Tyre choices driving me crazy

[MangoMan]

For what it's worth here is my recommendation - through personal experience!

Front: Nokian Tyres / Car / Nokian Powerproof - 225/45 R17 94Y XL TL Fuel Eff.: C Wet Grip: A NoiseClass: 1 Noise: 69dB Car Tyres - MPV Tyres - People Carrier Tyres - 17" R17" - 225/45/17, 225/45R17

Rear: Nokian Tyres / Car / Nokian Powerproof - 245/40 R17 95Y XL TL Fuel Eff.: C Wet Grip: A NoiseClass: 2 Noise: 72dB Car Tyres - MPV Tyres - People Carrier Tyres - 17" R17" - 245/40/17, 245/40R17

Nokian Powerproof - Peace of mind for tighter turns / Nokian Tyres

Such an underrated tyre - and even though a Summer Tyre they actually perform well in the cold!

 

[DSM10000]

I tend to stick with the original make that was on the car when purchased. In both cars we have that is Bridgestone Potenza.

Fitted primarily because they met the minimum criteria and were offered to MB at a good price.....

If you are happy with them in terms of grip, noise, wear etc fine but tyres are developed over a life cycle so others may have improvements that you may find beneficial

My criteria are good wet weather performance and low noise, I find that if these are met then the performance elsewhere is always good.

 

[chrisk2010]

Shame I didn't see this thread earlier, I would have suggested buying the tyres supply only from Camskill and getting the wheel refurbisher to fit them for free when you have the wheels done, would have saved nearly the cost of one wheel refurbishment.

It did occur to me and I did shop around abit but for the extra faffing around the saving wasn't enough then i'd have had to pay for the tyre disposal anyway.

The rears for example were £105 fitted, camskill were doing them for £89.something, so assuming disposal was £5 each i would have saved £20.

The fronts at the time were £80 each on Camskill and i had them fitted for £79 so still only have the £20 saving plus front tyre disposal so a tenner when all is said and done.

Doing it this way helps spread the cost a bit as well as i had the rear springs done at the same time as the tyre change, if i had of paid for the refurb too i would have dropped £850 on the car in a month so i chose to put off the refurb.

 

[chrisk2010]

Fitted primarily because they met the minimum criteria and were offered to MB at a good price.....

If you are happy with them in terms of grip, noise, wear etc fine but tyres are developed over a life cycle so others may have improvements that you may find beneficial

My criteria are good wet weather performance and low noise, I find that if these are met then the performance elsewhere is always good.

I may cut and paste that and send it to my dad lol.

I tried to explain that to him when he replaced his tyres but i kept getting back " *insert tyre make here* were the tyres the car was tested on" which is fair enough but over the years there are so many MO tyres (the same if you have an Audi or VW makes no difference) one can only assume they were as described in the above, the right Spec and price at the time.

He is happy with his purchase at the moment and i was in his car the weekend and they were a comfortable ride which ticks his boxes.

 

[milleplod]

I've got Nokian Z-Lines on the front of my W211, they're the predecessor to the Powerproof - fantastic tyres, but a name that people don't really know here, unless they're winter tyre users!

Pete

 

[MangoMan]

I've got Nokian Z-Lines on the front of my W211, they're the predecessor to the Powerproof - fantastic tyres, but a name that people don't really know here, unless they're winter tyre users!

Pete

I've been fitting them on my cars since 2001..! Superb Tyres at a fair price. The PowerProof have only just been released.
Trouble is a lot of people go for the "Name" a lot of the time and pay over the odds!

 

[zoros]

I guess if one drives a cheap car - tyre prices are very important as they can cost serious bucks relatively.
However, provided one sticks to the technical basics (speed rating, correct sizes, etc) the rest is down to "perception". MOST popular makes are ideal for the situation and unless you want to 'drift' or track day your car, then it is a complete and utter waste of money buying top of the range spec tyres from well known brands. A good example of a waste of money: PZero tyres. On every day occasions driving under normal conditions in wind, rain, shine and the occasional light snow....get a premium tyre from a popular brand and you will never go wrong.

You'll save hundreds too!
No-one can tell me they enjoy a marked increase in performance (speed, grip, wear) simply by driving NORMALLY on british roads. They are talking Bollox.

 

[Petrol Pete]

Blimey thanks for the tip i haven't heard that before. Anyone else had this issue?

Yup, vauxhaull Omega was notorious for it. Sledgehammer to remove rear wheel where the inner boss had 'welded' itself to the handbrake drum over time. Nothing to do with extra layer of paint/coating after re furb, just lack of anti seize compound when the car was new. No fun hitting the inside of the wheel having the hammer bounce off the tyre when desperately trying not to knock a big dent in the rim . Used a bottle jack and timber in the end.

