General best tyres for a fiat 500 twin air plus

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General best tyres for a fiat 500 twin air plus

The best advice I can give, is not to have worn tyres at all, be them on the front or the rear. I can't remember when I last tried to extend the life of a tyre by wearing them to the limit. Not worth it at all.

Also, I don't think I've ever aquaplaned. If I have, it had no affect and I never noticed.

Grip on a dry road is better with slicks, but as soon as there's any wet or damp, you need tread. The legal minimum of 1.6mm tread depth is just that ........... an absolute minimum, not a target.

That's good advice.

The wider your tyres, the greater the risk. 1.6mm might have been sufficient in the days of 135x13's, but modern tyres need more tread depth to give the same aquaplaning resistance.

The only time I've had a serious aquaplaning issue was in the late '80's on an inherited company-owned Cavalier SRi. The tyres were down to 2mm and they refused to replace them as they were technically still legal and the car was due for replacement in a few weeks. On wet roads, at anything above 50mph even gentle manoevuring or braking could easily have put it in the ditch.

Six weeks later it was replaced by an only slightly less knackered Mondeo which shed its clutch the week after I got it. I left the company shortly afterwards.
 
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Yes - I've had aquaplaning on the motorway once in the pouring rain in a Mk 2 Punto, a butt clenching moment if ever I had one. :eek:

I never run my tyres down to the limit either - also if its a low mileage car the rubber can go hard after several years and lose its grippyness (is that a word?). Its amazing how many people run old tyres because they're not worn out not realising that they have far less grip than they think.

worn on the front Always

C.
 
whilst on the subject, what is a good average millage from a set of front 15", and also the rear. on a TA . 20K for front?

Also 16", do they last longer being bigger.



NB , all this is driven ''sensibly''
 
whilst on the subject, what is a good average millage from a set of front 15", and also the rear. on a TA . 20K for front?

Also 16", do they last longer being bigger.



NB , all this is driven ''sensibly''
I still have the original set on my 500 after nearly 78k miles. I say original, the rears were the ones that came with the car and the fronts are part works I put on when my dealer gave me a ridiculous amount of toe that murdered a the inside edge on the fronts where I still had 4 mm left over the rest of the tyre, they were replaced with part works with 4mm on them. 25 perhaps 30k of those miles has been done on winters.

16" wheels with Bridgestone Potenza RE050A's and the car is cornered enthusiastically a lot of the time.
 
Potenza are great - aren't they come as a standart on the Abarth?
 
Nope, the Abarth comes with either Conti Premium Contact 2's, Pirelli P Zero Nero's or in essesse form, Michelin Pilot Sport's. Things may have changed over the last couple of years.
 
I prefer the Continental,s full stop whether its for summer or winter they make fantastic tyres always high in reviews (y) and i don`t think it matters if you have 10 years or 50 years driving experience .the tyre manufacturers no best so i take their advice on new on the back etc.(y)
 
My 1.4 Sport wears Michelin EnergySavers all round and I rate them pretty highly. Quiet, improved ride over the previous Conti PremiumContact 2s and I'm happy with the grip in wet and dry. 16,000 miles so far and still 4mm tread on the fronts. They don't like the snow though - a good advert for Winter tyres.

My all-time favourite tyres are Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymetric 2s though. If these came in 185/55 R15 they'd be on my 500. C'mon Goodyear...
 
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