Tyre wear/ which tyres

[Ben Smith]

Have done 40k since getting my 2.0cr elegance. Car is a taxi so tyre wear is quite important. Sadly the continentals only lasted 14k althouth i did like them for grip and noise. Since then I've put some budgets on which in fairness have lasted well, but are very noisey which drives me crazy! What are others using, surely there must be a compromise between wear and noise! I know some of this is down to low profile tyres on 18inch rims and have thought about switching to some se 17's but they are silly money.

Have also noticed the rears prematurely wearing the inside edge. Anyone else had this? Is there a fix?

Many thanks

[digidoctor]

Dieseldrivers pay a part for their higher mpg with tyre wear. A well known effect of the higher and unsmooth torque characteristic.

[oan17]

I recently changed from continentals, as like you, I was disappointed at how long they lasted. I also didn't like how they handled over white lines (felt like hitting a patch of ice).

I'm now on 18" Hankook Ventus Evo V12's and have to say I'm very impressed. They are quieter than the continentals and are much more stable over white lines - wear doesn't seem too bad either so far. And to cap it all, they were only £108 each (compared to £140 for the conti's). I'd recommend these tyres to anyone with no trouble at all.

[Supurbia]

14k from a set being cab'd ain't bad, unless you are a motorway LD cabby, as for a recommend, for quieter riding at a reasonable price I'd say a Firestone or a Dunlop, my Passat runs 235/45/17's, I have 3 Premacy's and a Conti on it right now, and they make a racket.

[Ben Smith]

Yeah, mostly motorways, hereford to heathrow etc, hence the 42k already! Have been having a bit of a look at what i can get a deal on (other halfs dad has a tyre company ). Anyone got any opinions on avons or falkens? Just a couple that are on special at the moment.

[Sprightlybob]

Have done 40k since getting my 2.0cr elegance. Car is a taxi so tyre wear is quite important. Sadly the continentals only lasted 14k althouth i did like them for grip and noise. Since then I've put some budgets on which in fairness have lasted well, but are very noisey which drives me crazy! What are others using, surely there must be a compromise between wear and noise! I know some of this is down to low profile tyres on 18inch rims and have thought about switching to some se 17's but they are silly money.

Have also noticed the rears prematurely wearing the inside edge. Anyone else had this? Is there a fix?

Many thanks

[Sprightlybob]

I'm glad a tyre discussion has started.......

I have a 2009 Elegance. When I ordered mine, the showroom Skodas were fitted with Michelins. On delivery, mine had Dunlop Sport Maxx 225/45 R17. I've found that overnight when parked, they develop a flat spot which takes about 500/600 metres to disappear (very noticeable thump thump as I drive). After that they are very noisy except on dead smooth tarmac I haven't experienced this flat spot problem for years - it used to be an issue when my kids were young and I was constantly broke and buying crap tyres but I would expect Skoda to demand decent supplies for their cars.

Has anyone else experienced this issue lately? Would Michelins be a better replacement buy than say Avons (or vice versa?)

[INFINITI]

Same here - flat spots and sawtoothing problems / noise with dunlop sportmaxx 225/45-17 Awful tires!

[Guest]

Used go get bad flat spotting with Dunlop Nylon 800/15 tyres on the Bentley S1 Continental, after a good run then parking overnight the tyres formed a bad flat spot, even with such a heavy vehicle you could really feel they had flat spotted and it took about half a mile to completely smooth out. At that time only Dunlop made a suitable tyre.

[JustinCombi]

I had Pirelli P-Zero Neros' on my 1.8 TSi, albeit in the 225/45/17 size. Although they were quiet they only managed 16k even though I rotated them. I changed to a set of Avon ZV5's, which were cheap at just under £90 each, and offered similar performance to the Pirelli in the dry but were abysmal in the wet. They did manage 20k though. These were followed by a set of Michelin Primacy HP, which were expensive and not terribly sporty, but were very comfortable and quiet and covered 20k.

They were changed for a set of Dunlop SP Sport MAXX TT, which as others have alluded to are noisy and I get a strange vibration when accelerating from 70mph...they do seem to be wearing well, which is a shame 'cos I'd like to get rid of them and try anything else!

Justin.

[michaelp]

My 12 2009 plated Superb II was delivered (Australia) with Continentals and they are performing well. I am very happy with the road holding in wet and dry and at 54000 km since new they are about 2/3 worn. I have rotated the tyres front to back at 30,000 service and may do it again at 60,000 to control the wear.

[Guest]

Rotate diagonally more often if you want to get more even wear.

[Alfaspider]

I had replaced original Dunlops with commercial ones (same model, same size) and the difference is noticable.

[sk8tergirl]

Hi,

There have been afew threads on this before and I've been left with the opinion that Bridgestone and I think it was Vredestein were two good choices.

I've had similar sized Bridgestone's (Turanza's or something like that) before and they managed 33k miles on the front & well over 50k on the back. If not mistaken a few people with Bridgestones on their Superb Mk2's have reported anything from 20-30k miles from these tyres.

They have strong side walls so good stability and noise does not seem to be an issue. When our Superb needs new rubber my mind is already made up.... and just in case you were wondering... no I don't work for any tyre company.

good luck with your decision!

Stef

[kensym]

I changed to bridgestones and so far the wear rate has been very good, fronts were changed at 17K and car is now on 43K with the replacements still going strong - did move them to the rear at 30K when the original rears wore out

[PAW3001]

Just changed my front Continentals at 14.5K. Decided on Bridgestone RE050A. I have swapped tyres around so the Bridgestones are now at the back. Too early to tell but grip is noticeably better which may just be due to having some tread at the front now!!!

Front continentals are at 4-5mm so will be interesting to see how long they last until I replace them.

[lol-lol]

Wonder if anyone tried Barums on the Superb? Put a pair on Octavia and am very please with them. Use Michelin PS3 on the Octy TSI VRS and on the 1.8 TSI DSG which are very good in the summer but not so good in the cold and wet winter conditions, not as good as the Barums I feel. Barums are Contis of course and in fact the ones I have seen are Barums made in German not CZ where the HQ is. Looking at £180 a pair for 225/45-17s which I thought was very reasonable.

[Boynielaad]

Wonder if anyone tried Barums on the Superb? Put a pair on Octavia and am very please with them. Use Michelin PS3 on the Octy TSI VRS and on the 1.8 TSI DSG which are very good in the summer but not so good in the cold and wet winter conditions, not as good as the Barums I feel. Barums are Contis of course and in fact the ones I have seen are Barums made in German not CZ where the HQ is. Looking at £180 a pair for 225/45-17s which I thought was very reasonable.

I've ordered a pair of Barum Bravuris 2 tyres for my Superb II - £176 fully fitted (at National Tyre) via Tyreshopper

Being fitted Thursday to replace the Dunlops on the front which have worn very unevenly on the outsides (probably my fault due to under-inflation).

Current wisdom is to put the new ones on the rear axle and the old (but still plenty of life left in them) ones on the front. Is this right?

Will report back with progress on the Barums as and when.

[myaussieskoda]

Current wisdom is to put the new ones on the rear axle and the old (but still plenty of life left in them) ones on the front. Is this right?

Yep,

I have always used the logic that you get much better feel (through the steering wheel) when the front tyres are about to loose their grip. The rear end is much harder to predict so good tyres on the rear, not so good on the front. My 2 cents...

[Boynielaad]

Well, I've had the Barum Bravuris 2s on for a couple of weeks and can heartily recommend them.

Done a few trips on them. Noise levels are perfectly acceptable, grip is at least on a par with the Dunlops they've replaced.

Nothing bad to say about them. We'll see how they wear.

[kgreenhough]

I've been really happy with Michelin Primacy HPs - it's not really a sporty car, so sporty wasn't my main criteria, just wanted reliable grip and good wear, but on the other hand it was steady as a rock with them at 125mph on the autobahn last year In terms of wear, after about 8000 miles the tyres were measured at the MOT as having 6mm left all round, so doesn't seem too bad.

I think something that is really important is to get the pressures right for the wear to be reasonable. The recommended pressures for the Superb seem to be pretty high - up to about 40psi (from memory) depending on wheel size and load. Most tyre fitters seem to automatically set pressures at 30psi, whatever you ask for. Low pressure is known to cause problems such as wear to the inside edges of the rears - which the car had when I bought it. I keep the pressures on the high side and have had no problems.

Just my thoughts...

p.s relates to a 170CR twindoor, so 17" tyres - although 16" winter tyres on at the moment.

[McKajVah]

Barums bring back a few memories...

A friend of mine had some Barum summer tires on a Peugeot 205 for 12 years and over 90.000km!!! :o

When he sold the car they still had the small rubber hairs on the side wall...

The compound was really, really hard and actually very dangerous in the wet. :thumbdown:

[michaelp]

Continental sport contact 2 205/55/16 94v ran just over 70,000km mostly country driving. Would have put them on again except cost $320 per tyre in Oz. Been a fan of GT Radials for wear and road holding for many years. Fitted new release UHP1 215/55zr/16xl 97w. Very happy with ride, noise and improved speedo accuracy (5% down to 2% below ground speed), $181 per tyre

Edited 17 April, 2012 by michaelp

[PAW3001]

Well my rear wheel contis have finally given up after being switched to the front after an additional 7k more than the original front tires.

Bridgestones Re05s all round now!

[Noddy90]

If you're not a brand snob, you might want to try the Altenzo Sports Comforter, engineered in Australia. I replaced Uniroyal Rainsports on a SAAB 9-3 diesel and the Altenzos were far quieter and smoother riding. While I never went round corners on two wheels (unlike some jolly japesters who write on car forums), I did habitually drive the SAAB very hard; the performance of the Altenzos was easily equal to the far more expensive Uniroyals and (even noiser) Contis I had on before. They looked to be wearing well when I sold the car; the SAAB chewed front tyres, but the Altenzos were doing at least as well as the Us and Cs.

I paid £280 for a full set of 17"s and I see that the 18" ones are pretty much the same price. When I soon replace the crappy Sport Maxxs which are on the front of my Superb, it will be Altenzo, Altenzo, Altenzo. Hang on - that sounds like I've got 3 wheels on the front...

http://www.tyretrade...892WSPTCOM.html

Edited 18 July, 2012 by Ned Brickley