Tyre wear on a superb estate 4x4

[Terryd]

Hi everyone

I'm a new skoda owner, just bought a 2012 62 plate Elegance 170 4x4 estate, 13k on the clock from a main dealer. Car is immaculate other than needing 4 new tyres. I've got an ongoing debate with the dealer as they fitted budget tyres , Champiro on the back and Accelera on the front, I'd never heard of these until I looked them up, not good reliable brands from the reviews, "ditch finders " according to some reviews. My query is what sort of mileage are people getting from tyres, 13K seemed low or is this reasonable?, I had an A5 quattro in the past, so same engine and running gear almost? got closer to 20K on Bridgestones?

Terry

[James I]

My Yeti does about 35K+ on a set of tyres, I have had Dunlops, Continentals and Bridgestone, all have done about the same.

I also have a Golf 4 Motion, this ate tyres when the previous owner had it, I took it for an MOT and it is now apparent that the rear diff is jammed and has created a permanent four wheel drive scenario, I think this is why the tyres did not last long. Might be worth getting all four wheels off the floor and seeing if the will turn freely, you could have an issue.

[Supurbia]

13k for fronts is plausable if the car has been town worked, however the rears should last a lot longer, I'd expect 30 - 40k out of the rears does it have a towbar?

The thing James said about the 4x4 being jammed sounds like an option as well.

[ColinD]

On my superb 4x4, hatch Vredestein, must be close to 15k and ok, but I cycle them for winters. I also push her into corners and pull her out, the joy of haldex.

On previous vRS's I'd be lucky to get 10k from a set of fronts, softer grippier rubber generally purchased back then.

Friend has a golf pd140 and has nearly 40k on original rears, but they are michellins and alot of m-way miles.

13k then, for a big car which should not have hat a hot hatch background seems low to fair. Take it the tyres on it are the orignal ones, so they won't be the most expensive, but also hopefully not a set of ditchfinders. If the dealer is replacing with 4 new's, I'd be surprised if they didn't try to find you 4 cheap as ones.... chance there arm so to speak.

At the end of the day, you have 4 patches of rubber, about the size of your hands. I'd prefer to have something that is not part bakelite and not part liquorice, so I've always gone for expecting my tyres to be dead somewhere between 12 and 17k. The rears should last longer unless rotated, but also something to bear in mind is...

Mine look as bad as my fronts, maybe not as shoulder worn. I think the superb is a big old gal and the tail chases the nose. MY rear discs went a long time before my fronts. The esp is working the rears to keep it in check, if the brakes are doing more work, I imagine the tyres are doing quite a bit too. Just another random thought.

[stevehg]

13k for fronts is plausable if the car has been town worked, however the rears should last a lot longer, I'd expect 30 - 40k out of the rears does it have a towbar?

The thing James said about the 4x4 being jammed sounds like an option as well.

For someone who has never owned a Superb II let alone a 4x4 one, you are suddenly an expert on many things Supurbia.

My tyres lasted ~19K which seems to be around the norm for a 170 4x4, going by other owners too. These were factory fit Continentals. I'm now running Goodyear f1's

[Supurbia]

For someone who has never owned a Superb II let alone a 4x4 one, you are suddenly an expert on many things Supurbia.

My tyres lasted ~19K which seems to be around the norm for a 170 4x4, going by other owners too. These were factory fit Continentals. I'm now running Goodyear f1's

I've owned loads of cars and many different makes, the most of them have typical wear patterns very similar to each other, lets say I'd expect the tyres to have lasted a lot longer than they did, unless the car had a nail magnet owner I can't see other than it being driven hard into corners why it should even need a front tyre let alone all four,

Getting back to your expert tag, there may come a day when you are stuck for what's wrong with your car and I can save you £80 not having to take it into be butchered by a Skodamonkey but carry on with this following me about routine and I won't wanna assist you at all, you think I have it in for Skoda right now but I haven't, I do feel the need to bust this illusion of the uber reliable great company myth though, fair dues all cars have some fault or another but it's how SUK treat you when it comes to whose paying and the small print has caught you out, the most dreadful service I've ever known from a dealer tbh, thank god the car was reliable in the end or I'd have been royally,

