Tyre sizes

[BXnut]

Hi. I'm sure this will have been asked before but after a quick, ok very quick, look I couldn't see anything. I am after a pair of tyres for my 1993 19TXD. As standard they are 165/70/14 but on several tyre web sites I enter my reg, it comes up with the correct car , they are recommending 185/60/14. Would fitting a 60 profile to both rear tyres and leaving the 70's on the front have any detrimental effect? Or even benefit? Any advice would be most appreciated.

[hilarystone]

I would go with the original tyre size; there is no shortage of tyres available in that size. Take a look at blackcircles.com whom I have had very good experiences with… But there are plenty of other tyre suppliers who will be able to supply a good choice of tyres. And it is definitely worth not going for the cheapest - tyres are now getting ratings for wet grip, noise etc A n excellent mid range tyre is the Uniroyal Rainexpert.

[Defender110]

The 185/60/14 are the original fitment of the GTI or 16V with speedlines, I woudn't think fitting the wider profile tyres on the back would have any detramental effect but I too would go with standard size which also give a better ride quality than the wider tyre.

[MULLEY]

Fitting odd sized tyres will probably mean your insurance is invalid & gawd only knows what it'll do to handling. I alway's fit 4 matching tyres that aren't only the same size i.e. 185/60/14 but they are the same make & the same tread pattern. Imagine you're driving in bad weather & you suddenly needed to either swerve or brake to save your life, you'll have a much better chance being on the same size, make & model of tyre. Saving a few quid on tyres is about the least sensible thing when it comes to safety, yet so many people do They'll spend £20k on a car & then fit chinese ditchfinders, absolute bonkers.

It's upto you what size you fit to your car, but assuming you are going to run steel wheels, i'd stick either the 165/70's or you can fit the 175/60's on instead which is possibly a more common tyre that is available. But as Hilary has said, there are plenty of places on the internet that you can search for tyres on, i've used http://www.mytyres.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; a few times. Or find an indi tyre fitters & they can usually scour the country to find the right sized tyres at a decent price.

[citsncycles]

I'm not quite so fussy about make all round, but always have the same size tyres with similar tread type all round, and the same make per axle. On my first BX I switched to the 175's (on steels), because all 5 needed changing and they were cheaper. Unless you are buying a complete set (and it's worth checking because there's some good deals out there for full sets) I'd buy whatever size is already on the car.

[Birotor]

The only cars I personally know using different tyre sizes legally front and back are Porsche 911s where there is a definite benefit. Generally wisdom is to have more grip on the front with FWD cars unless you have competition experience and can make use of a skittish back end. With a BX I reckon on public roads to have different sizes F/R DOES invalidate your insurance in UK and in mainland Europe I can assure you it 100% DOES as it is ILLEGAL to depart from Governmental road homologation (In France issued by Bureau des Mines). Marshall KR11 are available for your car. They look right and are reasonably priced. Marshall is a Khumo brand name. I can incidentally cite a case where a UK car on a social trip in France blew a týre and the French tyre depot REFUSED to sell a replacement tire as the owner was not using the 'correct' tyre size.

[BXnut]

Thanks for the advice. I've always stuck with original fitment Michelin up until now. It's just that things are more than a little tight on the money front but hey ho nothing changes. I'll be off to Chris Mullins in Gloucester tomorrow instead of fitting a pair of a friend's spare tyres. Thanks again

[Dollywobbler]

I've often had different sizes front to rear on my 2CV. Had 135s on the front and 125s on the rear but one garage swapped them around as it was 'legal' to have the wider rubber at the rear! Gawd knows what's actually true.

For my drive to Sussex recently, the BX had 175 snow tyres on the front and 165 (I think) normal tyres on the rear. Didn't make any difference other than the front end felt much more secure than before (the tyres that came off were a fair bit worn).

I've had good experiences with Hankook tyres on the BX, and Sava Perfectas (a budget Goodyear brand).

[Geoffrey Gould]

OK I will through this into the mix and be prepared to run away very quickly. Same make and size all round, definitely not cheapish ones, I would rather not dent the car OR anybody else.Uniroyal rainmaster, they work and are not expensive at £26 ea.
I was advised to put new ones on the back if only 2 were being fitted which seemingly goes against all logic but it was put to me this way, new tyres on front then the front would have much more grip than the back, so brake, swerve etc. and the back would let go very quickly and you would do a 180, if you didn't find anything to stop you. New on the back and they would stay where they should. The front being harder to break away anyway, most of the braking being done on the front with the weight transfer, weight of engine /gearbox etc.
I am not condoning 'bald tyres' on the front ,if they are that bad then they shouldn't be on the car anyway.
What do you think??
Cheers.
G.

[Defender110]

Yes newer tyres to the back is correct as the fronts have steering to correct any slide unlike te backs. Mitchelin used to show a quite a dramatic good video of the diiferences of new tyres fitted to the front compared to the rears.

[MULLEY]

Geoffrey & Kevan are spot on with new tyres being fitted to the rear. It's far better in a front wheel drive car to have understeer than oversteer, in other words when things start to go wrong, its easier to sort out & avoid crashing. Personally, as an absolute minimum i would have matching axle sets of the same tyre. I've driven my tzd with odd tyres & in the wet it was just plain dangerous, i think i had 3 different brands fitted all of which had plenty of tread. I'm surprised that its actually legal to have odd tyres because of safety etc....seems ludicrous that if your abs doesn't work on your car it fails its mot, but 4 different chinese ditchfinders that have more than 2mm of tread can pass a safety test.....

[Birotor]

I have been re-reading the crap I wrote on October 11th! I sent:Generally wisdom is to have more grip on the front with FWD cars unless you have competition experience and can make use of a skittish back end. I should have said: Generally wisdom is to have more grip on the rear with FWD cars unless you have competition experience and can make use of a skittish back end. This arises from the fact the normal inexperienced punter can deal with understeer but not oversteer. Many older rally cars were designed to be ASTABLE (note astable not unstable) to allow experienced drivers to exploit the handling. This parallels modern fighter aircraft, which unlike the Sea Vampires I learnt on, in effect need a computor to be able to fly.

[Tim Leech]

185/60 R 14 are quite a common size these days and if you shop around you can get some good deals, I just bought 4 new Dunlop Fast Responces for the TRS for £40 a corner.

[MULLEY]

They sound like van tyres Tim? Do they have a modern tread pattern on them?

[Way2go]

185/60 R 14 are quite a common size these days and if you shop around you can get some good deals, I just bought 4 new Dunlop Fast Responces for the TRS for £40 a corner.

Haven't used Dunlops for donkeys years yet they were common when I started motoring. Firestone seemed to overtake them on roadholding & price so were attracted away before moving to Michelins for many years.

One time heavily promoted like by those Dunlop Footbridges at racetracks their presence seemed to retreat. For many years going past derelict Fort Dunlop on the M6 was even negative advertising for them.

Do you think they are good again or still mediocre?