Tyres

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Thread Bear
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Tyres

Post by Thread Bear »

The TZD Estate really wants a set of good rubber. My natural inclination is to go Michelin. Or is there a preferred tyre for the more conservative oilers.
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Re: Tyres

Post by BX Bandit »

IMO 'those Michelin/citroen combo' days are gone and only originally suggested as there was some financial connection between Cit and Mich. maybe in the day there were super comfy Mich tyres made for the likes of the DS but not now.
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pneus online give a subjective (I.e. based on people's opinion) and my tyres list most tyres with three tested criteria like the efficiency labels on white goods.

Vredistein Sportrac 5 look very good.
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Re: Tyres

Post by Thread Bear »

Oh dear. Well I guess my little imaginary bubble had to pop. Chum Mike scoffed at the idea. The Mich's seem amongst the most expensive tyres, in fact, having had a quick zoot round. I think your advice is thus probably correct. Strangely back along the Saab performed very well on the Mich of the time as well. Might be my driving style, coming in, of course.
Miguel - 16 TRS Auto S, light blue, 43k miles - £450
Pluto - 14 E S, White, 105k Miles - in work
Egbert - 19 16v Gti, White, A/C & Leather, - Keeper
Walt - 17 TZD Turbo S, graphite, 70k miles, good op extras - Keeper
Scraper- 17 TZD Turbo E, blue, 208k miles - parts
Homer - 19 TXD E, Red, 189k miles - £250
Gary - 17 TZD Turbo E, 118k miles - in work

'87 Trooper, Borgwards, Saabs, MG ZB, Bellamy Trials, Fiat Jolly & Bianchina, Goggo Dart, Messerschmitt, Heinkel, Bubblecars
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Re: Tyres

Post by Defender110 »

I don't think you can go wrong with Michelin they are still a top quality tyre although IMHO longevity seems to have suffered in favour of improved grip so not necessarily a conservative oilers tyre and as stated by Bandit there are many more comparable options out there. The Michelins I currently have fitted on my TZD 165's are performing very well at the moment but a new set I bought for a previous C270 Mercedes wore out in less than 20k leaving me less than impressed.
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Re: Tyres

Post by Dollywobbler »

Replacing a set of semi-worn Michelins with Hankooks on my TGD absolutely transformed it. Lots of tread left on the Michelins, but apparently no grip. When your NA diesel understeers like the road has been oiled, you know all is not well. Mind you, I found the Riken Snowtime tyres fitted to my TXD Turbo were excellent - in snow and ice and in the dry. Didn't own the car long enough to work out anything useful about wear rates!

The new rating system should make it easy to pick up some decent tyres. Avons seemed to do well in grip vs price.
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Re: Tyres

Post by BX Bandit »

My first TGD always had Michelin Energy tyres. they'd last very well, but as Dollywobbler mentions, the grip towards the end wasn't great. I guess being an energy tyre, the compound is already on the hard side? And the longevity meant that the tyre had further lost grip.
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Re: Tyres

Post by Tinkley »

Personally I prefer the Michelin and have the latest generation 'Energy' tyres at the front (matched pair).
Very pleased with them and incredibly quiet. Still reckon its the best tyre for the BX, correct steering weight and good ride. Have only tried Goodyear (v noisy), Westlake, Dunlop (steering too light), Cinturato (OK), Uniroyal and some odd Chinese brand (came with car). Reckon on 25k-30k with these newer slightly softer Michelins. Long gone the days of 72k on the fronts....on the old MXL's. Also the roads are worse now even seen the centre of a C4 alloy cracked through in the middle of the rim, tyre survived, rim didn't!

The Michelin are great but with a light petrol you can start aquaplaning at 3mm tread depth in the lorry tyre grooves. Had some fun holding the 1.4 'spinning' this way once....
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Re: Tyres

Post by MULLEY »

I've run vredestein's on my bx for the last 6 years, so can recommend them, although my tyre model is probably now defunct, its High-Trac i think?? I used the online ratings to decide which tyres to choose to replace ironically some michelin's that were utter tosh, hardly any grip, although a modern michelin might be better now?

There are 2 key things for me, price & performance, i usually go for the tyre that has the better wet weather performance over the dry performance information, ideally one thats got the best of both aspects, which in this case was the vredesteins. I then compared the price of the top performers, and again the vredesteins seemed the best value in performance & price, why pay £60 a tyre which appears no better than a £35 tyre? Prices unfortunately have doubled since i last bought some, so even a cheap tyre isn't cheap anymore. Good luck with your search, you may find it quite an eye opener if you don't consider the premium brands.
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Re: Tyres

Post by Defender110 »

Older Michelins aren't tosh, any tyre over 4 years old is past it's sell by date as they go hard and loose their adhesion. The recommendation is not to use tyres over 4 years old this includes ones that are unused and have been sat on the shelf.

