I bought a 3 year old Panda 4x4 in August & I'm trying to source a pair of front tyres before winter sets in. I've read previous threads & seen that many members recommend Vredstein Quatrac 3's. I've been to my all my local tyre dealers & only Supertyres at Welwyn can order them, but I'll have to wait until mid November.

My question is; does anyone rate the factory fitted "Pirelli 185-65-T14s". I've emailed & called my local Fiat dealership, although they can order them, they couldn't tell me what type of tyre it is & I don't want to place an order without knowing if they are the best for my vehicle.

Also, can anyone tell me what the correct tyre pressure for this car is. I'm currently putting 2.0 bar in the front & 1.8 bar in the rear, but a friend told me, I should be using a ratio of 2.2/2.0.

I would appreciate any advice from fellow owners.

Thanks

Hi,

Although my 4x4 is over 4 years old now, it still only has 22,000 miles on it ans is only now approaching needing new tyres. You're correct in saying that the common recommendation for good M+S tyres are the Quatrac-3's and indeed I was fortunate enough to remember to order some in the summer, so I have 4 new ones to fit in the next couple of weeks. I do understand that their production is seasonal, but the expectation is that they are worth the wait effort.

Assuming that your current tyres are legal enough to last for the next 5 or 6 weeks, I'd order a set of Q3's today and get in the queue now. I was told by a doom-monger yesterday that heavy snow will once again be common this winter....

My car came the other OEM tyre - Bridgestone Dueler HTs - all round, which have been OK, but generally unremarkable in the wet. Yet the car was unstoppable in the January UK snow-fest, so they're not that bad when the cold really sets in. Whilst they are also seemingly no longer available, you might find some useable ones on eBAY to tide you over.

I run 30psi Front and Rear (broadly 2.0bar), as this seems to give the best compromise between ride, handling and grip.

Place that order.....!

Phil G

my 4x4 is running on the original Pirelli's and approching 22000 miles, still legal tread on them and I would have them again when the time comes ( my 4x4 is for sale in the for sale section ) and if the snow comes then I'll keep it, it never let us down last winter.

book says 2.2 front, 2.0 rear

muddy panda said:

I bought a 3 year old Panda 4x4 in August & I'm trying to source a pair of front tyres before winter sets in. I've read previous threads & seen that many members recommend Vredstein Quatrac 3's. I've been to my all my local tyre dealers & only Supertyres at Welwyn can order them, but I'll have to wait until mid November.

My question is; does anyone rate the factory fitted "Pirelli 185-65-T14s". I've emailed & called my local Fiat dealership, although they can order them, they couldn't tell me what type of tyre it is & I don't want to place an order without knowing if they are the best for my vehicle.

Also, can anyone tell me what the correct tyre pressure for this car is. I'm currently putting 2.0 bar in the front & 1.8 bar in the rear, but a friend told me, I should be using a ratio of 2.2/2.0.

I would appreciate any advice from fellow owners.

Thanks

Click to expand...

Can't add much other than to say that you should get the new tyres put on the rear of the car for safety reasons.

Also, R1nga, I would never reccomend buying tyres to get fitted months later, tyres do have a useful life and keeping them in the shed for a couple of months will only shorten this life by a couple of months. It's not going to kill you or cause a great degradation in performance but it's best just to order when you need them

Duellers are still available
http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop....gorie=6&Ang_pro_Seite=15&Transport=P&dsco=110

Hi all,

Posted about thte same problem a few weeks ago.

I tried to get Quadtrac 3's but no louck until at least November whichj was too late for me.

Mine has Pirelli Snowcontol 190 185/65/r14 from new which are now no longer available, i opted for the Series II Snowcontrol from Pirelli and are having them fit this Saturday.

Will post Pics if anyone interested and i will update on handling/grip over the comming months just for intetrest.

