Tyre Options

[Smick]

Hi All,

Somewhat shattered to find my SM Elegance 140 4 x 4 has eaten its way through a lot of tread on the Pirelli Zero Rossos it was supplied with - after 11k miles, the fronts are down to 3 mm, and I don't see myself as a "thrash it to bits" driver by any means.

Have just spent some of my hard earned wad on equipping for winter - Vredesteins Extreme XLs on 16 inch rims, but will now have to put some summer ones on to see me through to end of October. Which wouldn't be catastrophic if it weren't for the price of W rated 225/50s - mostly in the £130 - £160 range, as opposed to Hs which seem to be in the 90 - 120 field. Call me a skinflint - and many do - but:

Two questions:

1. Does the vehicle need W rated tyres ? After all they are designed for high speed sports machines (Speeds in excess of 130mph). The 16 inch fitted to the E & S models are H rated - and these are a lot cheaper, and there's a wider choice.

2. If it has to have W rated tyres - what would be your preference out of P Zeros / Continental Sportrac 2 / Goodyear Excellence ? Ideally, I'd like something with a slightly softer ride, as the P Zeros make it feels as it you could detect every piece of gravel on the road.

Opinions ?

Smick

[The Plumber]

Hi Smick,

the ride is down to the fairly low 50 profile and the more rigid W rated construction and as you quite rightly say there is no need for W rated tyres but with a 140 you would probably be better with V rated summer or all season tyre as the theoretical max speed of your Monster is pretty close to that of and H rated tyre which I use for winters only.

Been impressed with my Goodyear Excellence as a summer only tyre, although when these wear out I tempted to try the new Nokian all season tyre even though I will still be running winters My link

Have been equally impressed with my Nokian winters so I think these could be worth a go.

Regards,

TP

edit broken link

Edited 9 August, 2010 by The Plumber

[Agerbundsen]

The more I read comments here on 50 series tyres on Yetis, the happier I am with the 60 series 16" boots on the Ambition.

You do not need W rated tyres. H rated are just firne unless you intend to re-map etc.

I have H-rated winters, but they are just great in the dry as well. I do not feel a need for the extra 10 mm width and the steering resopnse is OK, but then I have not tries the 17" rubber. In cornering, the limit on lateral performance is more related to the seats than the tyres. The tyres hang on much longer than your buns can grip the seat.

Edited 10 August, 2010 by Agerbundsen

[900000]

And what happens to your insurance when they find H rated tyres on a car meant to have W? Surely they have some little sub-clause of some paragraph somewhere making your insurance null and void as a result?!

This is the main reason I decided to get Skoda to supply me with a complete set of winter wheels and tyres to their spec and not to buy some peculiar Audi or VW wheel that might fit...

[Llanigraham]

I suspect that rules over Insurance may be different in Denmark than they are here.

[The Plumber]

And what happens to your insurance when they find H rated tyres on a car meant to have W? Surely they have some little sub-clause of some paragraph somewhere making your insurance null and void as a result?!

This is the main reason I decided to get Skoda to supply me with a complete set of winter wheels and tyres to their spec and not to buy some peculiar Audi or VW wheel that might fit...

The owners handbook doesn't actually stipulate W rated tyres just states the following;

"Proper knowledge of the tyre data makes it easier for you to select the correct type of

tyre. Tyres do, for example, have the following inscription on their walls:"

Then it give a bit of info on tyre date and speed restrictions depending on the rating letter.

So I would have thought that would cover the insurance side as long as you fit a tyre rated to the vehicles performance.

Always felt that we got lumbered with 17" wheels on the SE and Elegance as the engines above the 110 TDI can theoretically reach or exceed the max speed rating on an H rated tyre. So SUK in a rare moment of considering owners safety condemned us to 17" rims and 'W' tyres :S

Regards,

TP

[Agerbundsen]

The "H" tyre speed rating is 210 km/hr or 130 mph. Well above the listed maximum speed of any stock Yeti - even my 170 CR with 201 km/hr maximum speed. So there should be no insurance or any other concerns there, as long as the speed rating and load rating of the tyres are more than specs.

The standard tyres delivered on the Yeti actually are higher load rated than really necessary. I wonder why? prabably this results in a stiffer sidewall and is finely tuned to the other suspension compnents.

[mbrock]

Hi All,

Somewhat shattered to find my SM Elegance 140 4 x 4 has eaten its way through a lot of tread on the Pirelli Zero Rossos it was supplied with - after 11k miles, the fronts are down to 3 mm, and I don't see myself as a "thrash it to bits" driver by any means.

Have just spent some of my hard earned wad on equipping for winter - Vredesteins Extreme XLs on 16 inch rims, but will now have to put some summer ones on to see me through to end of October. Which wouldn't be catastrophic if it weren't for the price of W rated 225/50s - mostly in the £130 - £160 range, as opposed to Hs which seem to be in the 90 - 120 field. Call me a skinflint - and many do - but:

Two questions:

1. Does the vehicle need W rated tyres ? After all they are designed for high speed sports machines (Speeds in excess of 130mph). The 16 inch fitted to the E & S models are H rated - and these are a lot cheaper, and there's a wider choice.

2. If it has to have W rated tyres - what would be your preference out of P Zeros / Continental Sportrac 2 / Goodyear Excellence ? Ideally, I'd like something with a slightly softer ride, as the P Zeros make it feels as it you could detect every piece of gravel on the road.

Opinions ?

Smick

You don't mention the Dunlop SP Sport 01s which our Yeti came with. It has currently done about 12k and I reckon the fronts will need replacing at about 16k, which I don't consider too bad, and they perform well with plenty of grip. Interestingly the rears don't seem to be too far behind, maybe that 4WD cuts in more than you think when driving enthusiastically! When we replace them it will be between the Dunlops again, or the Nokian eNTYRE all-season tyre (which The Plumber is referring to) - I just wish someone would review the latter to see if there are significant compromises in normal conditions!

My last two Jaguars came with Pirelli OE - the XFs wore out in about 12k and both were poor, suffering from instability on surface water and tramlining on uneven roads - no-one on the Jaguar forums seems to have a good word for them. I replaced the XF tyres with SP Sport 01s (in this case a Jaguar specific variant) and they are excellent - and they also seem to be wearing better than the Pirellis. I have also had good experience with Contis, and the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2s I fitted to my X-Type were excellent but expensive.

Mark

[mbrock]

And what happens to your insurance when they find H rated tyres on a car meant to have W? Surely they have some little sub-clause of some paragraph somewhere making your insurance null and void as a result?!

This is the main reason I decided to get Skoda to supply me with a complete set of winter wheels and tyres to their spec and not to buy some peculiar Audi or VW wheel that might fit...

As the Yeti has a function to display a speed warning when using tyres with a speed rating less than the vehicle maximum, it would seem to me to be within the manufacturer's approved operating envelope.

Mark

[loskie]

As the Yeti has a function to display a speed warning when using tyres with a speed rating less than the vehicle maximum, it would seem to me to be within the manufacturer's approved operating envelope.

Mark

When I ran my old Octavia on winter tyres the insurance company were happy with confirmation from skoda customer services that this was acceptable. I just forwarded them the e mail and that was it.

[The Plumber]

the Nokian eNTYRE all-season tyre (which The Plumber is referring to) - I just wish someone would review the latter to see if there are significant compromises in normal conditions!

Mark

Hi Mark,

there are one or two initial reviews out there on the new eNTYRE, unfortunately not very detailed and from the US but there does not appear to be any real negatives.

My link

My link

My link

My link

Regards,

TP

edit; oh forgot to say that with my last 2 Haldex equipped vehicles the 4 tyres have worn at a similar rate with the fronts being no more than 1mm ahead of the rears.The Octavia I reached 24,000 on it's original Dunlop Sports 2000? and the Golf at 25,000 had 3mm left on it's Michelin Energy tyres. Quite impressive for a 4x4 I think.

Edited 10 August, 2010 by The Plumber

[mbrock]

Hi Mark,

there are one or two initial reviews out there on the new eNTYRE, unfortunately not very detailed and from the US but there does not appear to be any real negatives.

My link

My link

My link

My link

Regards,

TP

edit; oh forgot to say that with my last 2 Haldex equipped vehicles the 4 tyres have worn at a similar rate with the fronts being no more than 1mm ahead of the rears.The Octavia I reached 24,000 on it's original Dunlop Sports 2000? and the Golf at 25,000 had 3mm left on it's Michelin Energy tyres. Quite impressive for a 4x4 I think.

Thanks, that's brilliant. Hopefully there might be a few more by the time we need to change them, and the Nokians are definitely starting to look interesting - especially as they are cheaper than the "premium" brands and their other tyres seem to get favourable reviews.

The 1mm figure sounds about right, though I don't think we'll be getting 25k out of the Dunlops! You tend to take the extra traction for granted, and only afterwards wonder where that 1-Series that was tailgating you has gone after smartly negotiating a wet roundabout

Mark

[Agerbundsen]

Tim,

The Nokia eNtyres were specially developed for the North American market. i am not quite sure what that entails, btu Americans are not too keen on winter tyres, exept in the extremely snowy and mountanoiús regions. One might pontificate that they are just summer thread compond with a little more blocks and sipes included. US summer tyres need a rather heat resistant compound, as it generally gets very hot there in summer. The Americans are also very much more concerned about "comfort" and tire noise than we tend to be.

They do not seem to be offered in Scandinavia, where the use of seasonal tyres is very common and someplces required.

All in all, they may well be very suitable for UK conditions, but not for Scandinavian gravel roads and German Autobahns in summer, and definitely not for a Northern Scandinavian winter.

[The Plumber]

Tim,

The Nokia eNtyres were specially developed for the North American market. i am not quite sure what that entails, btu Americans are not too keen on winter tyres, exept in the extremely snowy and mountanoiús regions. One might pontificate that they are just summer thread compond with a little more blocks and sipes included. US summer tyres need a rather heat resistant compound, as it generally gets very hot there in summer. The Americans are also very much more concerned about "comfort" and tire noise than we tend to be.

