Money saving vs life saving

Supersonos

The front tyres on my car are looking pretty bald and one of them appears to have a slow puncture.  The rear tyres look ok.  The car has done 17k miles.

4 new tyres is around £650 but I've read that it's a good idea to move the rear tyres to the front and therefore just buy two new tyres.  But at what point is saving money worth the increased risk of an accident?

AdrianC

How much tread's left?

£160+/tyre suggests some fairly serious stuff. What size?

Grumpy_chap

Supersonos said:

The front tyres on my car are looking pretty bald and one of them appears to have a slow puncture.  The rear tyres look ok.  The car has done 17k miles.

4 new tyres is around £650 but I've read that it's a good idea to move the rear tyres to the front and therefore just buy two new tyres.  But at what point is saving money worth the increased risk of an accident?

Is your car front or rear wheel drive?
You would only move the rear tyres to the front if you had rear wheel drive (as it keeps the grip on the driven wheels). 
OR, if you have front wheel drive, move the front tyres to the rear - this one makes more sense as it keeps maximum grip on the wheels that do the work in controlling the direction of the car plus driven wheels.  
I am not even sure if the former actually makes sense as the time the tyres need most grip is when in emergency steering on a poor road.

Back to money-saving:
Why do you need new tyres after only 17k miles?
Why are four tyres £650?  The last set of 4 tyres I got £150 for cash.  

AdrianC

Grumpy_chap said:

Supersonos said:

...but I've read that it's a good idea to move the rear tyres to the front

Is your car front or rear wheel drive?
You would only move the rear tyres to the front if you had rear wheel drive (as it keeps the grip on the driven wheels). 
OR, if you have front wheel drive, move the front tyres to the rear - this one makes more sense as it keeps maximum grip on the wheels that do the work in controlling the direction of the car plus driven wheels.  
I am not even sure if the former actually makes sense as the time the tyres need most grip is when in emergency steering on a poor road.

The theory goes that understeer is far more natural to catch than oversteer, so better tyres on the back mean you're far more likely to simply ease off and tighten the line if you notice grip starting to fail. 

Why are four tyres £650? The last set of 4 tyres I got £150 for cash.

Sub-£40 each? Chinese ditchfinders? Sometimes, extra money is worth spending for a far better product - there's usually decent mid-range brands for not much more than the cheap'n'nasty teflon-cheese-concrete mixtures.

Supersonos

Grumpy_chap said:

Supersonos said:

The front tyres on my car are looking pretty bald and one of them appears to have a slow puncture.  The rear tyres look ok.  The car has done 17k miles.

4 new tyres is around £650 but I've read that it's a good idea to move the rear tyres to the front and therefore just buy two new tyres.  But at what point is saving money worth the increased risk of an accident?

Is your car front or rear wheel drive?
Back to money-saving:
Why do you need new tyres after only 17k miles?
Why are four tyres £650?  The last set of 4 tyres I got £150 for cash.  

It's a BMW X1 so I'm guessing rear.

225/45 R19 are the tyres, so for a decent set (Michelin/Hanook etc.) they're £150-170 per tyre.

Sandtree

Supersonos said:
It's a BMW X1 so I'm guessing rear.

X1 is front or four wheel, or was last time I looked

Grumpy_chap

Well, I've always had front wheel drive and, if the rear tyres wear always put new on the front and moved the old front to rear.  Keeping maximum grip on the driven and steering wheels.

Adrian suggests I've been doing it wrong in any case.
The following article seems to support Adrian's advice:
https://www.kwik-fit.com/tyres/information/tyre-rotation

I apologise if my earlier comments were incorrect and caused any confusion - that is just what I've always done, and no garage has ever told me it's not correct

Money_Grabber13579

Supersonos said:

Grumpy_chap said:

Supersonos said:

The front tyres on my car are looking pretty bald and one of them appears to have a slow puncture.  The rear tyres look ok.  The car has done 17k miles.

4 new tyres is around £650 but I've read that it's a good idea to move the rear tyres to the front and therefore just buy two new tyres.  But at what point is saving money worth the increased risk of an accident?

Is your car front or rear wheel drive?
Back to money-saving:
Why do you need new tyres after only 17k miles?
Why are four tyres £650?  The last set of 4 tyres I got £150 for cash.  

It's a BMW X1 so I'm guessing rear.

225/45 R19 are the tyres, so for a decent set (Michelin/Hanook etc.) they're £150-170 per tyre.

Are the tyre sizes the same on the front and back? Mine have different sizes and I understand that it is not uncommon these days.

AdrianC

If it's "X-drive" (4wd), then you really need to replace all four together and rotate regularly to keep wear even either end. Viscous centre diff...

If it's "S-drive", 2wd, then which generation is it?
The original, 2009-2015, was RWD, same platform as the contemporary 3-series. The newer, 2015-on, is a tubby Mini on stilts, so FWD.

Supersonos

Sandtree said:

Supersonos said:
It's a BMW X1 so I'm guessing rear.

X1 is front or four wheel, or was last time I looked

You're correct.  It's "X-Drive" which I think is BMW's version of all-wheel drive.

(I thought BMW didn't do FWD - thought they championed RWD).

Supersonos

Money_Grabber13579 said:

Supersonos said:

Grumpy_chap said:

Supersonos said:

The front tyres on my car are looking pretty bald and one of them appears to have a slow puncture.  The rear tyres look ok.  The car has done 17k miles.

4 new tyres is around £650 but I've read that it's a good idea to move the rear tyres to the front and therefore just buy two new tyres.  But at what point is saving money worth the increased risk of an accident?

Is your car front or rear wheel drive?
Back to money-saving:
Why do you need new tyres after only 17k miles?
Why are four tyres £650?  The last set of 4 tyres I got £150 for cash.  

It's a BMW X1 so I'm guessing rear.

225/45 R19 are the tyres, so for a decent set (Michelin/Hanook etc.) they're £150-170 per tyre.

Are the tyre sizes the same on the front and back? Mine have different sizes and I understand that it is not uncommon these days.

Yeah, same front and back.  And now I've realised it's 4WD, probably makes sense to do all 4 tyres.  So that's £600-700 gone in one go.  And after only 17k miles seems extreme.