Link to better view of the tyre below.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...=yes&vehicleSearch=false&partnum=865TR5W190C2

Re tyre pressure

Rear 2.2
Front 2.0

Cheers

www.mytyres.co.uk still list the Pirelli snow control as well as Snowcontrol II and Snowsport options. All these are winter tyres so you MAY get increased wear in summer, and dry braking performance MAY be reduced on warm days. Continentals winter tyre webpage actually says if you have to buy one type of tyre for all year round use you are better off on a winter tyre than a summer one (ie the cold weather,snow,ice benefits outweigh the summer shortfalls). Continental don't offer a year round tyre, just summer or winter.

Pirelli also offer 2 'all season' tyre options with M+S rating in the form of P2500 4S and P6 Four Seasons.


Another option is Nokian - better know for their winter tyres the W+ or WR range are actually all season tyres, but still M+S and severe winter (mountain symbol) rated. I've just bought another set of W+ tyres. They are low rolling resistance so good for mpg, have a high treadwear rating (420) and giev good all round performance. They are not going to compete with a true sever winter tyre like a Nokian Happapolitta or the best rated winter tyres in German tests (PIrelli, Dunlop,Continental), but they have the benefit of all year round use and a good wear rate. One Volvo XC90 owner in Canada gets almost 50k miles from a set compared to 15k miles from the original factory supplier Continental tyres. Other owners report good mileage too (in the USA Nokian offer a 50k mile guarantee !).

I went with the Nokians as all the German winter tyre tests are weighted to snow driving, and have no consideration for how tyres would behave or wear on dry warm British Autumn/Spring days or even if used through hot summer weather. I swap wheel sets winter and summer so its not such an issue for me, but at least i have some confidence that the tyres aren't going to turn to mush on a freak 20'C spring day.

I ordered Q3s about a month ago and had them fitted yesterday - great service from KB Tyres and Exhausts in Barnoldswick!

Originally I was told delivery was due in November and so wrote to Vredestein UK in 'disgust' and lo and behold they managed to get a set through to KB within a couple of weeks.

£209.34 for all four, fitted, balanced etc - happy with that

Performance so far has been great, good offroad (wet grass, towing heavy trailer), and so far on road good too - of course now we get the summer heatwave...

I wouldn't touch the B'stone Duellers that came with the car - far too road biased and utterly rubbish in the dales, very glad when I wore them out!

But each to their own of course

percymon said:

www.mytyres.co.uk still list the Pirelli snow control as well as Snowcontrol II and Snowsport options. All these are winter tyres so you MAY get increased wear in summer, and dry braking performance MAY be reduced on warm days. Continentals winter tyre webpage actually says if you have to buy one type of tyre for all year round use you are better off on a winter tyre than a summer one (ie the cold weather,snow,ice benefits outweigh the summer shortfalls). Continental don't offer a year round tyre, just summer or winter.

Pirelli also offer 2 'all season' tyre options with M+S rating in the form of P2500 4S and P6 Four Seasons.


Another option is Nokian - better know for their winter tyres the W+ or WR range are actually all season tyres, but still M+S and severe winter (mountain symbol) rated. I've just bought another set of W+ tyres. They are low rolling resistance so good for mpg, have a high treadwear rating (420) and giev good all round performance. They are not going to compete with a true sever winter tyre like a Nokian Happapolitta or the best rated winter tyres in German tests (PIrelli, Dunlop,Continental), but they have the benefit of all year round use and a good wear rate. One Volvo XC90 owner in Canada gets almost 50k miles from a set compared to 15k miles from the original factory supplier Continental tyres. Other owners report good mileage too (in the USA Nokian offer a 50k mile guarantee !).

I went with the Nokians as all the German winter tyre tests are weighted to snow driving, and have no consideration for how tyres would behave or wear on dry warm British Autumn/Spring days or even if used through hot summer weather. I swap wheel sets winter and summer so its not such an issue for me, but at least i have some confidence that the tyres aren't going to turn to mush on a freak 20'C spring day.

Click to expand...

W+'s and WR's ARE winter tyres and they WILL wear quicker in the summer, there's no two ways about it.

My QT3s also came from Supertyres in Welwyn, back in June. I was told they could take a few weeks to arrive but in fact were pretty quick (less than 7 days I think) - maybe try James' trick of complaining to Vredestein (point them to all the good comments on this forum!)

