**Unofficial Tyre Thread**

[NeilMick]

My fronts have plenty of life left, however they're pretty mid range and were on the car when I got them.

National tyres currently have 15% off when buying 4 goodyears so were the cheapest I could find.

Just deciding if I should do the same.
Got 2 Pirelli P Zero's at more or less the limit on the front. Rears are OK - but tempted to pop AS6's all around - been a big fan of the previous generations and always ended up with them on all corners.
I need 19" - so looking at around £550 for a complete set (on my limited searches so far).

 

[Rroff]

What do people put on SUVs? I know there are SUV specific tyres but the Tiguan isn't the largest SUV around so I thought normal road tyres would work fine?

It is something which has bothered me a bit as there is nothing wrong with putting normal road tyres on the Tiguan, but it is well above average in terms of being able to cope if the going gets tough so if it ever came to it it would be a shame to be let down by the tyres - but for 99.99% of the time you are probably compromising comfort, handling at higher road speeds, MPG, etc. using tyres with some degree of off-road, etc. functionality in the design.

The OEM's IIRC are Pirelli Scorpion and Conti Contact 5s. Depends a bit what your intentions are - Conti Cross Contact tend to be a good option if you want something which feels reasonably good to drive but won't embarrass you if the need arises to deal with inclement conditions, wet/snow/off-road, but there are better options if you are munching miles in the normal range of conditions but I don't really have enough experience to recommend something specifically.

The Goodyear EfficientGrip 2 SUV seem to review well on the Tiguan but not one I've tried.

I see a lot of them on Dunlop SP1s for some reason which I didn't really like - they only felt just about adequate to me.

and my 2WD Kuga is never going to be used in anything more challenging off road than maybe a damp grass field

Damp grass (not just your average lawn kind of grass) can actually be surprisingly challenging sometimes - I had an experience the other day where 2WD was slipping quite a bit and 4WD was a significant benefit - even then was getting a lot of rapid individual wheel braking on and off to maintain traction.

 

[stoofa]

Has anyone used National for their Front/Rear Wheel Alignment?
In the past I've always taken my car to somewhere with Hunter equipment - found a couple of places in the past where they not only have the equipment, they seem to know how to actually use it, which is a bonus.
National say they use "Super tracker STR130RW 6-sensor equipment". Is this as good as the Hunter kit?

Potentially looking at getting tyres from them, so it makes sense having all the work done at the same time - but obviously will pass if there are any horror stories.

*Edit*
I meant National Tyres, not ATS - updated above

 

[Housey]

New set of Cup 2's going on my AMG GT-R today, the ones on there were close to illegal inside so got all 4 replaced as dealer came up with a sensible number once I told them to "think again" after their first offer.

I can't collect the car until next week having testing positive for COVID las night.

 

[pugheaven]

Just so people know and a heads up, Demon Tweeks of all places are doing some terrific deals... I recently bought all four tyres with two 275/40/20 and two 315/35/20's Falken Azensis which are a fantastic tyre in normal form and I've got the SUV for £610 quid delivered, that's astounding quality and price really. They've now been on a couple of weeks and are NOT letting me down, easily as good as the previous Michelin's I had on...

 

[Erm yeah that’s hard to pick one]

Ditched the run flats in my 1 series and went for Michelin Pilot Sport 4 225/45 ZR17 (94Y) XL. Instant improvement. Grip, noise, ride, breaking. Just gotta tweak the pressures

 

[dlockers]

Potentially going to start replacing my E43 tyres this year, as even if I keep it, I think it'll drag any potential sale price down.

Any advice? I see Pilot Sport 4 (or 4s) are available.

Front:



Rears




Tread decent but perishing is getting worse...crazy that these Yoko's are only just over 3 years old + 13k light-use mileage.

 

[Armageus]

Potentially going to start replacing my E43 tyres this year, as even if I keep it, I think it'll drag any potential sale price down.

You aren't going to recoup whatever you spend on decent tyres when it comes to selling

 

[MissChief]

You aren't going to recoup whatever you spend on decent tyres when it comes to selling

But having crappy 'ditchfinder' tyres would either put me off buying a Premium car (what else have they cheaped out on? Servicing?) or would make me want a cheaper price to go and replace them with something more in keeping with a £20k+ car. It's finding that balance. Something like Kumho or Hankook or Uniroyal Rainsports would be OK in my book, I don't expect Michelin or Continentals, but when you go and look at a car at a dealer and they've put on 'Longfan' or 'wellrun' tyres onto a car it makes me die a little inside.

