When do you replace your tyres?

[waynedance]

Just changed mine for four of the same KHUMO's. Now I change mine at approx 3mm as I believe anything less reduces braking distances and grip. Sure my old tyres would serve someone who does low miles for some years.

[Citroenmad]

Im pretty picky about tyres but when I replace them mainly depends on what the tyres are performing like. If its a good tyre and grip levels have not dropped off, then I might get more wear from them and run them closer to the markers. However, if the grip is dropping off quite quickly then Ill replace them sooner, probably around 3mm.

I dont often let tyres get to the wear markers, If they are left to get close im very mindful about driving with them and they will always be front tyres. I never have such badly worn tyres on the rear, I replace rears earlier. The only tyres Ive let get onto the markers ( I say that but probably about 2mm) were the last Michelin Pilots on my C5, as they were still performing very well and they were a tyre which suited the C5 well. They did 18K miles on the front, at a real push, the shoulders had long gone bald. Michelin replaced them with the Primacy HP, which I fitted, but they are not quite as good in my opinion.

Ive replaced nearly new tyres many times, due to them being pretty awful performers, usually budgets which have been fitted to a car before purchase. Though not all budgets are awful tyres.

The front tyres on my Xantia are starting to look iffy now, balding shoulers (I have no idea how that happens, on an Activa!?! ), so will very soon be replaced, probably have 2.5mm overall but the edges have suffered.

[HDI]

Have to say I get my monies worth out of my boots !! When it starts to feel hairy on standing water I make a note to change them ! By chance I have some Handcooked (Hankook !!) on ATM, which I would never have chosen normally, but they came on a set of wheels. They are really quite good !!

[CitroJim]

Some might say I change mine when the sidewalls start cracking That was the case on the Activa where the tread was still OK due to the car only covering a small annual mileage and the tyres were replaced because they were well over five years old. I have the same problem developing on my MK2 V6 - again, a car that only covers a small annual mileage.

Generally though, the advice to replace when there's about 3mm left is a good one and if like me, you have cars that only cover small mileages replace them irrespective of wear when they are five years old. This, I believe, is the recommendation for caravans and trailers too...

[Northern_Mike]

I change mine when they start to scare me on bends. That's usually at about 3mm. I'm the opposite of Chris, I much prefer the new tyres on the front. Yes, I am aware of the general advice, and don't need a lecture thanks :-p

[Citroenmad]

I change mine when they start to scare me on bends. That's usually at about 3mm. I'm the opposite of Chris, I much prefer the new tyres on the front. Yes, I am aware of the general advice, and don't need a lecture thanks :-p

I do actually Mike, its just when the rears are getting very low I'd rather have them on the front. I usually just replace them but its not always on my cars im talking about. I tend to replace the fronts when they wear out and the rears the same, I rarely swap them about. Never has any of my tyres actually got the the tread limit markers though, I usually chien out at 2mm if the tyres are still performing. Usually I find grip is lacking at around 3mm so they are ditched then.

Cracking and aging of tyres is a problem with small mileage cars. Its not so bad if the car is garaged out of sunlight but if left outside, they can start to perish in 5-6 years. I tyre black tyres regularily with some good dressing, as that seems to help with sidewall aging.

When we got our XM estate 3 years ago, it still had its original rear tyres at 14 years old and 58K! They had a good tread but the cracks were alarming, how it had been going through MOTs I don't know. The cracks in the sidewall to tyre tread are were so deep the steel belting could be seen, which was rusting! Needless to say they were changed the next day after getting the car.

[Northern_Mike]

I change mine when they start to scare me on bends. That's usually at about 3mm. I'm the opposite of Chris, I much prefer the new tyres on the front. Yes, I am aware of the general advice, and don't need a lecture thanks :-p

I do actually Mike, its just when the rears are getting very low I'd rather have them on the front. I usually just replace them but its not always on my cars im talking about

I did wonder, seeing as you seem like a sensible chap, I would have thought you'd just replace them - I certainly would. I've never had rears so bad that they made much difference, apart from on a 2.8i Capri that I once bought with almost bald rears. Being a Capri, putting new ones on didn't actually make that much difference.