Tyre pressures: 2.2bar front, 2.0 rear for normal use. (that's about 33/30psi)
2.3 at both ends if fully loaded

Pete

306maxi said:

W+'s and WR's ARE winter tyres and they WILL wear quicker in the summer, there's no two ways about it.

Click to expand...

On the nokian website they come under their winter tyre range for sure, but in Canada and the USA they are sold as all season. The Tyres are labelled all weather plus. 50k miles of all year use on a near 2 tonne 4x4 doesn't seem like rapid wear to me. I don't claim they will outlast a summer tyre in summer conditions ( although they lasted 3 times longer than the contis on that xc90) merely that they have a better chance than other winter Tyres IMHO.

They are the least winter of nokians winter Tyres and they state for use in milder rapidly changing weather conditions of central Europe. Given the rest of nokians range and the fact they are based in the arctic circle I have a bit more confidence in their knowledge than some other big name companies.

I'm don't want them to last all year, I have some soft bridgestones for summer with a horrific wear rate of 15k miles a set. What I wanted was a slightly less extreme winter tyre, not one that was great on snow but useless in spring.

Given I've done 10k on a set through last oct - may including warm days, and still got 8mm on the fronts and almost 10mm on the rears means I'll get at least 3 winters and 30k miles from them even if I ditch them at the 4mm winter cut off for tread depth. So seems I have what I consider a good grippy winter tyre that's good on mileage, fuel efficiency and grip wet n dry in cold conditions but also tolerates warmer weather.

From what I've read here quatrac2s suited the panda 4x4 and those that have had to now use quatrac 3s are as pleased if not more so.

I offer my experience and research on the nokians as knowledge share, and a potential option for those interested.

It's not hard to get decent mileage from Tyres on a panda, no matter what the make. We've just replaced the original conti ecocontacts on the rear axle after 46k and they still weren't at the wear bars. We even got 24k from some cheap Chinese rubbish the dealer fitted at the front for resale.

R1NGA said:

Hi,

Although my 4x4 is over 4 years old now, it still only has 22,000 miles on it ans is only now approaching needing new tyres. You're correct in saying that the common recommendation for good M+S tyres are the Quatrac-3's and indeed I was fortunate enough to remember to order some in the summer, so I have 4 new ones to fit in the next couple of weeks. I do understand that their production is seasonal, but the expectation is that they are worth the wait effort.

Assuming that your current tyres are legal enough to last for the next 5 or 6 weeks, I'd order a set of Q3's today and get in the queue now. I was told by a doom-monger yesterday that heavy snow will once again be common this winter....

My car came the other OEM tyre - Bridgestone Dueler HTs - all round, which have been OK, but generally unremarkable in the wet. Yet the car was unstoppable in the January UK snow-fest, so they're not that bad when the cold really sets in. Whilst they are also seemingly no longer available, you might find some useable ones on eBAY to tide you over.

I run 30psi Front and Rear (broadly 2.0bar), as this seems to give the best compromise between ride, handling and grip.

Place that order.....!

Phil G

Click to expand...

Hi Phil,

Thanks for the advice (and everyone else's comments too). I've ordered 4 x Quatrac 3s today (£216.00 inc valves & balancing) from Supertyres at Welwyn Garden City. They are currently in stock, but I'm waiting till payday in a couple of week's time to have them fitted.

Also took your advice & inflated tyres to 30psi yesterday morning. I agree it's a much better ride than my previous ratio, but may switch to 2.2/2.0 when the weather get's bad.

This is a great forum by the way - a much more efficient source of information than Fiat's service department!

Tom

muddy panda said:

This is a great forum by the way - a much more efficient source of information than Fiat's service department!

Tom

Click to expand...

To be fair to a dealership, they have to know all the models, it's very easy to get to know 1 or 2 models really well, but hard to get to know a full range of new cars and also older cars as well.

