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Tyres confusion

When my car left the factory, it was equipped with Michelin Primacy 3 tyres. Assuming that the car designers and tyre designers work together to come up with the best solution, I've always kept to the same when replacing them, even though I'm not the original owner of the car.

The cheapest I can find these are £132 each (fully fitted, balanced, disposal etc), meaning a bill for £528 because I need all four replaced at the same time, which is pushing it a bit for me at the moment.

However, I've noticed that there are now new rating systems for tyres and it seems that there are some slightly cheaper ones that have better results - admittedly not much cheaper and still pushing it financially, but on the face of it, maybe better tyres? The categories are Fuel Efficience/Rolling Resistance A good to F bad; Wet Grip/Braking Performance A good to F bad; Noise emission/Exterior noise in dB - lower number better:

Michelin Primacy 3 - C A 69 £132 each or £528 Dunlop Sport Blue Response - B A 68 £121.50 each or £486 Goodyear Efficient Grip Performance B A 68 £123 each or £492

These are going on a 3.0 V6 Nissan Maxima QX (A33 series) which is an almost 2-ton (executive? lower executive?) style of car. Should I stick with the Michelins or go with one of the others - or maybe something else altogether?

Oh, and apparently, according to the new rating system, these are *not* reinforced tyres - the Michelin Premacy 3 reinforced tyres are £10 each more expensive. What's that all about? I thought all tyres were steel-reinforced since the demise of Rayon in tyres in the 60s/70s?

Reply to
Dave
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So you're looking at a saving of £40 for the four - less than 10%. Not particularly significant. TBH, given that, I'd stick with Mich. Differences in wear rate could very easily far exceed that price difference, making the "most expensive" potentially the cheapest per mile.

What size are you looking at? Camskill's usually a good site to see what's easily available in any given size.

A quick google suggests 195/65 15 or 215/65 16 - Camskill don't list any Mich in the latter, and only Energy (which massively unimpressed me on the Saab) in former - neither size has prices anywhere _near_ the ones you give, though...

I'd be surprised if Nissan fitted Michs from the factory. I'd have expected one of the far eastern brands.

All radials are reinforced, yes, in that they have various plies in the construction. However, some tyres for particularly heavy vehicles are marked RF or XL (ReinForced or eXtra Load). So long as the tyres you fit meet the load rating required (two or three digit number, probably in the

90s, part of the tyre spec with the speed rating letter - something like 98V) then that's fine.
Reply to
Adrian

Wow, very quick reply Adrian, thanks. The size is 215/55 R16 94V. I suppose you're right and it's not worth messing over something that's less than a 10% saving so I probably will stick with the Michelins. Cheers for that and for explaining about the reinforcing.

Reply to
Dave

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93V Prim 3 - £115 each... (+£2.99 deliv, plus fitting - but it gives you something to beat your local tyre place down with)

If you were looking to knock the price down a rung, I'd look at the Vredestein Sportrac5 93V - £86 ea or the Avon ZV5 93Y - £76 ea. I've had very good experiences with both brands.

Reply to
Adrian

Thank you again good sir! I completely forgot that we had Vredestein Sportracs on the A32 series QX that we had before this A33 and yes, they were decent tyres. Cheers again mate :D

Reply to
Dave

Worth bearing in mind that if you're a Costco member, they do some good deals on Michelin tyres, but you have to buy four (which isn't a problem for you).

Been a while since we were members so this may not still be the case.

Tim

Reply to
Tim+

it still is, last week they had 50 quid off four. they have also started selling continentals.

Reply to
Mrcheerful

They are all a lot cheaper in 205/55/16V; I've got some BluResponse, and they still have plenty of grip now it is cold and wet in Lancashire. The Michelins may have poorer rolling resistance because they have slightly better grip - the rating is for braking distance, not cornering.

Reply to
Nick Finnigan

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