Tell ya another one about Skoda dealer, on my MK1 I needed a timing belt, Skoda £500 inc water pump and aux belt, VW £412, go figure, and VW are supposed to be the expensive brand,

Maybe one day you'll understand when you are faced with an I'm not moving service manager, every time I've had to use the local Skoda dealer they have given me the hump, we've had an egr that was clearly broken and needed replacing so what do they do, clean it and have my car all day, boot strut fails, mechanic again has to come out and tell me what I just feckin told him 5 minutes earlier like the convo never happened, stupidly low px offers and the ultimate the accusation of clocking my car after I'd shown them the docs to prove it genuine, you wanna try Toyota, they know how to look after their customers, nothing but good service, nothing too much trouble,

Anyway I've obviously mortaly wounded you by not being impressed that 3.6 V6 petrol engines can do the same urban mpg as an engine half it's size when it's blatantly obvious it can't, see thing is my son I've got the knowledge of cars, I can pull them apart and fix em, I can even re-build things master tech throws away, can you?

[Yeti_Man]

I've owned loads of cars and many different makes, the most of them have typical wear patterns very similar to each other, lets say I'd expect the tyres to have lasted a lot longer than they did, unless the car had a nail magnet owner I can't see other than it being driven hard into corners why it should even need a front tyre let alone all four,

Getting back to your expert tag, there may come a day when you are stuck for what's wrong with your car and I can save you £80 not having to take it into be butchered by a Skodamonkey but carry on with this following me about routine and I won't wanna assist you at all, you think I have it in for Skoda right now but I haven't, I do feel the need to bust this illusion of the uber reliable great company myth though, fair dues all cars have some fault or another but it's how SUK treat you when it comes to whose paying and the small print has caught you out, the most dreadful service I've ever known from a dealer tbh, thank god the car was reliable in the end or I'd have been royally,

Tell ya another one about Skoda dealer, on my MK1 I needed a timing belt, Skoda £500 inc water pump and aux belt, VW £412, go figure, and VW are supposed to be the expensive brand,

Maybe one day you'll understand when you are faced with an I'm not moving service manager, every time I've had to use the local Skoda dealer they have given me the hump, we've had an egr that was clearly broken and needed replacing so what do they do, clean it and have my car all day, boot strut fails, mechanic again has to come out and tell me what I just feckin told him 5 minutes earlier like the convo never happened, stupidly low px offers and the ultimate the accusation of clocking my car after I'd shown them the docs to prove it genuine, you wanna try Toyota, they know how to look after their customers, nothing but good service, nothing too much trouble,

Your experience is very different to mine, I'd be hard pushed to go to another marque, largely down to the excellent dealer experience. They believe the customer is king and have looked after me even out of warranty! Seeing as you've taken yet another thread off topic with tales of woe and general Skoda bashing, I'll try my best to get it back on topic for the OP...

I'd consider those tyres pretty dire tbh but I have no direct experience of them. However 13k miles does seem low. If the goemetry is correct and they are showing even wear, I'd suggest nearer 20k is nearer the expected life. On my haldex equipped vag's I've always pretty much swapped out the four tyres at the same time, usually around 18k but I don't drive with a light foot. I've just had the four on the Yeti replaced (so same four wheel drive setup to yours) and taking into account my winter/summer rubber swaps I think the Dunlop SP01's have managed around 23k miles each. After reading lots of reviews I've just replaced those with a cheaper tyre (mainly because I have had to replace eight tyres on two vehicles at the same time) and went for Barum Bravarus 2's (developed and made by Continental). So far I'm very impressed and they cost me approx half of what my preferred tyre would have cost. I'm hoping ill see more than half that mileage from them. On a side note, I'd also be keen to keep the back axel running the same rubber as the fronts on a haldex vehicle so that the grip characteristics are the same when it shuffles back and forth for grip but some may consider that pedantic

[jon1j]

Continental are soft tyres but grip well, the V6 is a heavy car. I drive a mix of town and long distance. I was happy with the 14k I got from a set but swapped front to back after 10 K

[Terryd]

Thanks for your responses, most people seem to be in agreement that this was low mileage for so much wear, I'm in the midd;e of discussions with the dealer about the cheap rubber they fitted, the only place I can find the Accelera's is on Ebay, they're £60 each on there, needless to say I'm not impressed, lets see what they say, though I'm not holding my breath that they'll do anything!!!

