I see over 2000 tyres a month. ( twenty cars per day, four tyres per car, twenty five days per month )

10% worn in the centre.

40% worn evenly.

50% worn on edges.

 

Some of this is due to lack of air pressure and some to alignment.

A higher pressure will also reduce aquaplaning.

 

You definitely want to find what air pressure suits your car/tyres/driving style/terrain.

 

Thanks AG Falco

Yes, I could do all that Offski. Thanks for spelling it out in such detail. With 50 years of driving experience I will think about doing that.

I have reduced my pressures from 2.5bar to 2.2bar as the easier option. The mpg coming back down from Buxton today was an extraordinary , for me,65.8mpg. Earlier in the week it was 50.2mpg. Both indicated, so only really relevant as a relative comparison. The mpg is affected so much 

by traffic density ,weather conditions and the gears I can use. Light traffic today and cruising gently at the speed limits and coasting down long hills on a closed throttle (in 6th gear mostly).

The roads were dry and the understeery feeling was less.

Edited 11 November, 20187 yr by gregoir

1000 miles after tyre swap, still no snow or ice to contend with on my trips into the Peak District. The indicated fuel consumption is ~5mpg worse than I would normally expect to get, from the Michelins. The understeery behaviour on tight bends is still catching me out on tight ,damp A6 bends. Still on 2.2bar.

Edited 31 December, 20187 yr by gregoir

Now trying with 2.4bar front and 2.3bar rear. Feels much better making  the steering more precise.

No snow or ice yet and just the odd 4°C bong to wake me up. Indicated mpg is wildly up and down on the same Chesterfield to Buxton returns. Keeping to the indicated speed limit and maximising the coasting, when there are no cars in my way,  pays dividends. If there are slower drivers in the way and I'm constantly braking and going up and down the manual gearbox - then mpg suffers. 

Edited 9 January, 20197 yr by gregoir

Just been up  the M1 , M18, M62 route to Hull and back. The rutting in the inside lanes affected the steering at times and corrections were needed to keep straight. Mpg indicated is still a few down on what I'd have expected compared to the Michelin Energy. But 53 mpg indicated. 70 mpg cruise, is acceptable for that trip. Acceleration out of a side road in cold damp conditions also seems to show excellent traction, with less tendency to wheelspin than the summer tyres. Noise is slightly up on the Michelins, but acceptable to me.

Edited 13 February, 20197 yr by gregoir

I'm a big fan of the Crossclimates which are fitted to my Superb II, HOWEVER I've been speaking to the owner of my previous 2003 Superb I which I shod in Vredestein Quatrac 5's just before I sold it back in 2015 - they are still going strong some 57,000 miles later - er wow.

 

He must be a much gentler driver that I ever was - I managed about 33,000 miles out of a set of Michelin Energy tyres on the same car.

17 hours ago, bigjohn said:

I'm a big fan of the Crossclimates which are fitted to my Superb II, HOWEVER I've been speaking to the owner of my previous 2003 Superb I which I shod in Vredestein Quatrac 5's just before I sold it back in 2015 - they are still going strong some 57,000 miles later - er wow.

 

He must be a much gentler driver that I ever was - I managed about 33,000 miles out of a set of Michelin Energy tyres on the same car.

I've done 18k miles on a set of Quatrac 5's and they still have 5mm on the rears and 4mm on the fronts.  They spent the first 6K miles on my 150TDI and have done 12K miles on my 280. 

 

Looking at my previous post on this thread I've gone through 1mm of tread in 7K miles.  Not too bad at all for a heavy car and a few Czech ponies to handle. 

 

 

3 hours ago, penguin17 said:

I've done 18k miles on a set of Quatrac 5's and they still have 5mm on the rears and 4mm on the fronts.  They spent the first 6K miles on my 150TDI and have done 12K miles on my 280. 

 

Looking at my previous post on this thread I've gone through 1mm of tread in 7K miles.  Not too bad at all for a heavy car and a few Czech ponies to handle. 

 

 

 

That's pretty good for a 280 - sounds like you might still get over another 10k+ miles out of them!

 

My old Superb I and my current poverty spec Superb II are both on much higher profile 205/55 R16 tyres that in my experience last longer than lower profile tyres. The current owner of my old Superb I also swaps tyres front to back etc. The old Superb I has the tortion rear axle so wears the rears very flat an even and it has never worn any of the tyre edges (front or rear) .

 

The Quatrac 5's have been around a few years now - are we due a Quatrac 6?

 

Edited 20 March, 20197 yr by bigjohn

11 hours ago, bigjohn said:

 

That's pretty good for a 280 - sounds like you might still get over another 10k+ miles out of them!

 

My old Superb I and my current poverty spec Superb II are both on much higher profile 205/55 R16 tyres that in my experience last longer than lower profile tyres. The current owner of my old Superb I also swaps tyres front to back etc. The old Superb I has the tortion rear axle so wears the rears very flat an even and it has never worn any of the tyre edges (front or rear) .

