I'm on the new replacement for the Goodyear NCT5.
One thing I have noticed is the tyre pressures in the handbook are not correct. I have been running on the part load 35psi and found the sides of the tread was wearing fast so I am now using the full load 39psi.
Something for us to watch?

Granvilleb said:

... I have been running on the part load 35psi and found the sides of the tread was wearing fast so I am now using the full load 39psi. Something for us to watch?

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My ContiSportContact3 have done 15K mls - & while the centre tread has plenty of hours left, the shoulder sipes are not holding-up so well. My OH gives bar as 2.7 (39psi) at warm/med load - mostly solo (or with a.n.other) trips with all-manner of clutter in rear & 42(±20) L of fuel. I’m already running at 2.8 (41psi) as for warm/full load & considering tweaking-it-up further.

Any Croma folks running around 3.0 (43.5psi)? Max is 3.5 (51psi)

While under-inflation causes the centre tread to cave back from the road surface, & increase wear on the shoulders – in contrast, over-inflation is argued not to balloon out the centre tread (due to the steel banding?) … why?

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55 Prestigio 1.9/16v 150hp (53Kmls): 225/45ZR18 95W SportContact3

Right Guys and Gals

I've just replaced all my tyres.

I've replaced the Kumho Ecsta Sports (KU31) with nice Pirelli P7

Data at tyre replacement:

Old Fronts - 19457 Miles - Tread (L) 4 5 4 4 4 3 - (R) 3 5 4 4 5 4
Old Rears - 31142 Miles - Tread (L) 4 4 4 4 3 2 - (R) 2 3 4 4 4 4

NOTE! Rear inner shoulder edge of tyre shoulders were nearly BALD.

Comments: Rear tyre wear much improved but inners well gone. Front tyres
actually have/had plenty more miles to go.

As you can see I've replaced the fronts well early but at least I got 31K miles out of the rears compared to the original 11K miles from new and before the 4 wheel alignment changes.

I've tinkered with the rear alignment, reducing the toe-in.

Problem with my Croma rear suspension is that the toe-in is dramatically affected by the camber and am now running with -2.0 degrees of camber just to stop the toe-in from going toe-out.

Also I originally had -1.6 degress of camber 31K miles ago and the springs have sagged a little in this time moving the camber from -1.6 to -2.0.

I'm really pleased with the P7s thus far. Lets see if I can get 30K miles out of the rears again. Fronts should easily last 24K.

s130 said:

... I'm really pleased with the P7s thus far. Lets see if I can get 30K miles out of the rears again. Fronts should easily last 24K.

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Quite possibly. What version?

I’m impressed with comments on the Cinturato P7 – said to stuff everything in sight for lifespan & noise, & arguably as good dry or wet as any other from the Big 6.

Still undecided on replacements - every new day I seem to change my mind. Tempted by the FK452 or Ultrac Sessanta – but they’re both `heavies.’ Maybe the Uni Rainsport2 – but some find their mpg knocked-back.

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55 Prestigio 1.9/16v 150HP (Conti SC3 225/45ZR18 95W XL)

Caravadossi said:

Quite possibly. What version?

55 Prestigio 1.9/16v 150HP (Conti SC3 225/45ZR18 95W XL)

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P7's with asymmetric tread pattern. Not Cinturato P7.

My 4x 225/45ZR18 Conti SC3 are a few hours short of 20K miles – but given the climate, I decided to replace the front pair a little earlier than expected. Went for a pair of Falken FK-452 95Y at 08:30 this morning & while the snow was being cleared from the fitting bay doors – I noted the DoT coding. Then “U2J7” & “3410” checks-out as manufactured by Sumitomo’s Shirakawa plant in late August. The rear SC3 are now on the front.
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55 Prestigio 1.9/16v 150HP (ContiSC3/FalkenFK452)

I finally got round to getting the £55 Forceum tyres fitted on my 18" wheels. They were fitted to the front and I drove it with them on the front, then I swapped them onto the back.

They are absolutely fine. I don't know why I'd want to pay £90 for the Hankooks again, never mind £200 for a European brand.

I'll see how they go on for wear, but grip and noise levels are perfectly OK.

Update on my P7s now I've had them for a few weeks.

