Just to ask what the vrs 2.0T is like for tyres? How long does a set of front tyres last?

Cheers

Totally depends on brand/model and how you drive it.

My car came with Conti SC2's from new last year. I've just hit 17k miles on the original tyres and there is still a fair amount of meat there. I'd estimate I won't be changing tyres until around the 20k mark. Then of course it will be two new on the rear and the best of the rest on the front.

My original conti's lasted 21k.

Just changed the original front Conti 2's at 15000miles.

Evenly worn - still had a mill to go before illegal but grip was getting limited.

I don't get this. I don't thrash about, no late braking, no traffic light GPs, after all I have been driving around unknowingly with a half working turbo for all the time I have the car, and the original Nexens lasted 12k, the Uniroyal rainsports about 13k. I actually try to get as high a possible avge fuel eco on my commute, as there is so little chance for any fun driving.....

I don't get this. I don't thrash about, no late braking, no traffic light GPs, after all I have been driving around unknowingly with a half working turbo for all the time I have the car, and the original Nexens lasted 12k, the Uniroyal rainsports about 13k. I actually try to get as high a possible avge fuel eco on my commute, as there is so little chance for any fun driving.....

You need to drive it harder

Yeah, well now it's about to be Dr Sharked, I anticipate difficulty in getting into 5 figures for fronts. 25mpg, 30 mpg what the heck.

Totally depends on brand/model and how you drive it.

My car came with Conti SC2's from new last year. I've just hit 17k miles on the original tyres and there is still a fair amount of meat there. I'd estimate I won't be changing tyres until around the 20k mark. Then of course it will be two new on the rear and the best of the rest on the front.

Why would u put the new ones on the rear?

i'm swapping mine over as the rears are worn right on the inner edges, whereas the fronts wear evenly, and I'd like to use some of the remaining good rubber on the rears before they wear right through!

I got 10500 out of my Contis on the front, and that was down to markers, back ones look brand new at 15k.

Got Uniroyal Mud n snows on front now, reckon they will last about 10k as well.

Gonna stick with the mud n snows all year round now, feel great on the car!

Why would u put the new ones on the rear?

Because that is what you should always do with a FWD car. Newest tyres should go on the rear.

If you put brand new tyres on the front there is a high chance the driving experience will be vastly different. New tyres should go on to the back and then the best of the rest on the front.

Then, when you come to buy two more again new ones to the rear and the current rears to the front.

Every tyre manufacturer recommends this on a FWD vehicle.

Because that is what you should always do with a FWD car. Newest tyres should go on the rear.

If you put brand new tyres on the front there is a high chance the driving experience will be vastly different. New tyres should go on to the back and then the best of the rest on the front.

Then, when you come to buy two more again new ones to the rear and the current rears to the front.

Every tyre manufacturer recommends this on a FWD vehicle.

I always rotate my tyres and change all 4 together. Don't like mixing new and old.

Why would u put the new ones on the rear?

Newer tyres are less likely to lose grip. On the road you are more likely to have the space and the skill to correct understeer than oversteer hence new on the back.

This is a really interesting topic and one which I have thought about a lot. Many experts (Tiff Needell and Vicky Butler Henderson amongst them) recommend putting new tyres on the rear of any car, particularly FWD. This however is very counter intuitive, because we all know in the case of our Skodas (and most other modern cars) that they

are FWD, and all the weight is at the front, and the front wheels do the steering.

Imagine the following scenario where you have the NEW tyres on the REAR of a FWD vehicle, and you are approaching a 90deg bend. You brake before getting to the bend, but not enough as there is insufficient tread on the tyre, so you turn into the bend anyway, and because of the lack of tread the car simply goes straight on - off the road, down a cliff, through a house whatever. The fact that you have the best tyres on the rear does not help you because they do not steer the car, and anyway the brake bias is 60/40 in favour of the front brakes.

Then we have a case where the NEW tyres are fitted to the FRONT of a FWD vehicle. On braking before the corner (in a straight line) the car is able to brake adequately for the corner, and even if it is a little quick going into the corner, it will be able to turn due to the extra traction from the front wheels. If the rear wheels lose traction part of the way around the bend, then more gentle acceleration plus corrective steering should remedy the situation.

This should also apply to icy roads.

I have driven both RWD and FWD cars and their characteristics are totally different. I would also recommend looking at old footage of the first Minis at the Monte Carlo rally, and the way in which they dragged themselves around corners.

Edited 28 April, 201214 yr by andyoctavia

I've always put newer on the front - looser rear end I can live with (fnar fnar finbar) but understeery hell with worns on the front I can't live with.

I can see the reasoning for novice drivers losing the back end but would always go best for the driven steer wheels on a fwd.

Miss matching front rear is much worse IMO.