Never again. any wheel I fit now that has any kind of boss/hub arrangement gets a coating of anti seize before re assembly.

 

[chrisk2010]

Little update to finish up

I dropped the wheels off Tuesday for a refurb and picked them up this morning.



The first two are pre-refurb the last one is post refurb. They go on possibly tomorrow once I have cleaned the car as it gives me a chance to get at the wheel arches.

 

[milleplod]

They look tremendous, nothing like a freshly refurbed wheel! I had the 18s on my W211 Sport done a bit back, the relative lack of protective sidewall on 35/40 profile tyres is a continuing worry!

Pete

 

[chrisk2010]

Thanks Pete, I kept the colour original although I did toy with the idea of going a shade or two darker I settled on keeping them standard as I think they suit the car.

The whole process was pretty quick apart from the young lad swapping over to my winters for a day or two it took him ages to get one wheel off as he was using an impact driver and the bolts kept getting stuck in the 17mm socket which he then disappeared for ten minutes trying to get it out lol.

In the end once he removed the wheels from the passenger side I made a grab for his breaker bar and saved him the trouble of the driver side and freed them all of for him. He was relying a bit too much on the impact driver doing all the work for him.

I have to admit the tyre protection lip does give peace of mind although I'm just as worried about scuffing the tyre as I am the rims but I never parallel park or park out in a street so any chance of this is greatly reduced.

I was hoping to provide some more pictures once I fitted them Saturday but the missus arrived as I was putting the last wheel on and her car got a clean while I had everything out and set up plus it was quite windy and cold so I was eager to get inside and totally forgot once I put everything away so I'll try and take some later.

 

[Major774]

The whole process was pretty quick apart from the young lad swapping over to my winters for a day or two it took him ages to get one wheel off as he was using an impact driver and the bolts kept getting stuck in the 17mm socket which he then disappeared for ten minutes trying to get it out lol.

In the end once he removed the wheels from the passenger side I made a grab for his breaker bar and saved him the trouble of the driver side and freed them all of for him. He was relying a bit too much on the impact driver doing all the work for him.

All he had to do was screw the bolt back in (only need a couple of turns) and wiggle the socket about, this will free the bolt.

He will live and learn

 

[chrisk2010]

It was funny watching him struggle then I got a little impatient lol

I did think back to when I started on forklifts removing and refitting over 20 bolts from one wheel on some trucks thinking this guy would need the whole morning but he will learn to just crack the bolt off first then run the bolts out it won't wear his impact wrench as much at the least.

I rung them Thursday as I was passing to see if they were ready and they were but they said they didn't have time to fit them I replied "That's fine! I'll just collect them as I wanted the seal them anyway"

 

[zoros]

Refurbed - Rims were split, the odd tungsten stud replaced (£8 each extra), wheel rims were acid dipped and then re-enammelled (Metallic gun metal grey). Outer rims were polished but NOT varnished on purpose. It means they come up like new once chrome polished every month.
North West, near Liverpool and each wheel cost - £30!!!

Very happy with result.

 

[optimusprime]

Dont let it sit on these new tyres, you must use the car or cracking will soon start . My tyres have 500 miles on them over 4 years .And i can see slight crack in the treads .My next set will be a cheap set . I dont bomb around on the ton mark so i dont need top ranking tyres

 

[zoros]

Correct - stored cars eat tyres for breakfast!!! (Unless they are jacked up of course).

 

[chrisk2010]

My previous set was well and truly cracked I imagine from sitting around with the previous owner hence the low mileage.

Looking back at the MOT history cracked tyres popped up every other MOT so he must have been replacing tyres then it sat around then replaced them and so on.

 

[SeasidePete]

I've just put 4 Eagle F1's on my w220. Not much louder than anything else, not much better or worse on fuel economy but loads of grip.

As said by others above it really comes down to price.

In the past I trawled the sites looking for the best deal but in the end I found my local garage can always supply, fit and balance for less than any Internet business. Not much less but at least I'm supporting local business. 245 on the front, 275 rears - 600 all in.

 

[chrisk2010]

Agree with you there Pete they're much better than the set I had on before but they were so far gone that putting these on feels like riding on clouds lol.

So fitted the bolts and caps yesterday after washing and waxing the car.

Here's a pic with the bolts:



And here the caps:



Forgive me for not putting a picture of a shiny car up but it rained shortly after and the car was covered in pollen again lol.

Oh and I did put megs tyre gel on after the pic was taken

 

[SeasidePete]

Looks like you took the opportunity to clean the inside of the rims while they were off, good work. Love that.

And I know exactly how you must have felt having washed the car and then had it pollinated! Hate that . So much so I'm having one of the trees down next week.

Here's one of mine that's been under a tree for 2 months: