I'm going to be buying a new Fabia soon (I think). 

Problem is I've been told the waiting time is up to 5 months.

My front tyres won't last that long so should I be a cheapskate and buy cheaper tyres or spend a lot more and buy premium tyres?.

Dealers don't seem to care from a trade in point of view and the fact I've looked after the car extremely well means nothing to them,it's a lump of metal they can make money on.

Swap back to front.

 

Why 5 months, are there no built Face Lift Fabia coming into dealerships in the UK that are not already sold sooner than that?

I've been told by two different dealerships there's an up to five month waiting list for the facelift.

Whether it's a ploy to get me to sign up or buy one in stock I can't say.

Mine would be a factory build as I want a few extras.

Edited 17 September, 20187 yr by RickW

3 hours ago, xman said:

Swap back to front.

 

Great idea,thanks

Remember that you are now running with minimal tread heading into winter conditions, not best plan if you want this car to retain as much of its value as possible at trade in time, just saying, that is all.

I unfortunately work in the motor trade. And I see cheap tyres on a daily basis even as low as £5. Names people have never even heard of "lanvigator catch power" is a favourite. We all still maintain that the tyre is the only bit of the car that touches the road so make it good ones. Also when looking at a "trade in" if we see "ditchfinder" tyres then we do change the value as it makes you look for other costs that have been cut elsewhere... That being said, the OEM tyres on the estate have a wet weather rating of E which is shocking! 

If you have at least 2.5mm+ on the fronts then I don't see a big problem with swapping them to the rear, but then I would take that into account with my driving.

 

https://www.michelin.com/eng/media-room/press-and-news/michelin-news/Sustainable-development/Performance-up-to-the-legal-wear-limit-of-1.6mm

 

If you have a full size spare you also could use that for 5 months as one on the back alomg with the better of the worn ones or swap the tyre over onto the alloy and buy another tyre if you must.

 

Mid range tyres are very good nowadays. F1 autocentres is always competitive, sometimes camskill, blackcircles, mytyres, oponeo and others.

 

You can also sometimes get good quality used tyres cheap from a large dismantler like https://www.motorhog.co.uk/tyres/

 

Edited 17 September, 20187 yr by xman

As said, swap them over front to back or buy new mid range economy tyres but avoid the sort of stuff Mikhail is talking about. 

Lecture coming up! -

Five months to avoid having an accident on rubbish tyres either the worn out existing tyres or nasty, cheap, Chinese, black things?

It doesn't matter if the worn out tyres or the poor quality ones, are on the back or front; either will increase the wet stopping distance. With respect, think of you and your family and, as other people have said, put some decent mid range tyres on the car. 

I would strongly recommend buying good quality tyres regardless as they are the only contact you have with the road. For example when i got my mk2 fabia it had cheap crappy chinese tyres on it but they still had 4mm of tread left so i thought nothing of it, when it rained the car drove like a drunk pig, it would oversteer then understeer even at very low speeds.

Nobody is saying buy cheap Chinese tyres.

 

As for worn out, I respect Michelin's opinion.

& good tyres can be from China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Scotland or anyplace really as top brands have Manufacturing Globally.

 

there are less expensive / cheaper tyres that are not ditch finders any worse than some ECO OEM tyres from Dunlop, Continental, Pirelli, Michelin etc.

how about Nexen tyres?

are they good enough?

on last car i had GY but now prices went up and 1 tyre is 150$.. it was 100$

Nexen is 90$ a piece..

Skoda, VW, Audi & SEAT fit Nexen as OEM tyres.   Different types, sizes, treads obviously, but even on more expensive models of cars.

2 hours ago, bertJ said:

With respect, think of you and your family and, as other people have said, put some decent mid range tyres on the car. 

+1.  Whilst I do not wish to preach at anyone on how they spend their money or how they approach and think about different situations.  I personally won't scrimp on tyres; the extra few feet in stopping distances, maintenance of traction etc could be the difference between an 'a55 twitch' and a full on smash.   

 

20 minutes ago, imart143 said:

how about Nexen tyres?

are they good enough?

on last car i had GY but now prices went up and 1 tyre is 150$.. it was 100$

Nexen is 90$ a piece..

Nexen are getting some really strong reviews recently and more and more becoming the choice for OEM fitment (but price may have more to do with that).

I'm seriously considering their N Blue 4 season tyres for my wifes Golf.  They seem perfect for the cars usage and weather/road conditions where we live. 