My mum's cars always need tyres replacing before they wear out because of cracking. She's the sort who buys a car, runs it for 10 years, then throws it away/trades it in for a new one. She had a Vitara for 10 years, then a Jimny for 10 years, and now a Kia Picanto. Both Suzukis had the tyres replaced at about 5 years old.

[Deanxm]

Personaly i prefer the best rubber on the front too, keeps it fun to drive, having no front end grip makes the car unpleasant to drive hard, speaking of which ive got to get new rubber on the Activa in a minute as the Avons are ruining the car, even in the dry.........

D

[Northern_Mike]

Personaly i prefer the best rubber on the front too, keeps it fun to drive, having no front end grip makes the car unpleasant to drive hard, speaking of which ive got to get new rubber on the Activa in a minute as the Avons are ruining the car, even in the dry.........
D

I agree Dean. From past experience, it's never seem to make much to me anyway. Lift off mind bend while "pressing on", and interesting things happen, grippy rear tyres or not. My first car was a Skoda Estelle 120, so I am a master of lift-off oversteer!

[Citroenmad]

Yep, im quite picky about tyres and do replace them earlier than really needed on my own cars. Im also pretty keen with my tyre and tyre pressure checks.

A lot of people I know think a tyre is a tyre and they often have a different one on each corner. Someone I know recently got a new pair of tyres fitted to one side of their car No amount of persuasion will make them swap that pair to one axel. Quite interesting and shocking how little some people know and think about tyres.

I always replace tyres in pairs on the same axel, I don’t know why that is not a legal MOT requirement. If a car I buy has mix matched tyres on an axel then I’ll either replace them straight away or I might get away with them on the rear for a while. My XM has an ‘Accelera’ and a ‘Corsa’ on the rear, I fitted a new pair to the front. If I keep the car much longer Ill replace them, though Ive not had any grip problems, quite surprisingly.

With the theory that the best tyres should be on the back, I don't really agree either. If someone has a pair of premium branded tyres on the front which are getting worn and decide to fit new but cheapy tyres to the rear, that will actually leave more grip on the front in my opinion. I always buy good quality tyres and as its the rubber compound rather than the actual tread depth which provides the grip, I have had no problems with keeping more worn tyres on the rear. Yes in deep water the rear will have less tread, but ive not had any problems. People who run tyres right down to the wear markers might do though.

[Northern_Mike]

Yep, im quite picky about tyres and do replace them earlier than really needed on my own cars. Im also pretty keen with my tyre and tyre pressure checks.

A lot of people I know think a tyre is a tyre and they often have a different one on each corner. Someone I know recently got a new pair of tyres fitted to one side of their car No amount of persuasion will make them swap that pair to one axel. Quite interesting and shocking how little some people know and think about tyres.

I always replace tyres in pairs on the same axel, I don’t know why that is not a legal MOT requirement. If a car I buy has mix matched tyres on an axel then I’ll either replace them straight away or I might get away with them on the rear for a while. My XM has an ‘Accelera’ and a ‘Corsa’ on the rear, I fitted a new pair to the front. If I keep the car much longer Ill replace them, though Ive not had any grip problems, quite surprisingly.

With the theory that the best tyres should be on the back, I don't really agree either. If someone has a pair of premium branded tyres on the front which are getting worn and decide to fit new but cheapy tyres to the rear, that will actually leave more grip on the front in my opinion. I always buy good quality tyres and as its the rubber compound rather than the actual tread depth which provides the grip, I have had no problems with keeping more worn tyres on the rear. Yes in deep water the rear will have less tread, but ive not had any problems. People who run tyres right down to the wear markers might do though.

I try not to have a different tyre on each corner, and I'll will replace them in pairs unless one is pretty new. I'm not obsessive about it though - I've driven plenty of cars with different tyres on each axle and never had a problem with grip at all. I think with modern tyres and constructions, it doesn't matter as much as it used to. Bertie the Berlingo has two different tyres on the front, he tracks straight and true now we replaced the spring and top mount, and behaves the same on left and right hand bends. They're just on the tread markers now. The Michelins on the back have plenty of tread on them, but the wall is scuffed and cracked on one of them, so he's getting 4 new Toyos instead.

