tyre advice please

StrongWork

1) 50 profile is not that low.

2) If the ride comfort is an issue, the only genuine improvement will be made by going down to 16s inch alloys.

3) Tyres in 16 inch diameter are generally cheaper than those for 17s.

4) Both Event Tyers and Black Circles will fit at your home and place of work. I have colleagues who have used both with no issues.

My advice? If it is genuinely an issue I'd go down to 16s and sell the 17 inchers.

Something like this (*clicky*) might be what you're looking for.

Strider590

Just to clarify...

My previous post regarding shock absorbers, was not a "could be, maybe" it was a "if your clock reads more than 40k miles and your shocks have never been changed, then they ARE shot".

castle96

"If you want a softer ride you are going to have to go to a smaller wheel size." - why, surely smaller would not make a difference?

Model is Vectra SRi

"but if the OP wants a taller profile then he can fit a 205/55R17 or 225/50R17 both give a 10mm increase in overall dia which is +1.5%."
I can see that 55 is a 10% increase, but 50 is the same, no ??

Alloys look to be original (or at least they still have the Vauxhall end cap)

Most suppliers don't specify whether (weather !!) a tyre is summer or winter. I can only get one set. Should I buy winter and they would be OK for summer. Or summer, and the would be OK for winter ?

Iceweasel

castle96 wrote: »

"If you want a softer ride you are going to have to go to a smaller wheel size." - why, surely smaller would not make a difference?

Model is Vectra SRi

"but if the OP wants a taller profile then he can fit a 205/55R17 or 225/50R17 both give a 10mm increase in overall dia which is +1.5%."
I can see that 55 is a 10% increase, but 50 is the same, no ??

Alloys look to be original (or at least they still have the Vauxhall end cap)

Most suppliers don't specify whether (weather !!) a tyre is summer or winter. I can only get one set. Should I buy winter and they would be OK for summer. Or summer, and the would be OK for winter ?

A 225/50 17 tyre will give a marginally higher stance (more depth of sidewall) because 50% of 225mm is greater than 50% of 215mm.

You are right in saying that many/most tyre suppliers don't specify Summer or Winter because in the UK we still think that Summer tyres are Normal tyres. - So the choice is Normal or Winter.

Most European countries think there are Summer and Winter tyres.

It is much safer/better if you are only going to have one set of wheels/tyres to have Winter tyres on the car the whole year round - and have a small extra degree of wear than to Summer tyres all year and possibly get into difficulty in Winter being stuck or having a bump.

castle96

"
My advice? If it is genuinely an issue I'd go down to 16s and sell the 17 inchers."

forgive my Qs, but WHY would a smaller wheel size be better, rather than worse.

Complicated, all this tyre business... Looking in the handbook (by the way there is nothing on the door pillars, re tyres), the recommended tyre pressure for up to 3 people is 29/32.
However next to that it says the ECO ("to reduce fuel consumption as much as possible"), is 35/38 (a lot more than 29/32 !)
Obviously everyone wants max. fuel economy, so why put 2 different figures in the book.? Have been running the lower pressures, but should I change to the higher ? Maybe that would give me a better ride ? (Or would more air/harder tyre), make the ride harder as well ?

JustinR1979

Try 32 and 35 see how you get on.
29 and 32 sounds a little low for me.

Iceweasel

Upping the tyre pressures will give a tad more mpg, a harder ride, and increased tyre wear in the middle of the tread.

JustinR1979

Iceweasel wrote: »

Upping the tyre pressures will give a tad more mpg, a harder ride, and increased tyre wear in the middle of the tread.

Hopefully sitting in the middle of 2 pressures specified it will be quite even