little bit of tyre advice please.

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munfred
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little bit of tyre advice please.

Post by munfred »

The tyres I got on the BX when I brought it were michelin 165/70 R14
However there is only about 1-2mm tread before they are illegal.
Popped down the Scrappy and he had 2 brand new BX wheels with a different type of michelin tyre and in 165/65 R14. which I can have for next to nothing.

What I am considering is buying these wheels/tyres, and then when my front need replacing then putting these new tyres on the back, and the back ones on the front. Then buying new ones in 165/65 when the old ones wear out.

Basically this means that I will be driving around with a different rolling radius on the rear axle then the front axle for a short while. I know this is legal, but my questions are:

Are there any reasons why I should not run with these diffferent sized wheels at the same time?

Will the hydroneumatic compensate for the different heights?

And will the lack of profile/rubber have any effect on the life of the suspension? (I expect it will slightly)


Think thats all I wanted to enquire about.

DOne a little search, and mainly all I could find is threads based on people wanting to put on different size wheels/gti wheels etc.

In terms of the speedo, by using GPS the speedo actually seems spot.

Thanks again in advance for the advice.
I own a saxo, but don't hold that against me. I now have a BX aswell ;)
Stewart (oily!)
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Post by Stewart (oily!) »

Those 165/65s are extremely close to the standard size so I dont suppose they will make a lot of difference on the rear, after all on a BX a flat tyre on the rear is hardly noticeable, have you considered placing a wanted ad on the forum? as Ill wager there are members out there with garages full of 165/70s having fitted the Graphite alloys and 195s which are considered de rigeur these days :D
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cavmad
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Post by cavmad »

Ill wager there are members out there with garages full of 165/70s having fitted the Graphite alloys and 195s which are considered de rigeur these days :D
Stewart[/quote]

AHEM! Yes, one member has loads of good tyres of various sizes on BX wheels ready to fit, including matching sets of four :wink:

Munfred, there is a difference in sidewall (tyre height) between the two sizes. The 165-65-14 will be 107.25mm high where as the 165-70-14 tyres will be 115.5mm high.
I`ve said this before but you then have a few potential problems: Firstly which axle will you fit which tyres to? Secondly in the event of an accident (your fault or that of a third party) will the insurance pay out if they spot different sized tyres? Thirdly will it effect the handling of the car (I`d say it would, even if only slightly): usually tyres with a smaller sidewall height are supposedly better for handling) and fourthly what size spare will you carry?
Not worth the effort i.m.h.o, stick with the same size all round and the spare too, you know where you are then.
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munfred
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Post by munfred »

see. Knew Id get help on here to make me see sense :P

do either of you lovely people have any that are getting in your way? :)

Ill put a post in the wanted section aswell just in case.


Im a cheapskate really.
I can get 4 michelin tyres fitted for £100 or 4 budget tyres for £60.

But I dont like budget tyres, and £100 is nearly as much as I paid for the hole car :P
I own a saxo, but don't hold that against me. I now have a BX aswell ;)
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Post by Vanny »

Get Michelin Energies and NEVER replace your tyres again!


Found the rreciept for the four i bought way back in 2002, still have them, still have loads of tread and have done somewhere approaching 60,000 miles, i have no idea how, but even at £40 a corner they're worth the effort!

on the other hand my super cheap Champiro 205/40 r17's have done under 5000mile and dont look very clever at all!!!



Remember National tyres are doing Avons for £21 a corner for 195's!!! (its there xmas deal), and off there for circles for my non conformist Silver Alloys!
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Post by jeremy »

Bob Smith has copies of various sections of workshop manuals on his excellent site and I think in the suspension section at the end is a table of tyre fittings for the BX (probably 1987)

http://www.rwbsmith.plus.com/citroen2/

I haven't looked at the table recently but my BX19 handbook makes no mention of tyres with a higher aspect ratio than 70 (165x14 will be 80 by default). The diesel book is similar.

I think the general consensus is that the standard tyres fitted to BX were not generous and so any change should be in the direction of larger/lower profile. My own BX TD Estate came with 175/65 x 14's on it and really it would be better if they were bigger.

jeremy
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