Well, after 21k miles the original front tyre is looking quite worn and in need of replacement. The other front tyre isn't too far behind (was fitted later due to a pothole "incident").

They are both showing signs of additional wear on the very outer shoulders. The inside edge and centre of the tyre is worn evenly.

Q1 - Is this a sign of alignment problems or just leaning on them too hard in the corners?

(The roads near us are very windy and the Scout is a tighter, better handling beast than my Mk1 Elegance was...........)

Q2 - Does it really matter about changing tyres in pairs on the same axle?

(I never bothered with the Mk 1 Octy so ended up in a staggered pattern whereby I was changing one front tyre at every 10k service but was getting 20k out of each individual tyre)

Q3 - Can I forget the 4x4 scaremongering about having to do all 4 at once?

Due to the Haldex Clutch the car is running as a FWD most of the time anyway so I'm not convinced about the different rolling diameters causing transmission problems argument. Surely this is born out by the rears currently being less worn than the fronts.

Looking forward to some, as ever, useful advice.

Thanks,

Niall

Not sure of the answers but I agree about the rears wearing less than the fronts (my 4x4 FSi is the same).

My view is that it's probably best to replace both on the same axle at the same time but, as you say, not sure about all round at once if the Haldex isn't engaged all the time. :confused:

Ive done just under 20,000 and mine are wearing on outer edges,i' do'nt think its a geometry issue, just the nature of the car ,i would out of prefrence always change both tyres on same axle.

I covered about 100K in an original Octavia 4*4 and outer wear was a feature with most tyres - mainly Michelin , using tyre pressures equal front and rear .

If you have different tyres with different wear patterns or indeed just different tread thickness on the "same" axle then surely this will upset the sensors controlling the Haldex clutch , ESP etc - not a good idea perhaps .

What you can do is change the tyres front to rear say every 10K . My driving style tended to wear the rears as much as the front ones so I tended to replace them all at the same time - cost wise you get a much better discount , which kind of offsets the little bit of life left in the less worn tyres .

I am amazed at a majority of the public who will quite happily spend 15K + on a car and then quibble over a few pounds of saving on the only thing that keeps them in contact with the road - confirmed in a conversation with a car salesman recently .

I am amazed at a majority of the public who will quite happily spend 15K + on a car and then quibble over a few pounds of saving on the only thing that keeps them in contact with the road - confirmed in a conversation with a car salesman recently .

Well indeed! I can't agree with you more. One of the best performance enhancing "upgrades" you can do to a car is a decent set of tyres!!

Never since my Uni Days have I bought "cheap" tyres (once bought a £30 Kwik Fit special that liked to lock up in the damp whilst the other three wheels were still happily braking!)

Instead I tend to plump for well known brands which seem to give the balance of grip -v- tyre life. (I once bought a cheap set of "Performance tyres" for a 306 - looked the danglies - gripped like hell, didn't last more than 12,000 miles due to the softness of them).

At 225/50 R17 W the Scout seems to be an "interesting" tyre size (the reg no. finders on some of the well known high street tyre people seem to think I should have 225/45s?!). Looking at the online boys I'll be somewhere between £100-£150 a corner. That puts the price difference in doing only one axle, compared to both at once, somewhere between £200 - £300.

Which in my book is not a difference of a "few" pounds!!

Will be getting the fronts sorted in the coming weeks, swithering over Kumho KU31s, GY Eagle NCT5s, Pirrelli P Zero Rosso's or Uniroyal Rainsport 2s.

Decisions, decisions......

Niall

I now own a similar car with Dunlops and cannot wait to change them !

My feeling is that I will give the Pirrelli P Zero Rosso's a go next time - otherwise I will return to Michelins again .

Have you checked out the costs of Vredesteins? SOmething like the Hytrac or Sportrac 3's?

Hmmm, not so sure about the Ultracs (which seem to be the only Vredsteins available in "my" size), in fact thinking about it I'm going off the idea of directional V "sport" treads altogether.

Don't think they'll be too clever in amongst the mud. A more generic road design would probably be better for all round use (including the odd adventure into a field).

Niall

my dunlops sp1 have 26000 km (16250 m)

moderate driving in hilly countryside-probably only get another 8-10000 kms out of them (5-6000 m)-fronts wearing faster than rear

wear front and rear pictures

will definitely follow advice on here for a better tyre..

(change to winter boots next week for 5 months- goodyear ultra grip 7 205/55 r16 91h)

Edited 21 October, 200817 yr by mars4lux

Hmmm, not so sure about the Ultracs (which seem to be the only Vredsteins available in "my" size), in fact thinking about it I'm going off the idea of directional V "sport" treads altogether.

