**Unofficial Tyre Thread**

Soldato
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You can guarantee there is always something causing delays, especially when you book early on Saturdays when the main goal is to be in and out!

I always thought rears were more tricky to do alignment on and required a dealer/specialist, seems like they could have done it but time was an issue? Be interesting to see if you feel a difference now the fronts have been dailed in.

On the topic of alignment I am considering some lowering springs for the Polo GTI as OEM ride height isn’t very pleasing on the eye… is it good practise to have an alignment done afterwards or would that be in an ideal world and essentially wouldn’t really need it?
How much are you lowering by?

And yes I'd get a check of alignment done at the very least. Give it a few days of driving to settle aswell before the alignment.
 
Soldato
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The best alignment check is checking the tyres that came off...
If they are worn evenly, you don't need an alignment.
 
Soldato
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How much are you lowering by?

And yes I'd get a check of alignment done at the very least. Give it a few days of driving to settle aswell before the alignment.

25mm Front

30mm Rear

I thought it was good practise to do so.

The best alignment check is checking the tyres that came off...
If they are worn evenly, you don't need an alignment.

I had all 4 corners changed a few months ago, tread wear seemed fine on the old ones and no symptoms of bad alignment but as above, I plan on lowering the car and wasn’t sure if It was required afterwards :)
 
Soldato
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25mm Front

30mm Rear

I thought it was good practise to do so.



I had all 4 corners changed a few months ago, tread wear seemed fine on the old ones and no symptoms of bad alignment but as above, I plan on lowering the car and wasn’t sure if It was required afterwards :)
Must have still be half asleep when I wrote that. If you are lowering it then it may well need a reset and not just a "it's in the green mate. it's good" type place. Factory tolerances are :eek:
 
Soldato
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Forgot to say the Conti 7's in 305 and 265 arrived start of the week. The 305's for the rear are chonky! Banana added for fun. :p

305s-2.jpg


305s.jpg
 
Soldato
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I've got some new tyres to go on tomorrow - I decided to go with the Michelin 4S again. As much as the CSC7 looks to be a big leap forward - Continental simply haven't made a tyre which wears well....ever? The Michelin's seem to get excellent grip and go on forever and for the last 20 years, the trend seems to consistently be that Conti's can provide class leading grip - but then last half of what the comparable Michelin does. It's easy for them to create a tyre which has stupidly good grip, but the trick comes from making that tyre last which Michelin normally get right. Hopefully the CSC7 is the first one they've made where it does actually wear well, but I doubt it.

On my C63 my fronts are on about 3-4mm and I've done nearly 20k miles on them in the last 2 years. My rears are on ~3.5mm after 15k miles and 21 months and the only reason I have to change them is because one has a cut on it. Can't really say fairer than that from a heavy car with a big torquey engine
 
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Soldato
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I didn't find the Michelin PS4 that great for longevity on my Mini F56. I can't imagine how bad say an older CS6 would be.

I got 14k miles out the front tyres and they were down to 2mm. Rears hardly worn so rotated.

Get 25K out of a set.

I know FWD like to eat fronts.
 
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OcUK Staff
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Finally had the chance to use my Michelin CC2's in snow for the one time of year it happens down south :cry:

In all seriousness, I was extremely impressed with the grip and handling, I decided to pop out early this morning and find some fresh undriven in snow to give the CC2's a test and they did not disappoint.

They are a big improvement.

When it snowed couple of months ago I was on PS4S on the GR Yaris, the car was able to drive up a snow covered hill, but if I stopped it was near impossible to pull of again and adding steering inputs resulted in car drifting sideways towards curb / camber of road, as such I had to stop and reverse down the hill.

I turned around, went home, put the CC2's in the boot, went tyre fitter and had them fitted.

Did the same loop again, zero issues and vastly more grip on snow, as such I went over the tops with more snow and bigger inclines and had no issues, the CC2's gave the car the ability to go across any snow covered road, I was even able to drive at national speed limit on country lanes and truly enjoy the car, braking distances were more than half but still not amazing, this is an area where a true Winter tyre improves on greatly, but for a typical British Winter the CC2's are a good all round tyre, but for a RWD car I'd probably still recommend a true Winter tyre such as Pirelli Sottozero, but FWD/AWD the CC2 is a great tyre!
 
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Caporegime
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I didn't find the Michelin PS4 that great for longevity on my Mini F56. I can't imagine how bad say an older CS6 would be.

I got 14k miles out the front tyres and they were down to 2mm. Rears hardly worn so rotated.

Get 25K out of a set.

I know FWD like to eat fronts.

Thats pretty good though compared with some. My x5 came with Alenza tyres (i think) and I got 14000 miles from the first set. Really soft tyre and wears quickly. I wouldnt mind but they aren;t exactly cheap at £340 for the rears.
 
