Hi guys,

 

Maybe not an usual issue in the UK and other southern countries, but here in Finland and Germany upwards there is a legal requirement to swap tyres from "summer" to "winter" unless you have an approved set of all seasons. I know that every country has their own rules and that they change from time to time, but as a rule of thumb wheels need to be changed when required and that is a perfect oppotunity to rotate them if needed.

 

Now, the winter ones are not an issue as they are directional and only allow the front to back swap, but with the summer ones I am in a bit of a pickle for next summer. The previous owner did not have much of luck in the sense of even wear and the tyres I inherited are three Pirelli Cinturato P7 and one Hankook Ventus Prime 3. Two Pirellis in the back and the Hankook in the front left. The situation as per last month (after a painful nearly 1000€ service of DGS, Haldex and engine oil changes plus brake fluid, spark plugs and bits and bobs) was the following:

 

front left (Hankook) 6.5mm, FR (Pirelli) 4mm.

 

RLeft 6mm and RRight 5mm (both Pirellis).

 

The question is, next summer which kind of rotation should I do?. I am tempted to swap the FR and RL only so it will be an even set in the back and rear thread wise and then replace one pair once the thread reaches 3mm, but will that create a bigger imbalance rather than doing a cross change FL-RR / FR-RL?. Or just a straight front to back?.

 

In other order of things, should I carry on with the Pirellis or change to Hankook, or is there a consensus of other tyre that works fine with the Superb?.

 

Thanks guys and guyettes.

Hi,

 

I don't know the rules in finland and Germany, but here in France, it's forbidden to have different tyres on the same axle... 

In your case, I would the get rid of the 2 front weels (Hankook + Pirelli), move 2 rear Pirelli onto front axle, and buy 2 new tyres for the rear axle.

2 Michelin PS4 most probably... 

 

En España está prohibido también.

4 minutes ago, Gabrielem said:

En España está prohibido también

In Spain it is also prohibited.

 

@Gabrielem please only use English. 

Hi,

 

Gabriel, yes I'm Spanish as well myself and I had a bit of nightmare time when we bought our previous car (Volvo XC60 2.4 AWD) while in the UK, as it was the same situation: 3 Pirelli Scorpio and one Pirelli P Zero Rosso. At least same brand. In the UK and other countries (Finland in this case) you are allowed to mix and match as long as the tyres are of the same specification, ie, summers or winters, same speed rating and same width-wall ratio percentage.

 

Obviously I knew about the rule in Spain of not being able to mix tyres and we always were going with the ferry back there for holidays in the summer, so I was wondering and pondering what to do until a friend of mine that work for the green chaps (Guardia Civil) told me not to worry, as they usually don't look at that, but also as a foreign plate car I am not obliged to follow that ruling as long as the MOT (ITV in Spain) was OK and in date, basically legal in your country (EU countries only, by the looks of it).

 

Anyway, I have read a bit more and it seems that before if the diameter of the tyres had more than a 3% diference, then it could be a problem with the diferencial and AWD systems, being Subaru a very picky one that would give you troubles no end until either the offending tyre was changed or the AWD system would pack up. And apparently having same size (235/45 18 in my case) doesn't warrant that as there is manufacturer's difference even amongst their own different models within a given brand.

 

But also the pattern of the tyre matters as well. The P7s and the Ventus 3 seem to have very similar ones and apparently (correct me if not right), the Superb MKIII Haldex is gen 4 or 5, but in both VAG got rid of the problems they previous generations had with very tight operating margins meaning that the Haldex will fail if you were not running same tyres or the thread difference would be more than 3mm in any given tyre or axle combination (can't remember).

 

Anyway, after all the reading and research I think it will be safe to just do what I thought, which is match thread depth next year with the missmatched tyres in the front, so they wear off quicker and then hopefully be able to change the 4 tyres at the same time. We don't do many kilometres (5000 so far since January) and mainly in highway with no crazy speeds (Finland has a mainly 80-100kph speed limit with some 120kph motorways nearing Helsinki and a fair amount of speed cameras). Unless, that is, the car starts veering from the perfect straight line that is doing now.

 

Still want to hear from you guys about your experiences with summer tyres. The Michelin PS4 is deffinitely an option (thanks BAP33), although the most expensive one. I was thinking of Goodyear F1 assimetrics. I had them before and were quite OK. I also had Dunlops SP Sports that were also OK.

 

Thanks and sorry for the loooooooooooong post ;).

Sorry, Goodyear F1 Eagle assimetrics, not something like this :

 

@querolson To help you choosing your tyres and balancing the first impression of price.

Take a look at the "Treadwear" indicator on the oustide tyre wall. This comes form UTQG norms. It defines how long a tyre will last for the same car and same driver. The reference value is 100.

Then, if the value is 300 on tyre A and 150 on tyre B, this means that tyre A will last twice longer than tyre B.

As a consequence, if tyre A is 120 € and tyre B is 100 €, make the right choice! Tyre A is a better investment!

 

28 minutes ago, Bap33 said:

UTQG

 

This is for the American market.

Tyres sold in Europe don't have to have these markings.

Most people in Europe don't drive around Texas with their cars.

 

Thanks, AG Falco

Sorry, but the tyres I've bought in France over the last 15 years all had this UTQG marking... even if they don't have to...

I don't drive in Texas for sure, but an important thing is that, it is at least objective and therefore more reliable than any subjective comment.    

It's only a tip... you don't have to follow it...   

20 hours ago, Bap33 said:

I don't drive in Texas

'The wear on tires that are being tested ' - 'will drive 7200 miles on public roads in West Texas'

 

This is where they test the tyres to arrive at the figures.

They do give you a guide but the ( straight and flat ) roads around San Angelo in West Texas are different to ours.

 

We have noticed some tyres with high tread wear figures do not last as long as they should compared to others.

For an idea on wear on tyres in Europe look at the Tyre Reviews website.

 

Thanks, AG Falco

Sorry, if I don't understand all the subtleties of the English language. I missed the Texas story...

As I said: probably not perfect, but better than very subjective comments on any forum.

 

I even don't fully trust official tests from TCS (Swiss Touring Club), ADAC or whatever French official organization. I find curious that Continental tyres often come at the best places in ADAC tests, whereas Michelin are regularly ahead according to French organization...  

So it seems that European tyres have Treadwear marking. In the Pirelli P7's case is 260.

Anyway, I found a very interesting comparison between the usually three top sport tyres in 18" for summer: Continental 6, F1 assim. 5 and PS4.

https://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/Pilot-Sport-4-VS-Asymmetric-5-VS-Premium-Contact-6.htm

 

Also it was interesting to read a cuople of articles in Finnish papers from 2016 where it seemed that both Nokian and Pirelli were providing "special" tyres for the tests different from the ones that the general public would get in the tyre specialist shops. So I wouldn't be surprised that ADAC and the lot are not only biased towards their own "national" companies, but also turning a blind eye to this kind of practices. In Finland, unsurprisingly Nokian tyres come as top or second in all the reviews, so I think that what BAP33 says is nearer to the truth.