Tyres - Any recommendations?

Well Chaps,

Thanks to those who offered advice and their preferred tyre.

As a point of interest I have just come back from Florida and the tyre adverts in the local rag, for all the major brands, actually give a guaranteed mileage expectancy. I did not realise at the time that I was going to need new tyres so I did not bring the paper back with me for referrence. The sad thing is that their Dollar price is the same as our Pound price, i.e 60 dollars for a tyre (or tire) there and 60 pounds for the equivalent here.

(Has anybody tried to check-in two tyres with BA or Virgin as part of their luggage? :-) )

Sorry about all the aggro; I though I was asking a simple question!

Jack

Fifteen years, give or take a bit. Do you remember when power steering was made standard on the Astra?

You'd need to check that it was the exact tyre model, though. Also, the guarantee isn't quite a guarantee, it's a trade in value. If you buy a

Nah: tyres are subjective. As others have said, your mileage from the front is respectable. Turbodiesels are heavier at the front and the tyres generally have to work harder more often, since you don't need to change down two ratios to get decent acceleration. Oh and not to mention the Government are so keen to put down that very grippy, abrasive surface at junctions and roundabouts.

In France, roundabouts are polished to make drivers slow down, because they're slippery. In the UK they're made deliberately grippy so that you don't fall off the road. That coarse road surface is hard on booties.

For what it's worth, I have tended to stick with mid range / premium tyres. I've also tended to keep the same model on the car. My personal default if I were in your situation is put part worn rears on the front, new EcoContacts on the back.

Also - how often do you check your tyres, because it sounded like you were surprised that they were down to 2mm? Still, if you didn't notice any change in behaviour from the tyres* then you're probably not going to notice any difference in grip or traction between different brands. ;)

My old Rover 218SD came with a mix of budget tyres on it and was quite frightening in the wet.

I've just about done a set of Avon Enviros (especially the n/s front) and they transformed it.

Not sure how many miles though .. not *loads* but you have to make use of the momentum with a car like that .. ;-)

I'll probably be getting the same again as they haven't given me any moments in spite of having that big heavy lump in the front (and the engine ) and them not being particularly big tyres.

All the best ..

T i m

Jack (Jack ) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

American driving conditions are VERY different to ours. Years back, I was talking to one of Michelin's techies, and asked why we didn't get MXV4s, whilst the US did. They were apparently *really* not well suited to UK road conditions, and many tyres sold here will differ markedly from direct namesakes sold in other countries.

Don't forget that the big-name fast-fit chains are not just utterly useless but very expensive.

Don't worry about it. Fred makes his living from selling cheap tyres, and gets quite upset and defensive when anybody points out that cheap tyres are usually cheap for a damn good reason.

No don't apologise, we enjoy it. I'm on my second bag of popcorn.

My ignorance contains no Will at all. He's been fired.