Caporegime
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I've got some new tyres to go on tomorrow - I decided to go with the Michelin 4S again. As much as the CSC7 looks to be a big leap forward - Continental simply haven't made a tyre which wears well....ever? The Michelin's seem to get excellent grip and go on forever and for the last 20 years, the trend seems to consistently be that Conti's can provide class leading grip - but then last half of what the comparable Michelin does. It's easy for them to create a tyre which has stupidly good grip, but the trick comes from making that tyre last which Michelin normally get right. Hopefully the CSC7 is the first one they've made where it does actually wear well, but I doubt it.

On my C63 my fronts are on about 3-4mm and I've done nearly 20k miles on them in the last 2 years. My rears are on ~3.5mm after 15k miles and 21 months and the only reason I have to change them is because one has a cut on it. Can't really say fairer than that from a heavy car with a big torquey engine

My PS4S fell apart in 10k miles, shoulders cracking like they were 7 year old tyres and the inner edges were done for after a few thousand miles. Alignment was fine as well.
 
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My PS4S fell apart in 10k miles, shoulders cracking like they were 7 year old tyres and the inner edges were done for after a few thousand miles. Alignment was fine as well.

Never experienced this, on the 458 which I fitted back in 2019 the rears are down to circa 3mm and date stamped 2018, the tyre is still fine but grip has reduced but kind of makes the car more fun.
The fronts however which were fitted at same time and covered around 12,000 miles are still on around 5mm but the age of the tyre is resulting in less grip.

As such I tend to find PS4S last so well I end up changing them not due to tread depth but simply because the tyres get harder and less grip. Though saying this the MPSS were even better wearing tyre, a bit too good and I suspect Michelin tweaked the PS4S to not last as long. So tread depth is not only story, once past 5 years old they do lose grip due to age.
 
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DRZ

DRZ

Soldato
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Done a few more miles on my CSC7s now although nothing amazingly fast and we're not in summer yet so temps are still low. I'm really, really enjoying them vs the McLaren-tweaked Pirelli P Zero. The car has more grip but feels lighter on its feet and they are definitely quieter and more comfortable on a cruise. I suspect that peak grip on a perfect sunny day with the tyres and tarmac at the ideal temps is going to be lower on the CSC7 than on the PZero, which feels like a very "peaky" tyre to me. CSC7s area under the curve is going to be better, ie more grip more of the time which is perfect for the UK climate. Time will tell on the tyre wear, if I get more than 5-6K miles out of a set of rears and twice that from a set of fronts I will be pretty happy. Not had PS4S on this car so can't do a direct comparison but thinking back to how the PS4S felt on the M2 & M5, these CSC7s are at least as grippy.

Looking back, I think I preferred MPSS to PS4S. MPSS had better sidewalls and better dry grip at the expense of cold/wet performance. PS4S was the the best overall tyre at the time hence everyone using them but... meh.
 
Soldato
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Never experienced this, on the 458 which I fitted back in 2019 the rears are down to circa 3mm and date stamped 2018, the tyre is still fine but grip has reduced but kind of makes the car more fun.
The fronts however which were fitted at same time and covered around 12,000 miles are still on around 5mm but the age of the tyre is resulting in less grip.

As such I tend to find PS4S last so well I end up changing them not due to tread depth but simply because the tyres get harder and less grip. Though saying this the MPSS were even better wearing tyre, a bit too good and I suspect Michelin tweaked the PS4S to not last as long. So tread depth is not only story, once past 5 years old they do lose grip due to age.

Yeah agreed - I've had 12 PS4S tyres on two different cars and I've never had anything like this. It could have been down to a manufacturing fault but my experience is that they grip really well and go on forever - which is how I can justify their slightly higher price tag. I really liked the SuperSports however, when the temperature dropped below 5-6c and the ground was a bit greasy they did really struggle. I've just got the PS4S DT1 tyre fitted to the rear of my C63 and although it's a new tyre, I can already tell that the DT1 digs in better when the PS4S would slip.
 
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Soldato
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I have had it with two recent sets of PS4S and PS4, only 1 of the PS4 tyres out of 4 started cracking around the edge of the outer tread.

With the PS4Ss both front tyres on the car started cracking on the tread blocks on the inner side of the tyre. Reading up on it this is the tread section of the star rated PS4Ss that is similar compound to CUP 2s which are known to start to crack in colder temperatures which we get plenty of in Scotland.
 
Soldato
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Softer compounds used on the shoulders of tyres are very susceptible to cracking from heat cycles, especially going from very cold weather. Tyres like the PSS and PS4S use a different compound on the shoulders.

It isn't really a problem, except some MOT testers think its tyre perishing when it isn't.
 
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Soldato
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Early cracking is certainly an issue on Michelin PS4's.

Mine are 3.5yrs old now and have looked cracked like this for well over a year.

uc


If you garage your car then I reckon you'll not see this due to shelter from winter weather.
 
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