General update on tyres

[baslaityer]

hi y'all

1. Stu, just to commend you on an excellent job keeping this section of the forum alive and lively...keep it up mate!

2. on to subject matter...some of you may remember my earlier thread about the correct tyre pressure to use for the ulysse? well, as an update, i'm now on 12 thousand km and hve been using the ulysse on 35 - 38 psi all round for some time (depending on load, but always the same setting all round, all the time). what i'm surprised with is that recently i noted both the left front and rear tyres are wearing more in the middle strip section. the right side ones are all OK...i'm at a loss to figure why it had happened this way...(don't tell me the right side's are alright because they are on the "right" side...) if it had been overinflation it should've occurred all round, right? regardless, i've reduced the pressure to 32psi all round, and sure enuf the ride's softened up a little now.

3. read the thread on the amsterdam thing. remember some of my colleagues being there on "business" trips and being away from home after a couple of days, they confirm that only in amsterdam do people start to salivate merely by doing some window shopping! ah, glorious culture of the world...

take care guys

BUZZ

 

[Stu DemonD]

Hi,

Thanks Buzz for the commendation - I sometimes feel I am the only person on here, and end up replying to myself - lol

Interesting comment about your tyres - bit of a loss at that one. I will check what pressures ours are running at [I would do it now, on a Sunday morning over here, but it is raining out - good old Blighty], and also look at their condition. Car has only done 5.5k miles since September, so hopefully nothing too drastic.

I haven't been to Amsterdam yet - boo hoo. Maybe I should make up a pretend business trip, long weekend away, etc. Hmmmm.

Stu

 

[poggy]

Hi,

I had to have the tracking done on our Ulysse, it was starting to scrub the edge of each of the front tyres. Anyway the garage said it was way out. It is possible that the dodgy road at the Marina where we have an office did it, but I can't be sure. As the tyres are about £120 each for the Michelin I will probably have it checked every 5-6 months. If it is not out they don't charge and if it is they charge £15.00.

Well worth having it checked I would say just to be on the safe side.

By the way the guy who runs our Dutch office has just got the Citroen C8 in van form to avoid car tax. It is actually the 2.2 car version converted by the garage to have the seat removed and the windows balcked out.

Andy

 

[Stu DemonD]

Sounds like this current 'government' is going to tax van drivers up to the hilt anyway, following the last budget. It gets round those people who abused the sytem by being charged £500 BIK whilst driving a twin-cab pickup, or similar. BUT it totally penalises the guy who is forced to use a van for work!!!!

Still haven't checked the tyres - still raining heavily!

 

[Stu DemonD]

Hi,

as a follow on, noted that you were quoted £120 for one tyre. I presume this is from a local quick fit centre! I tend to get my tyres trade, if possible, but my source has now packed up. BUT check out http://www.mytyres.co.uk

Pirellis, 215/60/16, come out at £78.30 each for P6s and £79.40 for P6000s, including P&P. My local independent garage charges about £10 for fitting, maybe less if all 4 done at once. Or you could take this information to local tyre place and see if they will price match.

Stu

 

[poggy]

Hi,

It is from my local tyre place, I have the expensive (it seems) new Michelin Pilot Premacy fitted at the moment and they are £109.30 on the site you linked. Not sure why they are so much more than the Pirelli etc.

I will probably stick to them if I only have to replace two at a time. Hopefully they will have another 15-16K in them.

Andy

 

[keggers]

Guys, curious to find out how tyres are wearing generally. Mine have 14K on them and the front ones are coming close to replacing (Pirellis) which seems a bit too soon to me. I usually get at least 20K out of the first tyres on a new car. The wear pattern is even so it's not due to anything being out of line and my driving style shouldn't cause it, if anything I drive slower since getting "the van"

Keggers

 

[baslaityer]

hi keggers,

yup, i reckon 14k and up for replacement is a bit "radical"!. But i remember reading somewhere Pirellis are the type to wear faster as they are of softer compounds. still, at 14k it sounds way too early?

again, i'd ask what pressure do you use? and how's your "van" loaded normally, full house or single/double occupant(s) only? interesting to compare...

from my experience also, i used to drive an audi A4...with the type of driving i was doing then (loved chucking it into corners y'see ... you get a "kick"[8D] out of it) the front pair usually wears off faster, and because of that, the front ones have visible scuff marks on the edges which the rears don't show.

of course, my current ulysse isn't subjected to the same treatment. you'll find i use it more for family outings (2 adults + 4 kids)and the driving's definitely sedate. which is why my current situation puzzles me even more. anyway, i'll continue driving for the next 5-10k with the reduced pressure setting of 32psi and see if the wear evens out (hopefully!).

happy driving & cheers

buzz

 

[poggy]

Hi,

I think that is why they swapped to Michelen, although they have less grip in the wet they are "meant" to be longer lasting.

