Recommend any good tyres?

Village · Post by **Village** » 20 Mar 2006, 13:35

If you need grip, I'd recommend Avon ZZ3's. I had them (and ZZ1's) on my V6 Cav and never found the grip to be lacking. They were reasonably priced ie more than cheapo tyres but less than Mich/Pirellis. The front tyres lasted about 10-12 k miles and the rears lasted 25k and counting when I gave the car away (don't ask, I'll only get upset), but in their defence, the cav ate front tyres for breakfast. You probably won't be trying to poke 190 horse through the front tyres in a Xantia TD......

Mandrake · Post by **Mandrake** » 20 Mar 2006, 20:46

Clogzz wrote:
Mandrake wrote:talking about "Michelin Energy" tyres which ones are you talking about ???
Good question !

I've got MXV3A's that are several years old, and they're called 'Energy'.
Don't know whose turn it is to be called 'Energy' now.

Yeah that was my point.... XM1 and MXV8 are *totally* different tyres to MXV3A for example, so its useless people just talking about "Michelin Energy" tyres.

At the moment in Aus/NZ we seem to get a fairly limited subset of the available Michelin tyres, and unless I wanted to get something from the Pilot range (primacy etc) which are HUGELY expensive here, then the only real choices for the Xantia were the XM1 and MXV8. (Or don't use Michelin)

Of those the MXV8 is supposed to be the more upmarket tyre and is a whopping $60 more per tyre. It's claimed to have softer ride than the XM1, but doesn't last as long. I ended up not buying them because of price and also it has a very rounded shoulder tread profile which I don't think suits the Xantia suspension, especially Hydractive 2, as my previous tyres had a similar profile and wore the edge off on the front tyres in no time from cornering.

The XM1 has a lot deeper tread at the edge and a squarer shoulder, and also has a tread that can grip better on metal roads than the MXV8. (Which I occasionally drive on)

Even though they're not supposed to ride as well I notice no problems with the ride, and with a hydropneumatic Cit the ride isn't influenced nearly as much by the tyres as it is by more conventional suspension where they rely a great deal on soft tyres for the ride - so you can choose a tyre more for performance and long life than soft ride and still get a decent ride...

Also, I think the problem with people comparing tyres is that most people (including me) havn't actually tried very many different kinds of tyres, at least on the same car, so you have one person who has used Brand X saying they're good vs someone using Brand Y saying they're good, but they havn't tried each others tyres

Also unless you do high mileages in a short time, its easy to overlook the gradual decline in tyre performance (especially ride quality, when the tread wears down) and going from old worn tyres to new tyres can be misleading - any new tyre above a certain minimum quality will seem better when compared to the old worn tyres, even if it isn't better than the previous tyre when it was NEW. If you don't do high mileages that can be years ago and you don't remember what the previous tyres were like when new...

Take tyre comparisons with the same grain of salt as oil comparisons IMHO.

Regards,
Simon

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 21 Mar 2006, 08:37

I entirely agree Simon - and apparently just to make matters worse after market tyres may not be the same as original equipment tyres even though all the markings are identical!

Clogzz · Post by **Clogzz** » 21 Mar 2006, 10:53

And agreeing with Jeremy too.

The original tyres, MXV3, were made in Italy.
The replacements, MXV3A, the tyre kickers had 3 in stock, and were made in Japan.
Had to wait half a day for the 4th one to arrive, and when it did, it looked identical to the first 3, but it wasn’t made anywhere.

BonceChops · Post by **BonceChops** » 21 Mar 2006, 12:33

jeremy wrote:market tyres may not be the same as original equipment tyres even though all the markings are identical!

The Michelin ones are - I used to work for them.

Clogzz wrote:it looked identical to the first 3, but it wasn’t made anywhere.

Have you tried looking on the barcode label on the inside of the bead area? Most newer Michelins now stick a barcode in that area.

Clogzz · Post by **Clogzz** » 21 Mar 2006, 12:53

Hadn't seen the inside of the tyre, because the kickers had already put it on the wheel.
Good to know that after-market Michelins are what they are meant to be.
The current tyres are baldies by now, so at the next change, I’ll know where to look.
Thanks for that.

PowerLee · Post by **PowerLee** » 21 Mar 2006, 18:51

Ive heard on the grape vine that in the future years to come Michelin plan to fit a RF chip in each tyre with an individual serial number on.

Something similar to the transponder immobiliser keys.

Honda · Post by **Honda** » 22 Mar 2006, 15:18

If money no object, the best tyres I've tried were Michelin Pilot Sport.
Forget about the Michelin Pilot Primacy or other cheap tyres! They make you feel like driving on ice!
The Sport really 'glues' the car to the road. Total safety!