Tyre question

Third Opinion · 30 Jan 2006 at 19:48

Last January I had my wifes Alfa Romeo 156 Sportswagon serviced at the dealer we bought it from. The service was fairly reasonable however they reported the car needed four new tyres as I expected. They quoted me a very large sum of money so I decided to shop about. I went to a couple of retailers on the high street but finally settled for one that traded soley in tyres.

The deal wasn't bad costing me about 10% less of what my dealer wanted to charge. All was fine until Friday, took the car back for a service and got the dreaded phone call. Both rear tyres again needed replacement (front wheel drive car) although the suspension, tracking and balance were spot on. However the tyre speed rating was not recommended by the manufacturer. The speed rating should be ZR however the new tyres are only VR.

Anyway after only 6K I have returned the car to the tyre reseller. At first they didn't want to know but after a call to trading standards they and the tyre manufactor has agreed to cover 75% of replacing all four tyres. Good deal I reckon so I have jumped at it.

Does a speed rating really cause this amount of tyre wear?

These are tyres factory fitted to cars like Aston martin etc.

[TW]Fox · 30 Jan 2006 at 20:19

V rated tyres are rated for speeds of up to 149mph. This is in excess of the top speed of your car, so they are fine.

Third Opinion said:
These are tyres factory fitted to cars like Aston martin etc.

Not in V rating they are not. This was probably just spiel from the guy who wanted to flog you the tyres, what are they?

ShakenNstirred · 30 Jan 2006 at 20:30

if the car frontwheel drive the fronts should wear faster than the back
that has been the case on my last 3 fwd cars

Third Opinion · 30 Jan 2006 at 21:04

[TW]Fox said:
V rated tyres are rated for speeds of up to 149mph. This is in excess of the top speed of your car, so they are fine.

Not in V rating they are not. This was probably just spiel from the guy who wanted to flog you the tyres, what are they?

They are Avons.

However the standard fit for the Alfa 156 Sportswagon is the ZR rating. agreed this seems well over the top as the car would be lucky to reach over 130MPH. However the VR's that they fitted last only lasted 6K as oppossed to the ZR's that gave me 20K.