 

[ianh]

I recently changed the tyres on my Citroen C1, originally it had 2x snow tyres on the rear with 1x all season and 1x summer tyre on the front, all 4 coming from different makers. Other than the road noise from rears, at the speed I drive on my commute (<30mph) it's not exactly testing the tyre performance but I still wanted to reset everything so bought 4x Yokohama BluEarth-GT AE51 with C rating for MPG, A rating for Wet and 68db Noise for £60 each inc fitting (still less than 1 RS6 tyre).

On my current commute I was getting 53mpg on tyres mostly rated E/F for MPG so it'll be interesting to see if there is any provable change but the biggest benefit has been the reduction of road noise which is bliss!

 

[dlockers]

Potentially going to start replacing my E43 tyres this year, as even if I keep it, I think it'll drag any potential sale price down.

Any advice? I see Pilot Sport 4 (or 4s) are available.

Front:



Rears




Tread decent but perishing is getting worse...crazy that these Yoko's are only just over 3 years old + 13k light-use mileage.

I emailed Yoko who to their credit got right back to me.

Their suggestion? I arrange to return the tyres for inspection........not sure how one does that. This feels like a significant barrier to entry for claiming lol...

 

[Rroff]

but perishing is getting worse

I'm seeing this with a lot of tyres the last few years, especially the middle of the road tier brands, one winter/summer cycle and the crazy cracking starts to appear that I've not seen previously in tyres until they've a fair few years on them.

Not sure whether it is down to the manufacturer, the stuff they use to treat our roads in winter - which seems to be more and more corrosive these days - or a combination or what.

 

[dlockers]

I'm seeing this with a lot of tyres the last few years, especially the middle of the road tier brands, one winter/summer cycle and the crazy cracking starts to appear that I've not seen previously in tyres until they've a fair few years on them.

Not sure whether it is down to the manufacturer, the stuff they use to treat our roads in winter - which seems to be more and more corrosive these days - or a combination or what.

Yeah I don't doubt you're right. But the conversation is going to be quite funny right?

"How have you stored these tyres?"
"On a car"
"Was it exposed to... sun light, rain or frost?"



In fairness these Yokos are summer tyres but wth it is an E Class luxo-barge candidate-Uber, not a race car. I shouldn't have to park it up over winter like a 911.

 

[dlockers]

Yeah I don't doubt you're right. But the conversation is going to be quite funny right?

"How have you stored these tyres?"
"On a car"
"Was it exposed to... sun light, rain or frost?"



In fairness these Yokos are summer tyres but wth it is an E Class luxo-barge candidate-Uber, not a race car. I shouldn't have to park it up over winter like a 911.

As expected, Mercedes called me and said, and I quote "who knows, it may have been owned by a builder before who kept it submerged on a building site"

Followed up with, have you tried calling the dealer you bought it from under the Sales of Goods Act?

And finished with - I'll sell you four more tyres and do the paperwork for Yokohama for you.

 

[ianh]

@dLockers - I've not seen anything like that sideall cracking on a "new" tyre just 3 years old without some serious heat cycling of like 40'C to 10'C daily for a few years (aka Saudi, seen it lots there) to perish/dry-out the rubber.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Potentially going to start replacing my E43 tyres this year, as even if I keep it, I think it'll drag any potential sale price down.

Any advice? I see Pilot Sport 4 (or 4s) are available.

You have the same front and rear tyre sizes as I do. I found that Pilot Sport 4S was not available in both front and back sizes, so I ended up going for Pilot Sport 4. They've been fine.

 

[andy_mk3]

@dLockers - I've not seen anything like that sideall cracking on a "new" tyre just 3 years old without some serious heat cycling of like 40'C to 10'C daily for a few years (aka Saudi, seen it lots there) to perish/dry-out the rubber.

See it all the time on newer cars lately. First MOT they're often cracking like that. Something must have changed in tyres in the past few years, they've gotten terrible for it lately.

 

[dlockers]

I think the plan of attack will be, funds allowing, to go to a decent tyre place and see if they can kick off the Yoko warranty process as a potential upside. I imagine Yoko will come back with "they're fine" and must have been exposed to "weather".

It is a real shame as I had no intention of replacing tyres with such long life left on them.

 

[BF-Bert]

The perishing looks similar to what you'd expect from a partially inflated tyre on a car that hasn't moved for a while.

 

[dlockers]

The perishing looks similar to what you'd expect from a partially inflated tyre on a car that hasn't moved for a while.

It is even across all four if that makes any difference.