Another 'Tyres' Question: replace 4, or 2?

[PerArdua]

I’m a little uncertain on which way to go, there have been many threads on this sort of thing, and I’ve had a rummage around in the wheels and tyres area, but I’m in a bit of a dilemma:

After 25500 miles and 2 years from new, the original Dunlop SportMaxx tyres are down to just under 3mm on the front. Rears have 5-6mm remaining (they look almost new). I’ve noticed a reduction in grip at the front in the recent showers. Time to get some new rubber.

 

As many have said – tyre noise is quite noticeable and I have noticed it on mine. Aside from a weak cabin ventilation system, this is one of the only things that irks me about it, otherwise my Rapid is a cracking family car. I understand that the dunlops have an appalling reputation for noise.

 

I need new tyres, I don’t want to pay more than about £220, so do I:

 

Just replace the fronts with a pair of so-called ‘quality’ tyres (anything but Dunlop) at about £70-£110 a corner? Will this reduce noise from the front but leave noise from the rear?

 

Replace all 4 tyres (essentially wasting half the life of the rears) with a more ‘budget’ brand? Tigar Synaris are popping up on a search of a reputable local fitter’s website at about £55 a corner. There are other budget tyres for even less money but the fitters don’t state the make – only ‘Budget Choice’ or ‘value choice’. Someone on here has mentioned Tigar as being pretty reputable and (Eastern) European-made by Michellin? However, replacing all 4 might improve the ride comfort if I choose the right ones.

There is also an online retailer (a well known one) that is offering a ‘value choice’ option at about £55 a corner with a 2 year guarantee that includes unrepairable punctures and blow-outs.

 

Of course, I could just replace the fronts with the budget option for about £100 – which I also consider a viable option. Although this would potentially leave the noisy rear problem – or does it?

 

Thoughts or experiences anyone? Is it worth chancing an un-named ‘value choice’ tyre? (or do they give you the option of finding out which tyre it is before you commit?)

[MickA]

I would have Kumho on mine any day, have them on my MX-5, a popular choice in the MX-5 world.

Regards your Rapid I would consider moving fronts to rear and of course rears to front. My Toledo has had the wheels tyres swapped like this at around 8k miles and will get swapped back at some time when they appear to have worn down enough.

It may be too late to consider doing yours though, not much meat left on the more worn one's.

I have Bridgestone on mine, not too much noise from them. Have you ever had the need to check the rear hatch adjustment, the bump stops?  There's plenty of info on this and doing this adjustment can quieten things down in the cabin if you feel it's too noisy, but it's more like a buffeting sound than tyre noise.

 

[PerArdua]

Thanks for the reply. I've seen all the stuff on here about bump stops from the rear hatch, and no, I don't have a booming or buffeting - just tyre roar once up to speed on dual carriageway/motorway. 

I did consider rotating the tyres but was advised against it because putting more worn tyres on the rear of a FWD car is not recommended.

[RMurphy195]

What Ive done for many years with FWD cars is this.

 

Part-worn rears onto the front.

New tyres onto the rear.

Next time - repeat.

 

Otherwise rears will last with very little wear and will need replacing as they get old, wasting the tread.

 

NB with a "new " car (or up to to a year old S/H in my case)- the spare is used so first time around I buy one new tyre to match the  spare,then they go on the back with the least-worn front onto the spare. The spare will of course go out of date, so what you do when this happens is to put the least-worn front onto the spare when you replace a pair of tyres. Can only work of course if you have a proper spare even if its on a steelie.

 

So my current Rapid had Dunlop SP1 tyres on the four alloys, and a Michelin on the spare. One of the fronts was swopped onto the steel spare, a new Michelin went onto the other front alloy then they were moved to the back and the rears (4-5mm) went onto the front. I now of course have one Michelin that is 4 years newer than the other, this will become the spare one day after its been rotated onto the front. By then I' which front wears quicker than the other so can plan the tyre movement to suit.

 

In case of a puncture of course it all goes up in the air!

[Delberthot]

If you go for a lesser known make, make sure that they have decent reviews as there a lot of cheap ditch finders out there.

 

I'm guessing that having the sport you have 17" alloys. I changed all of my tyres when the fronts wore out, in fact I changed the alloys for another set of 15" ones.

 

I bought Goodyear efficientgrip performance XL which unfortunately for you are around £100 a corner (£60 for my 15" ones). They tell you that they are good in the wet and give good economy. What they don't tell you is that they have an insane amount of grip. I've never ever changed tyre brands before and noticed such a huge difference on the same car before.

 

I am planning on swapping them roughly every 6000 miles to even out the wear and change all 4 at once again.

[YS53]

I always have my best tyres on the front,I never understand the modern - ish fashion to put the new tyres on the back.

The front tyres take most of the load ! (unless you routinely carry very heavy loads) and front blow outs are much worse than rear blowouts.

Our second car is a polo - last year I noticed that the front  'outsides' were wearing,I had already swapped the tyres around a year or so ago so I put the front tyres to the back (same side) and bought 2 new tyres for the front.New tyres on the front do feel a little 'light' on the steering for a short while but as long as you are expecting that then you just take it easy for the first 100 miles or so

Unless you carry heavy loads - 3mm on the back will last a good couple of years (as long as they are not otherwise deteriorated of course)

[camelspyyder]

it depends on the tyre. my contis are down to 2.5 to 3mm on the rear and it's oversteering on dry roads when pushing on.  The fronts are the same and the TC is always flashing on wet roads too. These tyres are fit for the skip at 3mm.