Don't think they'll be too clever in amongst the mud. A more generic road design would probably be better for all round use (including the odd adventure into a field).

Niall

Probably true but have had Hi-tracs on the Fabia for years and never had any traction problems in Snow in winter... They have a normal block type tread pattern around the edge as well as the V in the centre which seems to help. Can't remeber what the tyre size but they do 205/55/16's, 205/60/16's and 215/60/16's?

Hi

We are currently on 35,000km in 11months 07 4x4 Octy estate. Doing around 80% motorway driving and still on our summer Dunlop Sport tyres, which we find perfectly ok. The winter tyres we had on at the time of purchase last December, are Pirelli Winter Carving, and they will once again go on this winter. We expect to finish the coming winter, and the next summer before we replace both sets, Km then should read 80,000km . No out of track wear is at present showing up, but this maybe due to the amount of motorway driving we undertake. The camber on our smaller roads is not as severe as the UK, but we do have plenty of potholes to avoid.

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Octy 2, 1.9 TDI PD Ambiente 4x4 Combi and Nissan Sunny 2.0 DLX, Company Octy 1.9 TDI Tour Combi.

I've always gone for Michelins in the past but I've found the Dunlop 01's on the Scout to have been quite good, I'm around the 30k mile mark & the fronts are up for replacement within the next couple of weeks (nearly worn down to the markers), I'll probably go for the Bridgestone RE 050's or another set of Dunlop 01's - I think the Bridgestones are slightly quieter?

Need to change my Dunlops soon, too.

Have a look at "mytyres" website, loads of different tyres tested or rated. Fancy a more general purpose tyre myself,as well.

They have a good spread of tyres, in size, with the correct speed rating but M&S, have a look under the winter list.

I'm thinking of trying some Nokian WRG2's. They look fairly OK not too nobbly, in US these are rated as "All season" . It's really mud that I'm most likely to encounter as a problem, don't think it snows in the UK anymore?

Any thoughts?

Hi Zactor

Nokian winter are used on our company Octy 1.9td 06 plated. Probably done around 35,000km by now, again they are swopped winter/summer as car is on 75,000+km, but wearing evenly when I last took a look. This car is used by several different drivers as its a pool car, and also runs on 80% motorway and 20% city streets.

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Octy 2, 1.9 TDI PD Ambiente 4x4 Combi and Nissan Sunny 2.0 DLX, Company Octy 1.9 TDI Tour Combi.

Q1 - Is this a sign of alignment problems or just leaning on them too hard in the corners?

Q2 - Does it really matter about changing tyres in pairs on the same axle?

(I never bothered with the Mk 1 Octy so ended up in a staggered pattern whereby I was changing one front tyre at every 10k service but was getting 20k out of each individual tyre)

Q3 - Can I forget the 4x4 scaremongering about having to do all 4 at once?

Due to the Haldex Clutch the car is running as a FWD most of the time anyway so I'm not convinced about the different rolling diameters causing transmission problems argument. Surely this is born out by the rears currently being less worn than the fronts.

Q1 - It's possible to get your alignment "fixed" to suit your individual driving style. A good aligner would want to inspect your old tyres before doing an alignment. I had a Legacy that supposedly wore the outside edges but I had an extra 3/4 degree negative camber dialled into the front & tyre wear was perfect.

Q2 - Personally, I prefer to change 2 or 4 at a time but these days I guess the electronic aids (ABS & ESP etc) will help compensate for the different tractive abilities of the new V old tyres.

Q3 - I never worried about the 4x4 scaremongering on the Legacy - Subaru claimed kittens would die if tyre diameters varied by more than 6mm but I never noticed any problems.

What most people who carry out full geomatry checks don't do is load the car up befor carrying out the check, i-e load the boot and put a wieght on the seats,looking at the specks the scout has some small difarences to standed 4x4, and the caster angle does seem to be diffrent to other model's,

I'l be looking for Michelins when my tyers are up for changing .

Cheers Soldatov

Had the Nokian WRG2's fitted.

Very impressed, not at all noisy. Look really good, weren't expensive.

See how they wear.

Had the Nokian WRG2's fitted.

Very impressed, not at all noisy. Look really good, weren't expensive.

See how they wear.

What do they look like? Not a brand I'm familiar with.

This should be the right one

This should be the right one

WOW! Mud & Snow.

I once hand cut a full set of tyres with sipes like that.

Visited "Little India" in Singapore a few years ago.

There was a man sat on a stool outside his shop, hand cutting some tyres.

Problem was they looked as though they had already been hand cut about four times before, sure he was super gluing some old shoe soles on, where the metal showed through.