Those Acceleras aren't actually too bad Chris. A bit noisy. I whizzed a pair on the Focus last year before I took it for it's MOT before I sold it. They seemed ok for £40 a corner. They were better than the £90 a corner P6000s my first MX5 had.

I think it's all relative anyway - a set of budget cheapies would suit my mum's Kia Picanto. She rarely goes out of town or above 40mph in it. Even in the wet it stops on the button and it has ESP and god knows what else to keep it on the road, so they'll do nicely.

The only tyre I've found so nasty I've replaced a full set of new ones were something called Woosung. I bought an XM Estate back in 2006 with 4 new ones on. They might as well have been made out of wood. They managed to be both rock hard, wear alarmingly, be spectacularly noisy, and have no grip whatsoever. I replaced them a week after buying the car.

[waynedance]

I never have the best rubber on the back as i swap mine often so all end up worn out the same and hence swapped at the same time.

[Citroenmad]

The point I dont like about the front tyres being mismatched is its the driven axel, if the tyres are not of the same size/wear then one will be running faster and so the diff will not be at rest. In my mind anyway. As even with tyres with the same tread depth they wont have the same radius if they are of different makes. The tyres on the front of my Activa (soon to be replaced again) look tiny compared to the Michelins I took off, depsite them all being 205/60s. I agree though, ive never had problems with mixmatched tyres on the front when I have been forced to run a car like that. It just doesn't sit well with me

The Accelera is surprisingly ok, it seems quite soft and sticky in its compound. P6000s never get good reviews, there seems to be a few people who swear by them but on the whole their reviews are poor. Ive fitted them to a few XMs and found them to be fine. Though they were only really used in good weather and they were new.

By far the worst tyres Ive driven on were Heros, they had no grip at all, to the point understeer would occur around roundabouts at anything over 15mph in the wet. Very scary tyre. They were fitted to a C5 estate we had, I took it to Scotland on holiday and on my return put a full set of decent mid range tyres on, it was so dangerous. The Kumhos transformed the car into a very grippy thing. I also got a Ford Escort for a few days as a loan car (from a local independant garage) which had them fitted, that was totaly lethal! I was quite glad when it locked me out of it

I don't mind cheapy tyres, so long as you do a bit of homework and find some decent ones. As I say, im extremely happy with the Matador MP44s I fitted to my XM, they are very good.

[Northern_Mike]

I don't mind cheapy tyres, so long as you do a bit of homework and find some decent ones. As I say, im extremely happy with the Matador MP44s I fitted to my XM, they are very good.

185/65/15s in the Matador MP44 are £55 fitted per corner for Bertie. Worth a punt? £222.40 for 4, fully fitted from mytyres.co.uk.

Worth a punt? It's not as though my missus scrapes the door handles or gets the tail out much..

[Citroenmad]

I don't mind cheapy tyres, so long as you do a bit of homework and find some decent ones. As I say, im extremely happy with the Matador MP44s I fitted to my XM, they are very good.

185/65/15s in the Matador MP44 are £55 fitted per corner for Bertie. Worth a punt? £222.40 for 4, fully fitted from mytyres.co.uk.

Worth a punt? It's not as though my missus scrapes the door handles or gets the tail out much..

I see the Matadors are £47 and the Toyo CF-1s are £53 for your Berlingo on Oponeo tyres, delivered. £24 saving on them.

I like them, they seem pretty well made and look ok too. They even have numbers in the tread which appear as the tread wears, stating an approx. tread depth remaining, which is pretty neat. They seem to suit the XM well, dry grip seems very good and wet grip has been impressive. Even in the torrential rain when I was in Wales it never faultered, even when driving reasonably quickly round the 'Evo Triangle' on very damp roads. There is a video lurking somewhere

Id recommend them, especially for the money. They are a part of Continental and so the quality is pretty good. I would hope they wear well too. Ive not had Toyo CF-1s on an XM so can't compare directly, however these seem to grip just as well in the wet, if not better.