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General Tyres??

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General Tyres??

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Too many cars

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I know this has probably been discussed dozens of times but its almost time for the front tyres to be replaced on the 500.

Contis havent really lasted well 8500 miles since new and around 2.5mm tread left on the fronts.

Its only the 1.2 lounge so not really hard driven (its the wifes!!) so looking for any ideas on what tyres suite the 500

Looking for something that last a bit longer than the Contis but wont comprimose handling, Had Toyos on my GTV V6 which stuck to the road but never got to see how long they last as it got written off ( not my fault!!) and they are not badly priced currently. Pirelli P6000 last well but on other cars Ive had handled badly on the Pirellis, Only Michelin that I can find in the size I need is the energy tyre which I havent got any experience of but michelins tend to last well (did 24k on a set of michs on an astra GSI and still had about 8mm of tread left!!)

Any advice on a longer lasting tyre??
 
Too many cars said:
I know this has probably been discussed dozens of times but its almost time for the front tyres to be replaced on the 500.

Contis havent really lasted well 8500 miles since new and around 2.5mm tread left on the fronts.

Its only the 1.2 lounge so not really hard driven (its the wifes!!) so looking for any ideas on what tyres suite the 500

Looking for something that last a bit longer than the Contis but wont comprimose handling, Had Toyos on my GTV V6 which stuck to the road but never got to see how long they last as it got written off ( not my fault!!) and they are not badly priced currently. Pirelli P6000 last well but on other cars Ive had handled badly on the Pirellis, Only Michelin that I can find in the size I need is the energy tyre which I havent got any experience of but michelins tend to last well (did 24k on a set of michs on an astra GSI and still had about 8mm of tread left!!)

Any advice on a longer lasting tyre??
Click to expand...


My 500 lasted nearly 16.5k before needing tyres! and i had dunlop's on mine
 
Too many cars said:
I know this has probably been discussed dozens of times but its almost time for the front tyres to be replaced on the 500.

Contis havent really lasted well 8500 miles since new and around 2.5mm tread left on the fronts.

Its only the 1.2 lounge so not really hard driven (its the wifes!!) so looking for any ideas on what tyres suite the 500

Looking for something that last a bit longer than the Contis but wont comprimose handling, Had Toyos on my GTV V6 which stuck to the road but never got to see how long they last as it got written off ( not my fault!!) and they are not badly priced currently. Pirelli P6000 last well but on other cars Ive had handled badly on the Pirellis, Only Michelin that I can find in the size I need is the energy tyre which I havent got any experience of but michelins tend to last well (did 24k on a set of michs on an astra GSI and still had about 8mm of tread left!!)

Any advice on a longer lasting tyre??
Click to expand...

Hmmm. Do you actually have a tread depth gauge? Our car has done 5.5k miles and still has 6mm of tread left (measured with a tread depth gauge) so I'd be very surpised if your tyres were actually down to 2.5mm unless your wife is Ari Vatanen or she does a lot of dry steering.

The reason why I ask if you have a proper gauge is that tyres usually come with 8-9mm of tread and there's no way you'll get 24k out of the first mm of tread on the tyre.

Halfords do this gauge which is so cheap that everyone should own one.
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_566811_langId_-1_categoryId_165648
 
I had the Michelin Energy Saver on my MK4 Astra. They lasted the best part of 25,000 miles. I would definitely buy them again but they do cost a lot more.

My 500 has Continental Tyres and has done 19k miles - and tread is down to 4mm (measured by a gauge)
 
Mark Elvin said:
I'll be looking for some new tyres in the not to distant future too, 11,000miles & I'm down to about 4mm front & rear.

I'm going to go up a width & down a profile to try to protect the wheel face.
Click to expand...
Would it not be easier just to get something with a rim protection ridge or do they not work that well?
 
306maxi said:
Would it not be easier just to get something with a rim protection ridge or do they not work that well?
Click to expand...

RobW said:
indeed the rim protection ridges work well on Yokohamas (y)
Click to expand...