As kids we used to deflate a set of remoulds on my mates 1.1 fiesta - great cheap fun

They say new tyres on the rear because its less likely to cause oversteer at the limit because the rear will outgrip the front.

But

The vRS has lots of understeer as standard anyway so unlikely to turninto an oversteering mess

Also

85% of the braking is done from the front axle.

I always put my best tyre on the front so ill hhave the best traction and lateral grip as well as best braking performance. I've got semi slicks on my front axle at the moment eith high performance road tyres on the back. No oversteer issues in the wet or dry

I understand that new on rear advice also covered possible blow-outs and that it was safer to lose control of the front.

I have to admit though, for me the fact that the front tyres do most of the braking is a winner for best on front.

From new iv had the following results whilst driving on Welsh roads:

Conti SC2 8k

Conti SC3 first pair 10k second pair 12k

Pirelli pzero 12k

Iv never had more than 13k on both my vrs and mondeo which I had before this. The 13k was with Bridgestone's

New to the front for me as well..

On topic.

I got about 12k out of my front Tyres on my vrs. Bridgestone 050's

Stuck a pair of Hankook's on there now instead.

Mine came with the Dunlop SP Sport Maxx tyres, and wanting to replace all 4 at the same time, I swapped the fronts to the back after 8k, as they were getting to within a couple of mm of the wear indicators - so based on current wear I reckon I'll get 16-18k out of this set.

If I'd not rotated them, the fronts wouldn't have made 10k before needing to replace them - which is disappointing given the wife drives the car 80% of the time, and I wouldn't describe her driving style as aggressive, or even spirited!

My winter tyres (Nokian WR-G2) have done 12,000 miles and have 7mm tread left - I am very pleased with those - I should get another 12,000 before they need replacing (undoubtedly with the same)

My summer tyres (the original Conti SP2) have done 17,000 miles and have 5mm left - I will probably get another 5 - 7,000 miles from those - quite pleased but they are noisy and not completely inspiring on adverse corners. Thinking of Uniroyal rainsports next which I am hoping will be quieter and more suited to the conditions without losing too much feel.

To keep this in context, I definitely do not drive the car on the limit i.e., no traffic light GP antics, no wheelspins, no extreme braking, no ambitious cornering, no great speed - the reason being of course that I drive only on the public highway . . .

I must admit I would lean towards putting new tyres on the front. To be honest though, I rotate them so, generally, swap them out in sets of four and hence avoid the whole argument.

End of April and I should be running winter tyres! Temperature 6 C, roads have millimeters of rain.

After the Dunlop Sports Max got so noisy and lumpt changed to Mich PS3s which are great and unfortunately you cannot get the Mich Super Sports in the 225/40-18s.

Czech made Barum (Contis without the price premium) worked well on the 225/45-17s and I would use this for winter tyres.

Need an airgun and quick trolley jack to change these tyres quicker from summer to winter and back which is needed in these changable conditions.

I often read tyre related threads with interest, as with MPG threads all comments have to be taken at face value as we're only human!

Looking at some of the distances acheived by some of you I can only assume that there is a lot of 'spirited' driving going on and/or your tyres are of the grippy/sticky/soft type.

When I bought my vRS the dealer had put on four budgets (Evergreen). I've done just over 10,000 miles on them now and the fronts are around half worn. I can only assume that they are a hard compound but to be fair I've also been pleasantly suprised with their grip and overall performance.

£80 a corner for 20,000 miles is pretty good value.

Are budgets really as bad as we think? My experience (including one recent trouser soiling emergency stop in the wet) suggests otherwise...

My Avon Ice Touring were about half worn on the front when I took them off at about 6000 miles, the rear's don't look like they've been used though. The main benefit of putting new ones on the rear to my mind is otherwise the rears will start to perish before they even get half worn unless you rotate them

I often read tyre related threads with interest, as with MPG threads all comments have to be taken at face value as we're only human!

Looking at some of the distances acheived by some of you I can only assume that there is a lot of 'spirited' driving going on and/or your tyres are of the grippy/sticky/soft type.

When I bought my vRS the dealer had put on four budgets (Evergreen). I've done just over 10,000 miles on them now and the fronts are around half worn. I can only assume that they are a hard compound but to be fair I've also been pleasantly suprised with their grip and overall performance.

£80 a corner for 20,000 miles is pretty good value.

Are budgets really as bad as we think? My experience (including one recent trouser soiling emergency stop in the wet) suggests otherwise...

The budget tyres I had fitted a few weeks ago have noticeably less grip: more understeer, and the TC flickers on a lot more. I hate to think how many extra feet they require to make a full emergency stop, they are the last pair of cheapies I'll buy (btw I don't consider Nexen, Khumo Maaxis etc as cheap either, I am talking about the really cheap stuff...)