 

3mm is below the legal limit in other countries AFAIK.

 

 

Edited 28 July, 2017 by camelspyyder

[RickTT]

Base your factors on grip and not tyre noise... there's nothing in it between premium brands and tyre noise for the Rapid... just increase the radio volume.

 

Keep away from cheap ditch finders.

[camelspyyder]

tyrereviews.co.uk

 

all the gen you need.

 

compare those reviews with net prices to choose.

 

I settled on Falkens ZX 914 at around 75 each fitted. However I've now traded it so I'll not bother buying them. I'll see what the current OEM is on the new Toledo when it arrives. Most new ones I've seen are on Bridgestone Potenza 050A.

[YS53]

On 28/07/2017 at 14:31, PerArdua said:

 

I did consider rotating the tyres but was advised against it because putting more worn tyres on the rear of a FWD car is not recommended.

 

I did mean to get back to this thread but forgot LOL

I have been driving FWD cars since 1984 (not including the mini I took my test on in 1971 :)) and I have to say that I have never noticed any Handling/Roadholding problems on FWD cars which have less tread on the rear tyres.As I posted previously - unless you have a high performance car or often carry heavy loads then my preference would be always to have the best tyres on the front.Having said that - I do not drive like a loony so my cars are not being driven to the limit (I am not a slow driver but being old fashioned my entry speed on bends is related to how far I can see round them),but I have never noticed any tendency for the rear to 'step out' etc even whilst having fun on quiet country roads,I would be much more worried about losing grip at the front end.As I also posted previously - new tyres on the front can make the steering feel 'light' but this only lasts  about 100 miles or so - once again that does not bother me as I take it easy on new tyres/brakes anyway.ISTR that when the idea of putting new tyres on the back was first mooted it was fairly controversial at the time -  but over time seems to have been accepted as 'fact'.

[KenONeill]

@camelspyyder - Well, your issue is down to using Contis, which have a much harder substrate compound stating at 3mm (German wear limit).

 

@PerArdua - I'm another one who doesn't normally get "less worn tyres on the back", at least on FWD cars with 4 channel ABS. In this case, I'd suggest moving the Dunlops forward to wear them faster, and getting Goodyears or Michelins for the rear.

[amwphotos]

As you pointed out, you have felt a loss of grip with those front tyres, so I would get them changed. The last thing you want is slippery tyres on the back, much more dangerous than having them on the front. 

 

2 new tyres is very sensible, I have just fitted Goodyear crossclimate and they are quiet, grippy and should be long lasting and perfect in our year round inclement weather. Not cheap, but then not ridiculous price either.

 

If you swap the new tyres onto the back your older tyres will get faster wear on the front. Despite having plenty of tread the aging process on rubber isn't kind. If you look closely I'm sure you can see they don't look pristine. You'll still probably get another year out of them anyway that way.

[SurreyJohn]

I think you may have left it a bit late ideally, should really have swapped the front and rears about 5000 miles ago to even out the wear.

 

I wouldn't mix cross climates and normal summer tyres.  You may as well just swap the front-back now and save some money for a while, as you will have same uneven grip.  Don't pay to mix types and make grip uneven.  Be careful of mixing brands/grip patterns etc

 

Luckily you don't have 4 wheel drive, as all need to be same diameter, but this of course also applies to the 2 driving wheels on a rapid, so try and keep both driving wheels the same level of wear (this rule applies whatever the wear level)

 

My view is swap front-back as soon as possible, but treat it as temporary solution, any tyre below 3mm is not going to be good in wet.  Then in few months accept that changing all 4 will be needed.  

 

For the UK go for cross-climates.  They offer much better grip below +7c (quite common in Nov-April mornings. (a friend got his done at Costco for about £250 for four, but you need to know someone with a membership card).  Shop around tyre prices vary considerably for same type between companies.

Edited 4 August, 2017 by SurreyJohn

[ted1888]

On 4 August 2017 at 07:14, SurreyJohn said:

"....".........

 

For the UK go for cross-climates.  They offer much better grip below +7c (quite common in Nov-April mornings. (a friend got his done at Costco for about £250 for four, but you need to know someone with a membership card).  Shop around tyre prices vary considerably for same type between companies.

+1 for the Cross-climate  reccommendation.

We had a similar issue with my wife's Rapid Spaceback - one set of tyres at around 3mm, the others between 4.5-5mm.

I spoke at length to our local (well known & respected) tyre centre and eventually decided to go with Michelin Cross-climates all round. We realised that we would never run separate summer and winter sets so this seemed the best compromise. It's something we've been talking about doing for years!

I accept we basically trashed 2 tyres with about 5k miles wear left but for us, it was a price worth paying.

Hope this helps.

 

[PerArdua]

I'd love to go with all season or cross climates - especially as my daily commute is in deepest darkest Norfolk (although the past couple of winters have not been a problem).

 

Cant seem to find crossclimates or reasonable all season tyres for 215 40 R17 though.

[camelspyyder]

Just checked a Canadian website - They normally have a lot of all season or all weather tyre options - for 215/40R17

 

See if any of these are available in UK/Europe

 

All season tyre in your size - Ohtsu FP7000, Nexen CP672, Nitto Neo Gen, Westlake SA07

 

Seen in the UK/Europe websites -  Maxxis AP2

 

 

 

 

Edited 15 August, 2017 by camelspyyder