 

The Quatrac 5's have been around a few years now - are we due a Quatrac 6?

 

I think maybe another 5-8K as the wear rate will likely increase in the warmer temps and I usually replace tyres at 2-3mm (closer to 3).  

 

I was thinking the same about a new version of the Quatrac; the 5's have been around for nearly 5 years now and in that time the major manufacturers have launched a competitor and then launched an updated version too.  

 

I would like to try the CrossClimates or perhaps the Conti All-Season Contacts but there's literally only Maxxis or Vredestein who produce a 235/40 R19 all-season tyre.  I've toyed with the idea of fitting UHP summer tyres e.g; Pilot Sport 4S' ,  now that I have the 280 but I'm still not confident that the outright performance  for 6 months of the year outweighs the convenience of year round usability  and also I don't want to go back to having two set's of wheels/tyres as I really like the added security/safety in Winter months.   

Edited 21 March, 20197 yr by penguin17

Although newer designs have come along, the Vredestein Quatrac 5 does cover the more unusual sizes, so choice is sometimes determined by availability

 

Continental All Season contact only has 40 sizes

Michelin Cross Climate Plus only in 42 sizes

Falken Euroall season 210 available in 48 sizes

Nokian Weatherproof available in 55 sizes

Goodyear Vector 4 seasons Gen2 available in 61 sizes

Bridgestone Weather Control available in 61 sizes

Maxxis All Season AP2 available in 88 sizes

Vredestein Quatrac 5 is avaible in 109 sizes

 

 

On ‎20‎/‎03‎/‎2019 at 20:13, bigjohn said:

 

The Quatrac 5's have been around a few years now - are we due a Quatrac 6?

 

 

@bigjohn   It appears Vredestein have launched Quatrac Pro all season (for performance SUVs), 50 sizes available

 

The Quatrac 5 is continuing in the smaller car sizes,

 

https://www.tyretradenews.co.uk/news/vredestein-launches-first-all-season-tyre-for-ultra-high-performance-segment

 

 

 

 

On 26/03/2019 at 10:45, SurreyJohn said:

 

@bigjohn   It appears Vredestein have launched Quatrac Pro all season (for performance SUVs), 50 sizes available

 

The Quatrac 5 is continuing in the smaller car sizes,

 

https://www.tyretradenews.co.uk/news/vredestein-launches-first-all-season-tyre-for-ultra-high-performance-segment

 

 

 

 

I emailed Vredestein to see if they'll eventually offer the Quatrac Pro in 235/40 R19, which they won't be; shame.  They will be producing a 245/40 R19 though so I may just look into fitting that but will check with Skoda/Insurance co. first.  It's within tolerances on all the comparison tools/websites I've checked but I'm sure there'll be some red tape which will get in the way and it's not worth invalidating my insurance/warranty.   

On 10/11/2018 at 14:25, xman said:

Several things to remember,

 

winter/all season tyres use softer tread compounds than summer tyres and have lots of sipes and much smaller tread blocks which are more flexible. That's what gives them the advantage on snow and ice. Consequently always going to be squishier, not as good at dry braking, and feel softer on cornering.

 

New tyres still have the release agent on the surface which reduces grip for the first couple of hundred miles. 

 

As tyres wear, the remaining tread becomes harder, you are comparing a new tyre to a well worn tyre which will be harder.

 

You run at eco pressures, so a new tyre will be running overinflated more on the centre of the tread, reducing grip. Your old tyres will have worn the centre section down and probably running evenly across the tread toward end of life, so higher grip.

 

The vredesteins are softer in the sidewall too, I personally like that because they are more comfortable and lower noise as a result. But it makes them less sporty.

 

The difference for me that counts is in winter and cold wet conditions.

 

Everyone has their personal preferences and opinion, let us know how you feel after a thousand or so miles. Valuable for others choosing tyres.

 

 

i used 6x4 sets of vredenstein ultrac sessanta 225/40/18 . i was impressed about this tires.all of them was changed at 29-30.000 miles(taxi style). if you'll check vredenstein tire pressure recommendation you'll see that they are like 4.2 atm rather most 2.2/3 atm . even in a 4 inches snow for 2 days in southampton last year (2018) they never let me down. now I'm looking for ultrac vorti but is hard to find a vredenstein retailer in UK. 

1 minute ago, Twinpack said:

i used 6x4 sets of vredenstein ultrac sessanta 225/40/18 . i was impressed about this tires.all of them was changed at 29-30.000 miles(taxi style). if you'll check vredenstein tire pressure recommendation you'll see that they are like 4.2 atm rather most 2.2/3 atm . even in a 4 inches snow for 2 days in southampton last year (2018) they never let me down. now I'm looking for ultrac vorti but is hard to find a vredenstein retailer in UK. 

 

I've used the Sessanata and Sportrac's before and also been highly impressed.  When I need to change on the Swift or MX5 I'll be looking at Vredestein again (have just put two new Cross Climates on the Octavia to keep a full matching set of 4).