They do not seem to be offered in Scandinavia, where the use of seasonal tyres is very common and someplces required.

All in all, they may well be very suitable for UK conditions, but not for Scandinavian gravel roads and German Autobahns in summer, and definitely not for a Northern Scandinavian winter.

Hi Agerbundsen,

thanks for your thoughts on this one and interesting that they are advertised here (albeit by a German internet supplier) but not in Scandinavia. Finding the right tyre for you is always a difficult one, as unlike many things you can't return them if your not happy.

As I'm sure your aware I'm non to impressed with the idea of sports tyres on a 4x4 Crossover therefore the goal is to find something a little more suitable. Unfortunately Skoda / SUK have made life even more difficult by fitting a non to common tyre size to my SE. This leaves me the choice of changing to the 16" rim throughout the year or finding somthing to fit what I've got for the late spring, summer and autumn. With the latter option it's sports tyres, all season tyres or the odd winter tyre. Therefore I felt probably the best option would be the all season route fitted to my standard Dolomites, as again SUK have played me a duff hand with the 16" moon alloys which would be my choice of rims not being available to order here.

Anyway as you have put over some very valid points regard the eNtyre, I've e-mailed Nokian to see what they have to say about the suitability of this tyre for both the UK and Continental Europe. Having lived in Germany for a couple of years I appreciate both the climate and roads are different to what I have here on the Wolds of the East Riding. Just hope they can understand English as like many British type folk I'm sadly very poor with other languages for which I can only apologize.

Regards as always,

TP

[Speedster]

[mbrock]

Just hope they can understand English as like many British type folk I'm sadly very poor with other languages for which I can only apologize.

I sometimes have that guilt, but even just for work I would have had to learn Swedish, German, French, Spanish, Dutch and Italian. As it is, I can just about order food, drink and transport in those languages (it's amazing what an "alstubleift" can do to an otherwise unsmiling Dutch or Flemish speaker) - plus car parts in French thanks to my Citroen SM's workshop manual, and a bit of "air traffic control system Spanish" from reading specifications. However I noted that when the Swedes sold their systems to Moscow, the contract was performed in English as a common language - as it is in "Single European Sky" meetings even between non-UK participants from different countries.

Anyway, I hope the Finns understand your e-mail, as I am very interested in the reply!

Mark

[Agerbundsen]

I do not think you need to have any worry ovr any of the Scandihovians (that include the Finns) understanding English. Certainly not the written language.

Now a thick Yorkshire or fully colloquialized Cockney might be a problem - but that could apply in the UK too

[The Plumber]

Update on Nokian eNtyre all season tyre

Well I've just had a short e-mail back from Nokian (I assume to avoid language confusion) which quite simple states they are suitable for my requirements and as I specifically mentioned the UK and Europe I take it that's covered then :yes:

So thanks Nokian for getting back so quickly

Regards,

TP

oh and I also mentioned I intended to fit them to a Skoda 4x4

Edited 11 August, 2010 by The Plumber

[mbrock]

Update on Nokian eNtyre all season tyre

Well I've just had a short e-mail back from Nokian (I assume to avoid language confusion) which quite simple states they are suitable for my requirements and as I specifically mentioned the UK and Europe I take it that's covered then :yes:

So thanks Nokian for getting back so quickly

Regards,

TP

oh and I also mentioned I intended to fit them to a Skoda 4x4

That's a good start! When do you reckon to need them? We've got about 4mm left so I expect to change ours October-ish.

[The Plumber]

That's a good start! When do you reckon to need them? We've got about 4mm left so I expect to change ours October-ish.

I've 5mm on the nearside front which takes the most wear and with fitting winter boots, it's probably be early next year as I'm currently doing less miles in the Monster than usual.

Tend to change my tyres around the 2-2.5 mark and these Nokians are now looking firm favourite me thinks.

TP

[Smick]

Hi All,

Still happily researching tyres and came across this website: http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk (Sorry, don't know how to do links yet!)

Of course, it's not Yeti specific, but it will help to eliminate some of the field. It would probably help if others add to it - I'd like to stress that I have no connection, just think that the larger the database, the more balanced the results.

Cheers

Smick

[mbrock]

I see it's now "official" - the Nokian enTyre is now exclusively marketed in the UK by mytyres.co.uk (Delticon).

Tyrepress

Mark

[Barsteward]

To all,

I've been watching this thread with interest as one of the more long standing monster keepers....

mileage on 5.5k curently, so naturally thinking of what to renew with when the time comes especially if it at 12k miles.

Keep up the conversation.

Geoff

[Microlite]

To all,

I've been watching this thread with interest as one of the more long standing monster keepers....

mileage on 5.5k curently, so naturally thinking of what to renew with when the time comes especially if it at 12k miles.

Keep up the conversation.

Geoff

Hi all,

I'm looking to buy some winter tyres on 16 inch rims. Obviously lots of options, but choice of rim seems to be between 7x16 and 6x16.

6x16 are cheaper so I would appreciate views as to what avantage there might be to paying extra for 7x16.

[Llanigraham]

Go down to 6". Narrow tread cuts through the crud onto something solid better.