Talk to me about tyres please

Horizon81

DD265 wrote: »

Thanks all. There is a local tyre place that I have used before and trust so I'll go there this weekend (pay day tomorrow!) and get the 3mm tyres changed.

I should know this but: any harm in having different brands/types of tyres front to back?

None to the brands, can't say I'd mix tyre types though.

dannyrst

DD265 wrote: »

Thanks all. There is a local tyre place that I have used before and trust so I'll go there this weekend (pay day tomorrow!) and get the 3mm tyres changed.

I should know this but: any harm in having different brands/types of tyres front to back?

Do you drive anywhere near the limit of your cars capability? If not, why change them so soon? Yes, you will stop in a shorter distance and perhaps have more grip with new tyres, but aslong as you don't drive stupidly you will have no over/under steer or issues stopping in the dry or wet.

Ebe_Scrooge

Horizon81 wrote: »

What a load of nonsense.

It's not nonsense. Having the duff tyres on the back wont guarantee to cause oversteer just by themselves. But if the front tyres lose grip ( whether due to rain, or ice, or a blowout, or whatever ) you'll get understeer. If the back tyres lose grip you'll get oversteer.


So it makes sense to have the best tyres on the back to reduce the possibility of them losing grip. Most drivers can make a decent attempt at correcting understeer, but oversteer is much more difficult to deal with.

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

DD265 wrote: »

Thanks all. There is a local tyre place that I have used before and trust so I'll go there this weekend (pay day tomorrow!) and get the 3mm tyres changed.

I should know this but: any harm in having different brands/types of tyres front to back?

Not a problem. In theory you shouldn't mix on the same axle, but as soon as you have a puncture the chances are you are going to drive the rest of the car's life with an odd tyre and for day to day driving it is not going to make a lot of odds, especially with ESP these days to sort out the foibles.

The other thing to consider is All Season tyres. Once it starts getting below 7c normal tyres aren't as effective, and you can be seeing that sort of temperature pretty soon on a morning commute. Modern All Season tyres have very little compromise on summer performance but can make a dramatic difference in poor, cold weather.

When I've changed tyres on the Golf, we generally just ran the fronts down and replaced, leaving the rears to get on with their job of stopping the rear bumper dragging on the ground - they don't do a lot else so don't wear.

Horizon81

Ebe, I'm not some motoring dumbass, no need to patronise. I know the wisdom in where to put new tyres and I always put them on the back and rotate however most people I know don't bother rotating and none have had any oversteery moments or accidents.

WellKnownSid

Horizon81 wrote: »

Ebe, I'm not some motoring dumbass, no need to patronise. I know the wisdom in where to put new tyres and I always put them on the back and rotate however most people I know don't bother rotating and none have had any oversteery moments or accidents.

Plenty have. I have.

IF the road conditions are bad. IF you're not paying attention. IF you're going a bit too fast for the conditions. IF you're suddenly facing something you weren't expecting. You MIGHT oversteer.
IF you oversteer and you're not competant, you MIGHT mess up the recovery. You MIGHT end up in a ditch.

Of course you'd have to be unlucky to have all your ducks in a row. But it can happen.

In my case, I happened to have half a dozen bags of compost in the boot at the time, and did a very neat 180 when I had to avoid a dog running out in front of me. The dog was fine.

chris_dee

Over the years I have had lots of cars and lots of different makes of tyres - the best ones for total mileage have always been michelin, if you know anyone with a costco membership they have a tyre offer starting 1/9/15 with up to £100 off 4 tyres depending on the tyre size.

uncreative

Never ever in my view should you try and save a few pounds on tyres. The last car I bought second hand had clearly had absolutely ridiculous tyres put on it to sell. I obviously wont mention the name. Holy smoke the first sign of wet and I was fishtailing all over the place. All 4 were brand new and for 17 inch tyres it was less than £100 fitted for 4 as the receipt was in the glovebox. brand new tyres from a chain. I had them on for a couple of months, i had steering wheel vibration, borderline dangerous handling, wet roundabouts were fun, with understeer going into lift off oversteer - all at 10 mph!!

I put on bridgestones at £85 a corner and what a difference - it was like I had a brand new car.

FreddieFrugal

What's the tyre size on your Nissan?

Ectophile

DD265 wrote: »

Thanks all. There is a local tyre place that I have used before and trust so I'll go there this weekend (pay day tomorrow!) and get the 3mm tyres changed.

I should know this but: any harm in having different brands/types of tyres front to back?

3mm is nearly twice the legal minimum. 2mm is pushing it a bit, but still legal.

At 3mm, I'd be thinking about possibly getting them changed some time when I get around to it. Perhaps. In a month or two. But no hurry.