[peanut18]

Hi Terryd, if that was a Skoda main dealer that sold you the car then I am horrified they would spec such dismal tyres. I have 1st hand experience of both and they are awful. Personally I would have expected mid-range Kumho at the very least. You should never scrimp on tyres IMHO, it's the only thing connecting you to the black stuff. My fav at the moment is the Conti SC5.

[rover220]

you bought a second hand car that needed tyres, dealer fitted tyres........whats the problem?

yes they may not be premium brand but you have 4 new tyres, im sure youre not willing to pay any more for the car so why would the dealer spend approx £500 on tyres

[Huwcymru]

I bought mine (140 4x4 DSG) at 6000 miles and queried the tread on the Contis, had them measured at 6mm. I'm not optimistic that they'll go beyond 13000. I'm thinking Michelin from Costco, or using their prices to push other local suppliers when the dreaded time comes.

[Terryd]

Rover 220, in some ways you're right, the car is fit for purpose, however the fitting of budget rubber is an approach I would expect from a car supermarket or back street dealer, not a skoda main dealer. I'm with peanut in not scrimping on tyres. if I can't get any joy out of the dealer I'll be changing these, I've no confidence in them.

Anyone want to buy a pair of Accelera's ot Champiro's - lol

[ddyer79]

I have posted a couple of times on different threads that I got 22K out of the fronts and the rears are still good at 30K.

 

Tyres were Continental 3's on delivery and the fronts changed to 5's.  Having covered just over 8K on new fronts I'd say that they will be as good as the old tyres in terms of wear.  5's are quieter at around 50 mph.

 

To put my journey in context, I drive 43 miles each way to/from work daily, in the morning all A roads and in the evening A/M roads.

Weekend is all urban driving.

[Terryd]

I think I'll be on Continentals by the end of the week, just driven back to Yorkshire from Northumberland, the whining road noise at 50 - 60 mph was awful!!

[Supurbia]

I think I'll be on Continentals by the end of the week, just driven back to Yorkshire from Northumberland, the whining road noise at 50 - 60 mph was awful!!

 

 

Terry you will find cheaper tyres will quieten down after a few K's, they aren't all as bad as they are made out to be either, I use Wanli or Westlakes on my cars, they are £61 vs £150 for a "good" tyre, they last around 15k on the front of my old Passat which used to do 90% urban work,

 

They like to tell you you will benefit economy wise, handling wise etc but there was a recent study that found there wasn't much in it between expensive and cheap tyres, the only ones I've ever come across where I couldn't wait to get rid of were Nexen and Roadstone 2000, they are both the same tyre with a different name on them but they are real ditch finders in the wet,

 

The Wanli wins Chinese tyre of the year quite often for value, the only other one I knew of my mate had hassle with was a Freeway or Federal, which ever it was he said they made a rasping sound as he went along, tyre guy changed em for him foc in the end,

 

Can't say much about one pair you have but I've seen the Champiro ones on mates cars, the guy who sells em to em buys in the cheapest of the cheap so I'd be looking to ditch them asap, hth.

Edited 30 June, 2013 by Supurbia

[JakeBlade]

I've experienced Champiro HPY on a car before. Think they use an old Pirelli tread pattern. They were ok to be fair.

I've also experienced Fullrun brand tyres before that the garage fitted when I bought one of my previous cars, as outgoing tread was low - same as OP. Now those really were awful, and I just bit the bullet and changed them myself as they gave no feedback or confidence in turns at all.

If OP's car is an approved used Skoda, I'd have expected them to have fitted Contis, as that is factory fit.

[Terryd]

That was my expectation Jakeblade, there's still 2 years 3 months of manufacturers warranty to run. Still waiting for a response from the garage!!!!!

[JakeBlade]

That was my expectation Jakeblade, there's still 2 years 3 months of manufacturers warranty to run. Still waiting for a response from the garage!!!!!

Shame on them. My only advice would be to hassle them twice a day until its resolved, and maybe ask them to put you in a courtesy car until its resolved - say you don't feel safe driving the car with those tyres on.

