Technical Front Tyre Advice Please

[ugiannini]

Afternoon, my daughter's 2011panda 1.2 dynamic is in need of 2 front tyres, any recommendations would be gratefully appreciated. She lives in and around the Stoke on Trent area and does a lot of dual carriage way and motorway driving mainly in the wet because it rains a lot up there 165/65/14.
Many Thanks

 

[porta]

Tyres are a pretty subjective thing, I never liked the continentals on any of my Pandas, Michelin are good but expensive and, like Pirelli, are soft so wear quicker (unless you go for the eco tyres which I think are too hard). Have used Goodyears, Falken (wife’s jeep) and Vredestein, I liked the Falken, Pirelli and Verdi’s but Vredi’s seem hard to find these days.
Barum and Ceat seem to be good ‘mid range’ tyres. I’ve had HiFly (Chinese) tyres on my Jeep and, I have to say, were better than the BF and Generals for both grip and wear!
Insa and Maxxis on our pandas were both good and the inlaws has Malatesta on their panda, got a good deal and have lasted, but then, they don’t go very far!
Read their ratings for wet grip an wear, available on all their sites, but also read reviews

 

[rmjbn1]

I usually go for whatever reputable brand has a good offer at the time and avoid any budget makes - false economy imo

Used to be Toyos were a good deal, but being Japanese they've gone up in price.

I got a set of Kumhos last year at a good price.

And I'd recommend getting them to switch the old rears to the front, and put the new tyres on the rear. That's where you want most wet weather grip.

 

[koalar]

I usually go for whatever reputable brand has a good offer at the time and avoid any budget makes - false economy imo

Correct

Used to be Toyos were a good deal, but being Japanese they've gone up in price.

I loved the original toyo nano energy but the later versions are prone to sidewall cracking

I got a set of Kumhos last year at a good price.

And I'd recommend getting them to switch the old rears to the front, and put the new tyres on the rear. That's where you want most wet weather grip.

Correct

S-O-T is surrounded by hills, hasn't happened this year but does suffer from snow drops from time to time

The choice of all season or two sets winter summer winter might depend how close to the hills they travel

 

[varesecrazy]

My old 169 was on 13's, but we fitted 14" punto alloys helped a lot in feel

Modern panda got modern Goodyears,
Seem ok.. But don't instill confidence

My punto has had Conti eco contacts for all 80k

They wear well and are very positive in feel, But do look perished in the side walls quite early (not actually been an issue.. Just an observation)

 

[varesecrazy]

Afternoon, my daughter's 2011panda 1.2 dynamic is in need of 2 front tyres, any recommendations would be gratefully appreciated. She lives in and around the Stoke on Trent area and does a lot of dual carriage way and motorway driving mainly in the wet because it rains a lot up there 165/65/14.
Many Thanks

Reality is..

You are buying 2 new rears, and the current rears will go on the front

Any idea what's on the axles now..?

I buy mine through Asda tyres,

They have local companies doing the fitting and prices are very good

 

[porta]

I always use local company for tyres, but then, having the amount of cars, atv, utv dumper and tractor, they get a lot of business! They’re also not averse to fitting tyres I get from the web unlike a lot of companies.

 

[koalar]

Plenty of good value tyre places around S-O-T

Harvey tyres in longton were okay around 10 years ago

 

[varesecrazy]

I always use local company for tyres, but then, having the amount of cars, atv, utv dumper and tractor, they get a lot of business! They’re also not averse to fitting tyres I get from the web unlike a lot of companies.

Those days are gone for me unfortunately..
Hence my use of Asda

Just like Black Circles.. They offer good prices and local fitting

 

[porta]

Those days are gone for me unfortunately..
Hence my use of Asda

Just like Black Circles.. They offer good prices and local fitting

I did ‘keep in’ after I left the trade and Stapeltons, who used to supply the dealerships I worked at, own Central Tyres, so I know I get good service…except for tps, they hate them almost as much as I

 

[DaveMcT]

There is a better range of tyres for the 14" rims (vs the more common 13s) and they probably last longer. My wife gets through a pair of 13s per year. I suspect manufacturers consider we only want cheap tyres for cheap cars.

Pay a bit more and get a good brand.

 

[rmjbn1]

Reality is..

You are buying 2 new rears, and the current rears will go on the front

Is this standard practice at most tyre fitters?
(Genuine question. I don't know, because I always have spare wheels for my cars, usually drop a couple off for tyres and fit the wheels myself.)

 

[DaveMcT]

My tyre fitters just remove the wheel, fit tyre and put the wheel back where it came from. Swapping front to back would (reasonably) add a labour cost.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

My tyre fitters just remove the wheel, fit tyre and put the wheel back where it came from. Swapping front to back would (reasonably) add a labour cost.

Not in my experience. Any good fitters would know that they needed to be swapped - or respond positively to the reminder to do it.

 

[DaveMcT]

My fitter are good folks using the correct tools and torquing the bolts. But they would only suggest swapping front to back if the rears were getting worn but not worn out.

Personally, I swap tyres to even out the wear. The fronts have to take steering loads and 70% of the braking so I want the best treads up there. In 50 years of driving, mostly FWD cars, I've never had the rears do anything nasty and to be fair there were times that I was running some cruddy stuff on the back. Before anyone shouts at me, I've been very careful with tyres for decades.