not your normal tyre thread, but..

[bahnstormer vrs]

Tyres:

Cheap

Long Lasting

Good Grip

Choose 2 of the above as that's all you will get.

Good summary; totally agree.

[sms]

well got 4 new tyres today, went to my local tyre man and gave him the three choices 452, 912, and the kumho. He straight away told me not to bother with 912's on my car as ill be back in a couple of months for new ones and he couldnt recommend them after having them on his ST. Kumho he ummed abit but 452's he couldnt stop recommending them not knowing i already had them on the front.

So after checking the tyres across each one had an average 2mm, some had 3mm on parts but low as 1.6mm on other bits, they were still legal but close, just under 29k for the originals on the back and 13k for the 452's (3k less than the originals i had on the car).

The damage, £360 for four tyres, balancing, tracking, old tyre dispossal etc which considering after p&p i would be paying £300 just for tyres the £15 per wheel seemed reasonable considering the few places that would fit tyres £15 seemed about the going rate per wheel.

Its certainly quiet now, 8mm of tread on the tyre and the brakes dont feel affected this time like they did the first time i had falkens put on.

[bahnstormer vrs]

well got 4 new tyres today, went to my local tyre man and gave him the three choices 452, 912, and the kumho. He straight away told me not to bother with 912's on my car as ill be back in a couple of months for new ones and he couldnt recommend them after having them on his ST. Kumho he ummed abit but 452's he couldnt stop recommending them not knowing i already had them on the front.

Good to see your 'tyre man' gave you an honest if somewhat exaggerated (IMHO) appraisal of the 912 vs. 452 discussion and that overall you are a happy man.

What I suggest you do now is that in 13,000ish miles time when you have to replace the fronts, bring the rear tyres to the front and put the new tyres on the rear. That way you will only need to replace two tyres at a time, which is easier on the wallet.

[sms]

i was going to do that but wanted to get rid of the original tyres once stuffed so just left them there to wear out and see what mileage i could get out of them after reading ages ago on here someone getting 36k out of the back ones.

[bahnstormer vrs]

Post script to my comments.

I needed some new tyres myself so ordered a pair of my favourite Ultrac Sessantas on line from Tyres | Discount Car Tyres | Wheels | Alloy Wheels | Wheel Alignment | Wheel Balancing yesterday lunchtime; £172.50 for the pair (225/45 17s) and will get them fitted at the weekend.

They arrived 10 mins ago and on checking them over I found the best bit of them is the code DOT 2009 i.e. they came out of Vredestein's moulds less than 8 weeks ago; beat that! I had a similar degree of 'freshness' on an earlier pair of Ultrac Sessantas that I got from Elite back in February. Top marks.

Edited 15 July, 2009 by bahnstormer vrs

[cruising]

Just replaced my original 4 Dunlops 205/55/16 on 2006 Elegance 1,9 tdi after 20,000 miles with 4 Hankook "Ventus Prime" all in cost of £219-00 lovely quite ride and good grip, hope this helps.

Cruiser.