I have done only 7K and if it hadn't been for the tracking problem the tyres wouldn't show much wear at all. I would normally expect about 20-25K on a set of tyres on a car this size and type.

I am going to get my wheels swapped later from front to back to even out the wear caused by the tracking problem, so hopefully I will at least reach 15K on the current set.

Andy

 

[poggy]

Hi,

Got the wheels swapped today from back to front. I spoke to the tyre expert and he said that Bridgestone & Michelen tyres were much harder compound to Pirelli and would last a lot longer.

I think I will probably go for the Bridestone when the time comes as the prices as better.

Andy

 

[froggy]

Hi Buzz,

Just had to replace 2 of mine at 22K miles (were Pirellis now Mitchelin). I also had uneven wear. The rear passenger side was seriously badly worn on the outer edge, but not the other. This is surprising as its mostly me in the car on my own(and I tend to sit on the driver side!) and the rear wheels just follow me about. The dealer told me he thought he's heard about uneven wear at a recent fiat course. So he's lookinginto it. He also said that there's no adjustment on the back.

I'll let you knwow if I hear anything

Froggy

 

[keggers]

Froggy, had the same problem with my rear passenger side tyre, it was completely scrubbed on the outside edge and had to be replaced. I believe my problem was down to low pressure in that particular tyre. It wasn't noticeable either driving or looking at the tyre but due to a slow puncture it was running less than 20psi for sometime.

Keggers

 

[Stu DemonD]

Keggers,

I presume you didn't have TP sensors then? Or maybe they won't working properly with the RT3 unit [is that too cynical?]

Stu

Fiat Ulysse 2.2JTD Eleganza, 53 plate, with options Angel Tuning [see ad] tuned Photos and a 'better' avatar still to be sorted - there is always tomorrow

 

[John_K]

Oh believe me if you have the sensors, they work (or the car will tell you that it can't see them)!

I've twice now found screws in my tyres after getting a puncture warning from the sensors.... First time it was in a difficult to spot place and I didn't find it until after the car had been left in a car park for 8 hours and the tyre had gone down. The second time it was easier to find and I spotted the screw much sooner. In both cases the sensors reacted to a drop in pressure.

Funnily enough, both events were after the car had been in to the local dealer for some work - with this and a list of other complaints, I don't think I'll be using them again (Arnold Clark of Stourbridge in case anyone asks)... Anyone know of a good Fiat dealer in the West Midlands?

John

 

[FiatExpert]

You probably picked them up of there car park or workshop

 

[John_K]

... or more to the point they probably picked them up for me, as each time the car was left in their car park and collected from there also - they moved the car into and out of the workshop....

The car was in their care when the damage to the tyres happened.

John

 

[John_K]

I had Pirelli P6's on all 4 wheels when the car was delivered. I've just had the front set replaced after 17000(ish) miles. There was some uneven wear as a result of a tracking/allignment issue after I hit a nice pot-hole on the M6 a while back. Because my car is a fleet car and the fleet company does bulk deals with tyre suppliers, I now have Pirelli P6000s - no idea if that's good or bad, but as I don't pay when they wear out, I only worry about how well they grip, and I can't fault the Pirelli's for that.

I suspect without the tracking/allingment issue the tyres might have lasted longer (but probably only to 20K miles max).

This is broadly in line with the Mitchelins I had on my last car - lasted for about 19K miles per set on the front.

John

 

[h3rjp]

my rear passenger side tyre, it was completely scrubbed on the outside edge and had to be replaced

We've had the same problem with our C8 - rear passenger tyre was completly bald on the outside, like new on the inside. The dealer said it "wasn't a common fault". Seems like someone wasn't telling the truth!

 

[John_K]

It's rare for it to show like that on the rear - typically an uneven wear pattern like that will be on one of the front tyres!

John