopefully, self-explanatory !

Try

If you have a contact with a Costco card, they will supply and fit quality brands at best price. No extras either- price shown in store includes valve, balance, disposal charge. DaveK.

mileage

includes valve,

wrong, the suggested tyres were Kingston H714, Peter.

Budgets can be alright, and can be horrid. I once fitted a "budget" tyre to my Ka as I was rather strapped and needed a tyre quickly. It was horrific. It wasn't even much cheaper than a decent tyre from my usual tyre place which was shut. OTOH, I've had budget tyres which I consider OK. Now I use Uniroyals as the wet grip is very good IMO, though there seems to be less dry grip than the Marangoni Trios (budget, worn to the indicators) they replaced.

Hello,

I tried this in Liverpool. They wanted me to leave my car keys with them and couldn't produce documents to state they were insured to drive from the car park to fitting bay. They advised that they couldn't fit tyres on the same day and I should call back the next day! I took them straight back for a refund as this policy was NOT stated when i bought them. CostCo in Liverpool was a complete waste of time for tyres and not much cheaper anyway.

My local garage fitted the tyres when i drove in and they were cheaper for the same make (Michelin). It just depends on where you go.

I'm going to have to buy some new tyres this year for my Rover 200, I don't mind how much they cost, as I'd prefer to be saved from skidding into someone else than to save £5 a wheel. What should I get?

I was looking at MyTyres.co.uk yesterday and all of the tyre marketing blurb would say was that, for each and every tyre there, they had excellent wet handling and excellent dry grip.

Surely all tyres can't be the same, but I'm not sure what to look for.

--Nick.

If money is not an issue, go Michelin, I buy nothing else now. They're head and shoulders above anything else.

Anyone know if Michelin still do MXT's? Someone told me they stopped making them because they were so expensive...worth every penny IMHO.

HTH tox

I'm currently at

I'm currently very interested in the "Alpin 2nd Generation" tyres. Is there anything wrong with using them in summer too? I don't fancy having to store them in plastic bags in the summer.

--Nick.

Hi Nick!

I'm not too sure about summer and winter tyres, although I suspect the vast majority of people don't bother to change them. I'm not a boy racer (too old) and just drive steady these days and I find Michelin's just last and last. Do yourself a favour, buy Michelin, you won't look back.

Regards tox

That's where I bought my 195x65x15 Michelin Pilots, £56 each last September. When I asked for four, the guy suggested I wait a couple of weeks as there was 10% off deal coming up. Unfortunately it was MoT time and I needed them. I left the car by the fitting bay and wandered off to the main shop where I was seearched out later by the fitter who pointed out that I had ordered a different spec tyre to what was on the car (from very low profile to more comfortable). I told them to put on what I had requested and had to sign a disclaimer. Found them friendly, efficient and helpful. DaveK.

The op does only 4,500 miles a year so could go for a softer compound tyre for the best grip and braking efficiency. Have best performance and they'll need replacing by age before they're worn out. DaveK.

But how often do you run out of grip in the dry compared? And how often in the wet?

-- James

I try my best not to run out of grip. Running out of grip in the wet has more chance to be catastrophic IMO.

Nah, far worse running out of grip in the dry. In the wet you can break grip at lower speeds so there's either less impact damage or it's easier to correct. It takes a lot to upset my car in the wet and it's fairly controllable. Finding the dry limits would require driving like a complete lobotomy case and, if it went, it'd turn up in a ditch in the next county.

When your tyres give a massive difference in grip between wet and dry you are more likely to get caught out in the wet (i.e. next to no wet grip) than if there is a small difference (and good grip in the wet) in an "emergencgy" situation. On the other hand, you may end up being over confident in the wet if they give good wet grip.

I've had tyres that were really poor in the wet and I can't say that I liked it one bit, the tyres I have on the car now give better wet grip than I've had before and haven't found the limits of their dry grip a limitation.

-- James