Dry handling is very good.
Wet handling is very good.
Turn-in and track stability is very good.
Ride is firm to hard
Bump transition to chassis/suspension is hard
Noise on concrete and lumpy/bumpy/stoney surfaces is medium high to high
Noise on smooth surface (eg. new tarmac) is almost silent

I've not pushed these tyres really hard yet but I will once they have 6K miles on them so come summer 2011 I'll really given them some serious stick.

Overall I would say that they suite the sportier driver style. If you are after a limo smooth and quiet ride then you will only get this on smooth decent surfaces, something we don't have too many of in this country.

Thus far would I buy them again. Yes, though you might not

I would add that the Forceum tyres seem a bit harder than the Hankook ones. It's a bit more bone-shaking now, but perhaps there is more air in the tyres now, as I pumped them up to pressure while the weather was very cold.

Doofer said:

They are absolutely fine. I don't know why I'd want to pay £90 for the Hankooks again, never mind £200 for a European brand.

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Thats why:

The Autocar Tyre Test - Chinese Tyre Quality Lags Behind
The Autocar Tyre Test
Chinese quality lags behind

Tyres are a distress purchase for many car owners, so when the time comes to replace them it’s no surprise that many motorists shop on price. But Autocar’s latest tyre test reveals that fitting budget Far Eastern tyres can seriously affect the way a car copes in wet weather.

Imported tyres from China and Taiwan currently account for one-fifth of all tyres sold in the UK, and although these pass the minimum ECE R30 high-speed test, there are no statutory tests for braking, handling or aquaplaning performance, and even the R30 test is considered inadequate by many car makers.

Autocar tested five leading budget brands – the GT Radial, Linglong, Nankang, Triangle and Wanli – against an established premium tyre from Continental. The magazine conducted its own tests for wet handling and braking, dry handling and braking and aquaplaning, plus a more stringent high-speed test.

Autocar senior tester Jamie Corstorphine said, “We expected the bargain tyres in this test to fall short of the Continental, but we were not prepared for just how poorly some performed.”

With on average 200 days of rain each year, a wet handling and braking test is vital for learning about the capabilities of a tyre. Braking from 50mph, the Continental stopped in the shortest distance, followed by the Nankang, GT Radial, Wanli, and Triangle, with the Linglongs taking the longest to stop. Shod with the Linglongs, the VW Golf Autocar used for its tests was still doing 27.8mph at the point where it had stopped on the Continentals.

Overall the Continentals easily won, scoring top marks in all but one test. A consistent performance earned the GT Radials second place, but a wet lap time 3.4sec adrift of the Continentals indicated just how far even it falls short.
“Having seen how the five cut-price tyres in this test perform, we’re in no doubt that quality pays dividends,” said Corstorphine.

and also:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32899266/ns/business-autos/

You don't know what you're saying in the public forum! Don't encourage anybody to buy this Chinese sh*t!
You will save a couple quid but may injure yourself or whats worse somebody else.

Indonesian actually, not Chinese. To say they're Chinese is a bit like saying British tyres are Russian. Or are they all just Johnny Foreigners?

I've got no vested interest. I've always bought high-priced tyres in the past (and have parted with a few grand in the process). I experimented with the Hankooks (Korean, or perhaps also Chinese to you), and they were fine. Nobody died, nothing unexpected happened. I therefore decided to try cheaper still, and ended up with the Forceum tyres, which have so far been perfectly good, even on ice, rain and snow.

I was nervous about going so cheap, until I walked past a row of waiting taxis and saw every economy brand I've heard of on them. Not one had Michelin, Continental, Good Year etc. Judging by the way they drive and the number of miles they do, I reckon we'd have heard of the spate of exploding tyre deaths by now if they were that dangerous.

Flick through Autocar and you'll probably see a number of full-page tyre ads from the expensive brands. The tests are usually done at a tyre maker's test track. I'm not saying they would falsify the results, but they can select their samples carefully. There's no doubt that there are dangerous tyres about, but you or I have no idea which ones they are.

If I was to compare Waitrose's cheapest "value" food with LIDL's most expensive range, would it be fair to conclude that LIDL food is always better, and that Waitrose food is cheap and nasty? Or that German food is good, and all British food is awful?

I wouldn't rely on any tyre tests at present, until the EU actually get round to doing something useful and start performing proper tests of all tyres. Until then, we're all guessing. I suspect that the big European tyre companies will have a chat with the EU to make sure this never happens, as I suspect the results would show that there are many low-cost imports that are every bit as good as is made here.