Sits back and waits!
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Re: Tyres

Post by Tim Leech »

As its not a high performance car dont go mad and buy top of the line tyres, the MXL original equipent will easily be out done by a modern budget, I fitted matadors to my 19TZD and they performed really well, even being flung round the hairpins on the 2012 Challenge.

Look at independant tests and make up your mind off them. I have firestones on the GT, Michelins on the TZI (as I got them super cheap) and cant say I have a preference.
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Re: Tyres

Post by JayW »

I just put a £160 set of chinese budgets on the Athena and turned out they had exactly the same tread pattern and model number as the old Firestones i had on the Valver. Very comfortable, good handling and nice and quiet.

The last set of chinese tyres i bought did 30k without issue so money well spent.
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Re: Tyres

Post by MULLEY »

Defender110 wrote:Older Michelins aren't tosh, any tyre over 4 years old is past it's sell by date as they go hard and loose their adhesion. The recommendation is not to use tyres over 4 years old this includes ones that are unused and have been sat on the shelf.

Sits back and waits!

:lol: Ok then.

Mine were Tosh, can't remember the model number, but any tyre that squeels that amount when i'm cornering enthusiasticly & doesn't like wet conditions i class as crap, regardless of brand or price. The vredesteins were a revelation by comparison.

I used to subscribe to the age of tyres debate as well, now i'm on the fence. When my tyres reached 4 years old & had loads of tread, no sidewall cracking etc.. & still felt very good in the wet i continued to use them. 2 more years have passed since then, wet weather performance has reduced but so has the amount of tread, dry performance is still excellent. Mine do get put away into the garage every 6mths of the year (i swap to winter tyres), so perhaps that has helped with longevity as no UV has damaged the rubber??

I still maintain that the older a tyre gets, the less safe it could get, but now i'm a bit more open to the idea that tyres can last longer than expected if maintained in good conditions. The only reason why they are this age is that effectively with the mileage i've done its only approx 3 years worth as they have been in the garage for half their life, & i swap the fronts to the backs everytime so that they wear evenly. They have probably done over 40k so far, which i think is brilliant :)
2002 C5 2.0 HDI Estate - Jasmine - Now SORN
2011 Mini Cooper D Clubman - SOLD
2016 Mercedes A180D Sport - Auto refinement
1992 TZD Turbo - Bluebell - My daily
1991 Gti 16V - Blaze - crash damaged, will get repaired.
1990 Gti 8Valve SOLD - looks like it's been scrapped
2002 Mini Cooper S - SOLD - i miss this car
1992 TXD - Scrapped in March 2014
1988 CX 25 GTI Turbo2 - SORN
1996 - AX Memphis 1.5D - Dream - SORN

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Re: Tyres

Post by Tinkley »

These might be worth a look.

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/20 ... 70-R14.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.v8register.net/subpages/tyre ... 120323.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you hunt it out you will also find the Which magazine test last year where the Michelin came out top. I also note the Cinturato which I quite liked did well too. I believe that the Kwik Fit own brand are pretty much identical to the Pirelli (and cheaper) but that may have changed now as that was a few years ago.

I absolutely hate the newer Michelin on my motorbikes but they suit the car fine. Pirelli win for my bikes by a mile, best wet grip and feedback. As its the only thing between you and an accident I will admit its one area I do not compromise on. The old MXLs' were very hard tyres, I had to replace the rears at 108k not because the tread was worn out but the steel belt started to disintegrate.......slow puncture on M4 which the suspension almost hid!.

Ought to be alot of cheap slick Pirellis I understand after last weekend at Silverstone.....
Last edited by Tinkley on Sat Jul 06, 2013 11:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Tyres

Post by Dollywobbler »

"Every four years" sounds like tyre marketing bullsh*t to me. I've heard seven years, which sounds more sensible. The only thing that caused understeer like those aged Michelins of mine were cheapo Chinese tyres I once made the mistake of fitting. Some Chinese tyres are ok, some really aren't!

Mulley - you're spot on about UV damage. Storing tyres away from sunlight for half the year will definitely help prevent them from degrading. Mind you, when a BX squats down, it's protecting some of the rear tyres at least!
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Re: Tyres

Post by Tim Leech »

Tyres on my Sd1 are 10 years old, still look new, no cracking etc.
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