General new tyres

[heather38]

hi, i'm looking to replace all 4 tyres on my 56 1.9 multijet.
there are continental tyres on there atm, but i'm not sure how long the've been on as i have only had the car 12 months.
any recomendations?
i'm looking for a good set that will last a while, so i can prob go to £70-£80 per tyre tops

 

[widemouthfrog]

First of all, welcome to the forum!

Can you tell us what size tyres you're looking for?

Personally, I've fitted Michelin Energy Savers to my 04 plate Multipla with the standard 15 inch alloy rims. They are a bit on the pricey side (a set of four cost me about £320 fitted), but are surely the 'roundest' feeling tyres I've had on any car. That sounds a bit obvious, but the reduction in road noise compared to the old ones (not Michelins) was very noticeable and the car just seems to roll along with much less effort and drag. Handling is good in the wet and dry and they seem to be wearing well.

 

[heather38]

First of all, welcome to the forum!

Can you tell us what size tyres you're looking for?

thanks for the welcome
at the moment i have 185/65R15 H 88 continental eco contact tyres on all 4 corners

 

[disgusted]

I've done 150k miles on Pirelli P6000s.

All of my Italian cars wear Pirellis. It seems the right thing to do!

 

[momoe]

There are a couple of sites which do reviews on tyres, you can get a feel for what is a good tyre and what isn't.
I've used Firestones for my Multipla's and got reasonable wear and economy, a good balance of price and performance in my opinion. However, this is my opinion and tyres seem to be pretty subjective, I guess it comes down to your driving technique and what suits you.
Don't stick with the 185's though, go to a 205/65, better ride comfort and handling is noticeably better.

 

[Matthen]

I've done 150k miles on Pirelli P6000s.

All of my Italian cars wear Pirellis. It seems the right thing to do!

Is that one set of tyres? Or have you changed them?

 

[Caravadossi]

There are a couple of sites which do reviews on tyres ... go to a 205/65 ...

Some elements to consider (or not).

Conti 185/65R15 tyres (I believe) may be some 10% (?) lighter than other brands – certainly my Conti SportContact were. I’d be tempted to fit 195/65R15 as a marginal step – although that size is outside the design envelope given in the OH.

Going to 205/65R15 would be a significant step-up in weight (& drag) & illegal(?) Your speedo will under-read your actual speed.

Tyres are `tested’ annually by qualified testing authorities & the results published in March. Any unqualified fool can write a tyre `review’ (or `testimonial’).

.

 

[momoe]

Caravadossi,

Please get your facts right before you post.

205 is the width of the tyre, while the width of the tyre does affect drag and weight it does NOT affect the circumference which would alter the speedo readings.
As long as you keep the same radius (R15) and profile 65, the speedo is unaffected.

BTW, my Multipla manual says that 205 is a standard width fitting option on certain OEM alloy wheels.

Check out the forum and you'll see that plenty of folk are using 205's and their experiences are all positive.

 

[Alpitlum]

Profile is a percentage of a tyres width so a 205/65/15 will have a higher rolling radius than a 185/65/15.

 

[MultiPa]

I guess I should have read this before I posted my thread.

205/65/15 - circumference is 199.1 cm
205/60/15 - circumference is 192.7 cm

195/60/15 (standard on my 2001 ELX, I think?) - circ. 188.96 cm
185/65/15 (standard on SX?) - circ. 191.0cm

Circumference of 205/60 is 99.1% of circumference of 205/60 - so speedo will read over very slightly.

Circumferecne of 215/55 is 99.6% of circumference of 195/60 - almost identical. 205/60 is 98% of 195/60.

From the excellent resource at https://sites.google.com/site/fiatmultipla/Home/repairs

 

[widemouthfrog]

For what it's worth, somebody here might find this interesting/useful:http://www.michelin.com/corporate/content/newsAndPress/6883-MICHCORP-Actualities.pdf

I know it's from the Michelin site, but it's a TUV-standard test for the right size tyre so it should be legitimate.

The handbook for my round-nose only lists 185 and 195 tyres. No 205 widths are mentioned anywhere. You do need to check circumferences as contrary to what momoe says, section width does have an effect on overall diameter of the tyre. Even that isn't the whole story as what you really need to find out is the rolling radius and sometimes that figure is hard to come by.

I have to deal with this stuff in my work from time to time and it's a bit of a minefield. As Multipa says, most of the differences we're talking about here are small. Speedo error, tyre pressure and tread wear/depth are likely to be far more significant error contributors than the changes in tyre circumference that are being looked at.

 

[momoe]

Apologies as I forgot the profile was a percentage and therefore a variable.

However, difference in circumference is 3.35% between 185 and 205, this would make your speedo read 3.35% under your given speed - speedo's generally read higher than your actual speed so it may be that your speedo will be more accurate!

I tested my speedo on an early morning run against the satnav and my speedo was about 2mph faster than my satnav speed. (On 205's)
Rather than try and keep a steady speed, run a stopwatch against the trip and multiply both figures by the necessary figure to get your mph (e.g. 5 minutes/4.8 miles) x 12 = 57.6mph.

 

[QinteQ]

hi, i'm looking to replace all 4 tyres on my 56 1.9 multijet.
there are continental tyres on there atm, but i'm not sure how long the've been on as i have only had the car 12 months.
any recomendations?
i'm looking for a good set that will last a while, so i can prob go to £70-£80 per tyre tops

Brand, I'll let you choose.

I've run 205/65 on alloy for nearly six years on two different bug's. The 2002 115 JTD fitted perfect .. .. but I had to fit spacers to the 2000 105 JTD to stop the same rim / tyre combination rubbing on the inside of the plastic wheel skirt.

Why the offset was different I've no idea, but it was, so spacers fixed it. It ' sits on the road ' a lot better, corners better, rolls a lot less and is altogether a nicer drive on the big boots.

 

[Caravadossi]

Caravadossi,

Please get your facts right before you post.

205 is the width of the tyre, while the width of the tyre does affect drag and weight it does NOT affect the circumference which would alter the speedo readings.
As long as you keep the same radius (R15) and profile 65, the speedo is unaffected.

BTW, my Multipla manual says that 205 is a standard width fitting option on certain OEM alloy wheels.

Check out the forum and you'll see that plenty of folk are using 205's and their experiences are all positive.

Thanks for your interesting comments.

Try taking a review of your bold comments before disparaging others.

What else have you "forgotten", misrepresented or got wrong?

.

 

[momoe]

Yep, bold and wrong - not a good combination!

I've already apologised but consider this a personal apology as I was clearly wrong and my tone was uncharacteristically harsh.

I'll try and make this first and last time