Easy thing is choose a car, get one soon, trade in the car and then you gave a new car with new tyres, 

or get safe tyres on now for the coming bad / autumn, winter weather.

£120 now and maybe hundreds off a car you want just before or after Christmas or pre New Registration in March.

Edited 18 September, 20187 yr by Offski

3 minutes ago, Offski said:

Easy thing is choose a car, get one soon, trade in the car and then you gave a new car with new tyres, 

or get safe tyres on now for the coming bad / autumn, winter weather.

£120 now and maybe hundreds off a car you want just before or after Christmas or pre New Registration in March.

 OR, will your new Fabia have the same wheel/tyre sizes as your existing one? 

I bought all-season tyres just before deciding to swap my Superb and after 'The Beast From the East' I really didn't want to go back to the Pirelli P7's being fitted from the factory.  A quick email to the supplying dealer and he was more than happy to switch the tyres for me at handover.  I got the all-season tyres I liked and he got some brand new tyres to make my p/x look a little more attractive on the forecourt.  (Well he actually got the brand new alloys too but it was either that or risk some marks on my blemish free alloys!). 

The OP probably has perfectly serviceable OE tyres presumably not Chinese ditch finders that will probably last way more than 5 months on the back axle, still be legal, still perform well on modern fabia iii SEL front wheel drive that has ESC incl. ABS, MSR, ASR, EDS, HBA, Tyre pressure monitor, possibly front assist too.

 

Michelin have been in the tyre business long enough to know a thing or two and if they say modern tyres are safe down to 1.6mm tread I'm inclined to believe them.

 

Re Stopping distance, 90% possibly more is from front braking. The rears very little. 

 

Even 100% full tread summer tyres (e.g. the Bridgestones that one of our Fabias came with) are **** and useless in snow and on ice. So perhaps he should change the whole lot to full winters......

 

Some premium makes are **** in all certain weather/road conditions.

 

6 minutes ago, xman said:

 

Michelin have been in the tyre business long enough to know a thing or two and if they say modern tyres are safe down to 1.6mm tread I'm inclined to believe them

 

Valid point.  I did google this as I thought there were a few manufactures and research organisations who have 'proof' that the 1.6mm legal tread depth is insufficient and 3mm should be the minimum.  However, Michelin discredit such statements; they claim 1.6mm is perfectly fine and switching to 3mm is just an additional cost overhead with no real benefits.  I find that counterintuitive but I'm off to read more about this now.    

 

 

1 hour ago, penguin17 said:

+1.  Whilst I do not wish to preach at anyone on how they spend their money or how they approach and think about different situations.  I personally won't scrimp on tyres; the extra few feet in stopping distances, maintenance of traction etc could be the difference between an 'a55 twitch' and a full on smash.   

 

Nexen are getting some really strong reviews recently and more and more becoming the choice for OEM fitment (but price may have more to do with that).

I'm seriously considering their N Blue 4 season tyres for my wifes Golf.  They seem perfect for the cars usage and weather/road conditions where we live. 

 

A few oxymorons detected.

 

Nexen are at the bottom end of mid range putting it politely.

 

 

 

 

Edited 18 September, 20187 yr by xman

9 minutes ago, xman said:

 

A few oxymorons detected.

 

Nexen are at the bottom end of mid range putting it politely.

 

 

 

 

Ah but they just ‘won’ the latest all-season tyre review by ADAC, trouncing the much loved CrossClimates and Vector 4 seasons.  

 

This is got my attention and after a bit of research it turns out they are pretty good. 

 

My own requirements are for a 4 season tyre hence I’ve shortlisted the Nexens 

 

Edited 18 September, 20187 yr by penguin17

ADAC a german car club, yep, that makes them trustworthy

 

(meant as a joke guys)

Edited 18 September, 20187 yr by xman

14 minutes ago, xman said:

ADAC a german car club, yep, that makes them trustworthy

 

(meant as a joke guys)

Like I said, they’ve been praised/well reviewed elsewhere too. 

 

 

48 minutes ago, penguin17 said:

Ah but they just ‘won’ the latest all-season tyre review by ADAC, trouncing the much loved CrossClimates and Vector 4 seasons.  

 

 

Strange that Continental seem convinced they won it.

 

https://www.continental-tires.com/car/media-services/newsroom/20180425-continental-scores-highest-rating-adac