I need to get a couple of new tyres for my car. The tyres currently on are 205 45 R17 88v and I think they are terrible Potenza's. I'm looking at getting a couple of Uniroyal Rainsport 2 but I only seem to be able to find them in a 205 45 R17 88v XL size. My question is will the fact that the tyre is XL, invalidate my insurance?

different insurers take different view points on different things, however i cannot see how using an extra load tyre would ever effect or invalidate insurance.

I really doubt this would invalidate insurance, but there is only one way to find out.

Call them and find out

As long as the 88v is the same it doesnt matter. Just never go lower than that number / letter.

That's great, thanks for all of your replies.

If you're suffering a lack of confidence in your rubber, changing just two of them isn't going far enough, IMHO. Although I'm still on the OE Bridgestones and I've yet to have them give cause for concern even when pushing on as far (and a bit more sometimes) as the road conditions will allow. But whatever you do, don't be tempted into to buying cheap Chinese tyres. They're family killers IMHO, which should be avoided at all costs. Love your tyres and they'll look after you. Sorted GP. P.S. Remember that when new tyres are fitted on a FWD car in pairs, they must 'always' be fitted to the rear of the car. Not the front.

Sorted GP said:

Remember that when new tyres are fitted on a FWD car in pairs, they must 'always' be fitted to the rear of the car. Not the front.

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Why?

I agree about those cheap imports - i have had too many flats using these and it has become false economy as the tyre gets ruined every time it goes flat. I do now question whether they meet the standards.

I would also be cautious using the reinforced tyres unless you have tyre pressure sensors as you wont know you have a puncture.

Lal B3N said:

Why?

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Despite being a FWD it's quite common to think that you need all the grip on the driving wheels, but you need more grip at the rear, if you don't have enough grip at the rear and you go round a bend in the wet, you will quite easilly loose the backend of the car.

Whenever I get my tyres changed I always make sure the new ones go on the back, the ones that were on the back get shifted to the front, and the fronts get binned! .

As you can see it's a continual cycle and I generally always change in pairs, so you get even (ish) wear!

Shauncrowyn, don’t get extra load confused with run flats. The extra load tyres are just designed to take slightly more weight than a standard tyre of that size. 84 = 500kg/wheel, 88 = 560kg/wheel. An extra load tyre will go flat just like any other. Many standard tyres in other sizes have load indexes well above 88.

As for the where to put your new tyres question. I have heard the theory about putting them on the back before and understand the reasoning for it, however, I’d much rather the new rubber on the front for three reasons. First modern cars are designed to naturally understeer and not to react violently to throttle lift off, you’d have one hell of a job losing the back end of a GP and since we are discussing tyres for a sporting here it has ESP so dropping the back end is even less likely than it would otherwise be. Secondly, the front wheels of a typical front wheel drive car do up to 85% of the braking in an emergency situation thanks to longitudinal weight transfer and front bias static weight distribution. The third reason is when you hit standing water at high speed you need lots of tread on the front end to cut through the water; an aqua planning rear is more stable in straight line running.

The reason for fitting new tyres to the rear of a vehicle is simple. Understeer can be controlled to some extent, within your own side of the road, simply by the removal of the cause of the skid/power. Massive oversteer from the rear of the vehicle will see you travelling on the wrong side of the road broadside into the path of on-coming traffic. Think about it. P.S. If you get yourself in a situation where a vehicle has lost all traction don't think any computer is going to save your ass because it won't.

Just as an FYI, I spoke to my insurance company and they confirmed in writing that changing the tyre rating (increase from V to W) will not affect my insurance policy. Going to get 4 new Kumho Ecsta KU31's

jameshobiecat said:

Shauncrowyn, don’t get extra load confused with run flats. The extra load tyres are just designed to take slightly more weight than a standard tyre of that size. 84 = 500kg/wheel, 88 = 560kg/wheel. An extra load tyre will go flat just like any other. Many standard tyres in other sizes have load indexes well above 88.

As for the where to put your new tyres question. I have heard the theory about putting them on the back before and understand the reasoning for it, however, I’d much rather the new rubber on the front for three reasons. First modern cars are designed to naturally understeer and not to react violently to throttle lift off, you’d have one hell of a job losing the back end of a GP and since we are discussing tyres for a sporting here it has ESP so dropping the back end is even less likely than it would otherwise be. Secondly, the front wheels of a typical front wheel drive car do up to 85% of the braking in an emergency situation thanks to longitudinal weight transfer and front bias static weight distribution. The third reason is when you hit standing water at high speed you need lots of tread on the front end to cut through the water; an aqua planning rear is more stable in straight line running.

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You correct i was confusing them however they are bould to be a bit stiffer on the tyre wall.

Agreed