Quite probably, but I've always thought the tyres look a little narrow for the rims anyway, so It'd kill two birds with one stone.
 
Last edited:
Mark Elvin said:
Quite probably, but I've always thought the tyres look a little narrow for the rims anyway, so It'd kill two birds with one stone.
Click to expand...
All depends what sort of look you want I guess. Our Subaru now has two sets of rims which both have the same width of tyre (205) but one is a 6.5" wide rim and the other is a 6" rim and I do quite like the slightly more slabsided look of the tyre on the wider rim rather than the slightly baggy look that you get with a narrower rim or wider tyre.
 
What actual tyres are we talking about here, no use just saying "continentals"!

Anyway 8.5k is very poor. The tyre wear will tell you plenty - check for more in the middle, or at the sides, or a ruff feel to the pattern when brushing across the tread pattern in one direction (only)?
 
I was pretty close on my estimate on tread left nearside front is down to 3mm avg and offside 4mm rears are still on 7mm though may do a rotate first, But Toyos looked pretty cheap at £52 a piece fitted.
 
Too many cars said:
I was pretty close on my estimate on tread left nearside front is down to 3mm avg and offside 4mm rears are still on 7mm though may do a rotate first, But Toyos looked pretty cheap at £52 a piece fitted.
Click to expand...
3-4mm is plenty of tread. Just remember the first few mm of tread wear quickly because when the tread blocks are bigger they're more flexible and wear quicker. It's recommended that you don't rotate as most tyre companies say that you should have the best tyres on the rear.
 
The Conti Premium Contact 2's are truely exceptional tyres in terms of grip, wet and dry IMO. However they do have horrid road noise levels!

Look at Goodyear Eagle F1's - I've just fitted a pair myself, on offer at the moment on Kwik Fit online for about £65 each. These are also exceptional, approved for track use in fact, and have a very much more acceptable road noise (less SSSHHHH type of noise) than the Conti's. They also have a more pronounced scrub bead that should offer the alloys a little more protection. However likely to wear just as quickly, more so perhaps.

One thing - mention to the fitter to be careful with the sills, the jack needs to be on the inner most lip as it WILL bend otherwise, a few posts on here about it and indeed mine suffered (not enough to worry about thankfully). Also the alloy locking nut, if you have one, is not to be used with an impact wrench.

HTH
 
Something with a scrub bead sounds like a good idea as the wife has managed to kerb one wheel whilst parking ( not badly luckly!! ) then tried to blame me!! ( she previously ripped the beading off a tyre on the gtv and take a chunk out of a tyre onher previous omega (mind you I did kerb the omega alloys as well 18" flat face on 35 profile tyres without a beading is not the greatest plan!!)
 
Too many cars said:
Something with a scrub bead sounds like a good idea as the wife has managed to kerb one wheel whilst parking ( not badly luckly!! ) then tried to blame me!! ( she previously ripped the beading off a tyre on the gtv and take a chunk out of a tyre onher previous omega (mind you I did kerb the omega alloys as well 18" flat face on 35 profile tyres without a beading is not the greatest plan!!)
Click to expand...
I can't help but think that you need to make it extremely clear to the wife that the car shouldn't touch a kerb, ever. All it takes is a bit of care and attention and you'll never kerb your wheels.

If however this will never work just do a search on www.mytyres.co.uk and choose one of the tyres with a rim protection ridge :)
 
pearce_jj said:
Look at Goodyear Eagle F1's - I've just fitted a pair myself, on offer at the moment on Kwik Fit online for about £65 each. These are also exceptional, approved for track use in fact, and have a very much more acceptable road noise (less SSSHHHH type of noise) than the Conti's. They also have a more pronounced scrub bead that should offer the alloys a little more protection. However likely to wear just as quickly, more so perhaps.
Click to expand...

Just looked on Quckfit & they have Firestone SZ70's for £53.90 each. Had Firestones on the Insight for most of it's life & they were fine, lets face it, a 1.2 Fiat 500 doesn't need mega performance rubber.
 
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