[Noddy90]

Posted this in January; time for a reminder:

 

There are people out there who say, "always go with one of the big names" or "never buy a tyre made in China" or whatever... During the last ten years, I've had Michelin, Continental, Goodyear, Bridgestone, Pirelli, Dunlop, Fulda, Firestone, Kumho, Uniroyal, Maxxis, Altenzo... And do you know what? I could barely tell the difference between any of them in normal driving. The Goodyears had a step in one of the tyres so I noticed that the subsequent Michelins were a lot quieter; the Uniroyal Rainsports got me through some spectacular standing water once, but apart from that I couldn't have actually told you which tyres I had on.

Of course, I don't go round corners on two wheels, and I like to practise the arts of anticipation and observation, so maybe I've never subjected my tyres to the sort of stresses which would "sort out the men from the boys"; the fact that my last car but one was a spiritedly driven, lime green Peugeot 207GT (I was going through a phase), though, should indicate that I'm not necessarily Mr. Slow of Slowville, Slowshire. I just drive... normally.

Anyway, I had a blow-out recently, so decided to shop around for two new fronts. I found a tyre which has an economy rating of 'B', a wet-weather braking performance of 'B' and a noise rating of 72dB. Go away and check how comparatively rare that combination is. ValueTyres has them listed as a "premium" tyre, yet I had them fitted at a local Halfords autocentre for £127 the pair. The manager told me that they perform on a par with Michelins for just over half the price; the only downside is that they might last for only 80-90% of the life of a Michelin. A Michelin that doesn't suffer a mid-term puncture or blow-out, that is! He laughs at all the brand-snobs and the suckers who insist that they "always go with one of the big names", and is insistent that the Big 6 are ripping off their customers due to misplaced "received wisdom" on the part of the market. I should add that no sales pitch was involved: I had ordered online from www.tyresavings.com who merely use Halfords as the fitters.

I'm quite sure that there will be people on this site who know better than the manager of the tyre company and who will rubbish the new system of tyre ratings, including the wet weather performance; I'm sure they'll make their opinions known. For what it's worth, I've done c.500 snowy/rainy/dry miles on the tyres now and - you guessed it - I can't tell any difference from the Michelins, the Pirellis, the Continentals... 

 

Update: 6000 miles on, these are the real deal - a great, great tyre.  Not just cheap - anybody can do cheap - but quiet, smooth, sticky, confidence-inspiring.  I'll never buy another make of tyre.  The brand? SAILUN ATREZZO Z4.  You heard it heard it here first.

[JakeBlade]

I've been waiting all this time for you to reveal the mystery tyre Ned. Where did you source them, and what was the price if you don't mind me asking?

[Noddy90]

I've been waiting all this time for you to reveal the mystery tyre Ned. Where did you source them, and what was the price if you don't mind me asking?

Hi,

 

www.tyresavings.com, then fitted by Halfords.  At the time (January) they were a scarcely credible £63.50 each; don't know about now.

 

The money I saved by NOT buying Continental etc. I spent on whores, liposuction and garden gnomes.

 

 

 

 

PS: sorry about the repeated "heard it" in the previous post; it won't let me edit it now.

Edited 2 July, 2013 by Ned Brickley

[JakeBlade]

Hi,

www.tyresavings.com, then fitted by Halfords. At the time (January) they were a scarcely credible £63.50 each; don't know about now.

The money I saved by NOT buying Continental etc. I spent on whores, liposuction and garden gnomes.

PS: sorry about the repeated "heard it" in the previous post; it won't let me edit it now.

Wowsers. And I just read a review on them from a Canadian tyre tester, up against Michelin, Falken, Hankook etc. They get a good review: as do the champiros...

[Noddy90]

Anyway, back to the tyres...

 

Where were we?

[sadgit1]

Oh, if we are back on tyres 

 

My V6 estate is just coming up to 18k miles.

I have about 4.5mm left on them all round. I do rotate wheels every 5,000 miles to keep wear even.

Currently running Conti 3's but will change at around 3mm and prob go for either Goodyear F1's or Michelin PS 3's.

 

On my last car, Audi All Road, got 16k miles out of the original Pirellis but over 30k from the optional Goodyears.

 

Not brave enough to risk some unknown brand on a car as powerful and heavy as the V6, but good luck to those of you that do