Just reporting I had 4 Vredstein Quatrac 3's fitted to my Panda 4x4 on 1st November. Driven the car around town & at speed on the motorway. Haven't had to deal with any severe weather conditions yet, but the tyres feel like they are gripping the road better than my previous ones & the road noise isn't excessive either.

Can any fellow 4x4 users give their experience here of driving in the snow. As I've not felt the 4x4 traction "kick in" yet, I've only been able to watch user videos on "You Tube" some of which look a bit extreme compared with the road conditions I'm expecting this winter in Hertfordshire.

muddy panda said:

Just reporting I had 4 Vredstein Quatrac 3's fitted to my Panda 4x4 on 1st November. Driven the car around town & at speed on the motorway. Haven't had to deal with any severe weather conditions yet, but the tyres feel like they are gripping the road better than my previous ones & the road noise isn't excessive either.

Can any fellow 4x4 users give their experience here of driving in the snow. As I've not felt the 4x4 traction "kick in" yet, I've only been able to watch user videos on "You Tube" some of which look a bit extreme compared with the road conditions I'm expecting this winter in Hertfordshire.

Click to expand...

Well you wont need to wait too long
heavy snow could be in for end of November , i.e next weekend

Dont forget , its not just the tread of winter tyres but the softer compound that helps when temperatures are below 7 degrees, even without snow or ice.
Both the 4x4 and the cross (which i have driven in heavy snow and it was as good as my landrover ) should be at home on these conditions due to the exceptional traction to weight ratio. Note that in an emergency (this applies to all cars) you can reduce the pressures to 15 psi (or even 10) to get going on snowy hllls, but like snow chains, you must go back to normal pressures on clear roads or above 40 km phr as handling will be poor and overheating of the tyre can result if driven too fast. However it can be life and death if you are stuck in a remore area so consider carrying an electric inflator.
Nige

Ι am going to buy pirelli scorpio atr as i prefer all season and all terrain combination at 175/70/14
http://www.pirelli.com/tyre/ww/en/suv/sheet/scorpion_atr.html

muddy panda said:

...As I've not felt the 4x4 traction "kick in" yet....

Click to expand...

You won't feel it 'kick in' -- its all very seemless, You just realise that you are moving when all around you is stuck!

Have you seen the Panda in Hertfordshire snow vids on YouTube? That's me! First here is Waterend Lane, between Wheathampstead and Ayot Green, through the ford and up the hill from there (1 in 8 I think). Other is over the top of Woodcock Hill near Sandridge,

Here:
and here:

Pete (snow is due Thursday!)

[edit: Just realised this was my 900th post on this forum]

muddy panda said:

Just reporting I had 4 Vredstein Quatrac 3's fitted to my Panda 4x4 on 1st November. Driven the car around town & at speed on the motorway. Haven't had to deal with any severe weather conditions yet, but the tyres feel like they are gripping the road better than my previous ones & the road noise isn't excessive either.

Can any fellow 4x4 users give their experience here of driving in the snow. As I've not felt the 4x4 traction "kick in" yet, I've only been able to watch user videos on "You Tube" some of which look a bit extreme compared with the road conditions I'm expecting this winter in Hertfordshire.

Click to expand...

Just remember that whilst 4wd gives you better traction you still don't have any more cornering ability or braking ability than a 2wd car.

306maxi said:

Just remember that whilst 4wd gives you better traction you still don't have any more cornering ability or braking ability than a 2wd car.

Click to expand...

Hey, at least the Panda doesn't weigh two and a half tons unlike the other 4x4s that usually drive up your chuff when it's snowing...

306maxi said:

Just remember that whilst 4wd gives you better traction you still don't have any more cornering ability or braking ability than a 2wd car.

Click to expand...

I agree with this but found, last winter, that my Cross with proper winter tyres had exceptional grip when cornering and braking. Much better than my previous Climbing running on all-season tyres.

doctorchris said:

I agree with this but found, last winter, that my Cross with proper winter tyres had exceptional grip when cornering and braking. Much better than my previous Climbing running on all-season tyres.

Click to expand...

That was my point An ordinary Panda will be just as good in the winter on winter tyres except for traction of course.