(G) Tyres

Wondering how everyones tyres are doing. What are they? Grip? Wear? Predictability? petrol/diesel

9,000 miles of enthusiastic derv driving and I've still got tyre left on the front.. was expecting to be down to the canvas! 225/45R17 conti Sport contact 3s. Never had contis before so wasn't sure what to expect. Grip seems good, although the steering seems to go a bit too light when pushing in the wet. Considering something with a more agressive wet weather pattern for my next set, but at £100 a corner I thought it sensible to get some more advice first.

I'm a big fan of Conti tyres, had both Sport contact 2's and Premi contact on my TDCi Mondeo, which is about to become the tatty car for towing the boat and carting the dog - making way for the new Bravo. Wear depends on the driving - 'enthusiastic' town driving I got 10 - 12k from a pair of fronts, now I'm doing mostly A road & dual carriageway, about 18k going strong (probably another 5k in them). Pirelli & dunlop don't wear well IME (8 - 9k)

I've also had bridgestone's on the car - they were OK, but feel the conti's are the best so far... Interesting though your comment about steering in the wet - I've got much more confidence with conti boots on in the wet than any other tyre I've ever used...

On the subject of tyres, does anyone use 'eco' tyres and do they deliver the fuel savings manufacturers claim?

I've noticed with my Conti's (on the 18"'s), when I'm in Sport, the traction is quite poor in 1st when trying to race someone off the lights, but seems fine when in 2nd.

Weird.

Only other premium brands I've used were Bridgestone Potenza RE720s, and Toyo Proxes 1-Rs. Both on a Tipo/old Bravo platform and were/are excellent in the wet. Perhaps it's the torque in the wet causing my slight funny feel. One thing I can tell is a slight under inflation causes a lot of change in the feel of the car. Tyres were a couple of points of a bar down and once inflated to correct pressures the car felt a lot better.

Does anyone with a newer handbook (I was given the pre-launch one without the TJet engine range mentioned - typical!) know what the correct inflation pressures are for the 1.4 TJet with 18" alloys?

Would be most kind if someone could dig that out for me.

Yep got the updated book here at last, the tyre pressures as quoted are Medium load front 2.6 bar / medium rear 2.6 bar.
Full load front 2.9 bar / Full load rear 2.9 bar.
they are quoted for 225/40 R18 92V.

I'm having wicked fun on Sumos from Stamford Tyres, £50 each and grip like a leech in the wet. Fitted to my boggo GPS 130, I find them better than the Potenzas it came with.

Thats for the 1.4 Turbo? Came with 2 Bar from the dealer, I think I've pumped it up to around those pressures.

2 doesn't sound enough.. I'll double check in a few minutes - got to take my colleague to the specialists to have his Alfa fixed... again

And..

Wonderful, I'll go pump them up at work later .

Thanks Hellcat and bluebravo for the information

Pressures i wrote here are exactly as written for the 18" Tyres, 225/40 R18 92V in the updated manual, and that is for both 1.9 Multijet 16V & 1.4 t-JET 150 HP.

3 strikes and out....

Had to get a 2nd repair through a foreign object making it's way into my left-rear tyre. Leaves me with no more repairs allowed and about 5-6mm tread left

Also for Continental tyre users - my tyre guy told me they're pretty good but are prone to drying and cracking if they don't get the miles put on them. No issue for mine with over 12k on now, but for some of you new owners it might be worth you spending some time in the car