I'm sure there are lots of vested interests at play here, e.g. from the msnbc article above...

Imports of Chinese tires have grown from 15 million tires in 2000 to 46 million last year, according to the United Steelworkers union, which has accused China of unfair trade practices. The union, which represents workers in the rubber industry, said Chinese tires imports have accelerated this year, with August imports up 57 percent over January levels based on the weight of tires unloaded on U.S. docks.

Says it all really. Also, the tests in the Autocar test were, by the sound of it, performed by Continental. They concluded that (surprise, surprise) theirs were the best. They probably tested a hundred or so foreign tyres in private before doing their proper test with their selection of rivals. Don't believe any of it.

I wouldn't use taxi drivers as a barometer of best practice. Budget tyres are not necessarily unsafe, but they are not as good as the more expensive ones. That said, the more expensive ones are not necessarily the best either.

Auto Express often conduct their own independant tyre tests which are quite comprehensive. Generally, they have found that mid range tryes perform nearly as well as the top brands but that budget ones perform significantlly worse.

Vredstein usually come out well in their tests. One shocker is that Michelin (one of the most expensive on the market) don't often do that well. Perhaps they are like the restaurants that bear the same mark: overpriced and over rated.

The Far East manufacturing countries are becoming the bedrock and quality suppliers of just about all ectronic goods. I remember as a kid in the 50s the olde Christmas Cracker was the first exposure (other than fireworks) that I got with Chinese products and they were the cheap plastic tack that everybody shunned and helped build and solidify the "anything from the far east is cheap and low quality".

Given a little more time then like the electronics industry that tyre industry over there will begin to dominate.

Only a matter of time.

I have just put a pair of Pirelli P7's on the front and althought they are a bit noisier than the Toyo Proxes they replaced they are a good deal better in the snow and ice. The Proxes were nice to look at but seemed to wear out quickly - approx 15,000 miles. I do a lot of stop-start motoring, so when I get to the twisty B-road portion of my commute I often put my foot down and do 61-ish. Officer .

On the back I have a pair of Goodyear Eagle NCT-5's and they look almost brand new, despite having done milage only just short of the Toyo's.

cromachris said:

On the back I have a pair of Goodyear Eagle NCT-5's and they look almost brand new, despite having done milage only just short of the Toyo's.

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I replaced all four of mine at the same time with Hankook V12 EVO's last year. The backs were almost new-looking after the fronts had worn down to the limit bumps. The Croma seems to wear the fronts a lot quicker than the backs, so back tyres that last a long time are not necessarily a mark of a hard-wearing tyre.

I should add that ours is mainly used as a one- or two-seater, and we don't tow anything.

I got the fronts swapped for the Forceum tyres, then rotated back-front to put the newest on the back (as you always should, and anyone who disagrees is wrong).

I replaced my 4 Avon ZZRs (which had started to become noisy as they wore) with Barum Bravarius 2s. They have been on now for 8 months and have proved excellent, wearing evenly, quiet and with good grip in the wet, they are slightly less responsive to quick turns and understeer slightly more than the Avons when pushed but unless you drive like Michael Schumacher it shouldn't matter.

bobbyblue said:

...but unless you drive like Michael Schumacher it shouldn't matter.

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Und vot ist vong viss drifink like ze most famous driver of ze Crroma?! :devil:

cromachris said:

Und vot ist vong viss drifink like ze most famous driver of ze Crroma?! :devil:

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O.K. I see you have got the famous sense of humour sometimes demanded if you drive a Croma

This is getting off topic but...it is December 2010 and Christmas is nearing ...

Whilst I admire?/appreciate?/ etc. Schumi I have a problem.

Italian cars NEED to be driven by Italian drivers to maximise the brand, following and heriatage.

See [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Italian_Formula_One_drivers"]Category:Italian Formula One drivers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

Add World Rally and Touring Car Champioships then the more the better.

Sadly only a few Italian drivers have reached the top and consistantly won.

In absence of an Italian the Schumi, Alen, Rohrl etc. will do nicely.

Absolutely!!! Italians are not the best drivers, but are the most spirited.

Better to die in a blaze of glory than in bed with your boots on.