Tyres and wear 8 August 2022 at 3:50PM edited 8 August 2022 at 3:51PM in Motoring 13 replies 491 views

sarahTT

I am not a car guru at all and I have a question re tyre wear. I used to drive a Fiat Panda for around 8 years and I had to change tyres every ~14000 miles, mostly because they were worn unevenly (various makes but always the same problem). I also did wheel alignment and balancing every year until I decided that it cost more than it was worth (and when I stopped the tyres ended up exactly as unevenly worn as before, not better but also not worse ).

Since Jan 2019 I am driving a Dacia Sandero and I am now on 24000 miles with the first set of tyres and some 3 millimetres left on all four and no uneven wear at all. Is this down to the make of the tyres (Kumho), the car or both? The reason why I am asking is that when I have to replace the tyres I would go for the same make if it's mostly the tyres. Otherwise I might buy a cheaper brand and hope for the best.

ontheroad1970

Most likely mostly the car, but Kumho are decent midrange tyres that give good range.

flashg67

To have all round even wear on a front wheel drive car sounds like the tyres have been rotated front to back at some point which makes them last longer as a set, but also likely need all 4 replacing at the same time

macman

3mm is the recommended minimum tread depth, though you can go down to 1.6mm and remain legal.
It would be prudent to change them now.

400ixl

The other big factors are tyre pressure and the roads you drive on. It could have been the tyre pressure in the Fiat was wrong (even if following the guides for the vehicle). Other cars suffer if for example you drive a route with lots of roundabouts where another may not. Especially if one has narrower tyres than the other or higher side walls.

Bigwheels1111

When I was cabbing I would buy which ever tyres were the cheapest.
Kumho, eagle and wanli I think they were called.
When you go through 8 - 12 tyres a year cost is important.
Did 10k and switched front to back rotation.
On fast powerful cars better brands make a difference, but on a round town plodder it does not.

If you can get the same brand again go for it.
Do they grip well in the rain, dry and round bends if so stick with then.

sarahTT

Thanks for the comments. The tyres on the Fiat have never been rotated, instead I replaced a pair (front/back) when they were worn. And when I say worn I mean it... first time I realised that the tyres were unevenly worn the very insides of the two front wheels were almost down to the bare canvas (or whatever that's called) while the outside had some 3 millimetres left. The next set was the same despite having had wheel alignment and balancing done. And so on, four times in total over eight years.

As to the pressure well... I am not checking every week but about once a month, so I am never far off the recommended pressure. If this is wrong though... there's nothing much I can do!? The roads are the same though they are probably more potholed than they used to be...

Anyway, I am thinking that staying with those Kumho tyres is probably a good idea as the difference to the cheapo stuff is not that great.

Bigwheels1111 said:

On fast powerful cars better brands make a difference, but on a round town plodder it does not.

With me even a fast powerful car would turn into a round town plodder

fatbelly

At 3mm, I'd change them now as there will be a deterioration in performance below this.

I wouldn't go cheaper than Kumho. Either replace with the same if you're happy or go for a premium brand.

Buying cheap and hoping for the best doesn't sound great. There's plenty of info on tyre performance at https://www.tyrereviews.com/

There's a summer sale at Blackcircles now with 10% off some higher end brands so the difference is not so much but probably at least £10 per tyre extra still

macman

If you are tempted to buy 'economy' tyres or even 'pre-owned' ones (shudder) it's worth a reminder that your entire contact between car and road is dependent on those few square inches of rubber.

Ectophile

sarahTT said:

Thanks for the comments. The tyres on the Fiat have never been rotated, instead I replaced a pair (front/back) when they were worn. And when I say worn I mean it... first time I realised that the tyres were unevenly worn the very insides of the two front wheels were almost down to the bare canvas (or whatever that's called) while the outside had some 3 millimetres left. The next set was the same despite having had wheel alignment and balancing done. And so on, four times in total over eight years.

I think you were robbed by whoever did the "alignment".  I have an old Panda, and the tyre wear is perfectly normal.  Maybe not exactly the same inside to outside.  But close enough.

shiraz99

fatbelly said:

At 3mm, I'd change them now as there will be a deterioration in performance below this.

I wouldn't go cheaper than Kumho. Either replace with the same if you're happy or go for a premium brand.

Buying cheap and hoping for the best doesn't sound great. There's plenty of info on tyre performance at https://www.tyrereviews.com/

There's a summer sale at Blackcircles now with 10% off some higher end brands so the difference is not so much but probably at least £10 per tyre extra still

Given that we're in the summer with little or no rain I'd be inclined to get a few more months out of them and then get new tyres around October ahead of the cooler/wetter months.