I know that there has been a fair amount of discussion previously regarding tyres however:
I need a pair of decent tyres for the front of the car (1998 1.9TD)and from previous postings had decided on Goodyear Ventura. Only problem is I can't locate any, the tyre places I've tried say that they are now discontinued, superceeded by NTC4 (or something like that).
So are there any other tyres currently available that will give a ride quality similar to the (early ?) michelins ?
Mark
xantia tyres
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rory_perrett
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Dave Burns
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They're still listed on the Goodyear website, one would have thought that such a high profile company would move a bit faster and remove the listing if they were discontinued.
http://www.goodyear.co.uk/services/tyre ... ntura.html
Dave
http://www.goodyear.co.uk/services/tyre ... ntura.html
Dave
The ventura's are still available in certain sizes. All you are speaking to are the lazy sods who are bull****ting you, and want you to buy the tyres they have in stock, rather than making a call and ordering the correct tyres in. Where abouts in the country are you, if you are close to Grimsby I'd recommend Bush tyres, they bothered to listen to what I wanted, made a couple of calls and ordered the Ventura's in for my 5 months ago.
Mark,
I have four quite new Venturas in 185/65x14 on my early TD Xantia. They are outstanding in the wet and also the best road tyre I've ever used when towing a horse trailer on wet grass. On a greasy wet roundabout they are literally in a different class to most tyres.
However this does come at the expense of dry road steering response and ultimate dry grip. This effect on steering response will be magnified if you fit them to the front only...depending what you have on the rear.
I fitted a pair to the front of mine first and it was a couple of weeks before I afforded the rear pair. I didn't like the handling balance and wouldn't have wanted it like that for good.
I don't drive on the limit all the while but I like a car to feel right!
David
I have four quite new Venturas in 185/65x14 on my early TD Xantia. They are outstanding in the wet and also the best road tyre I've ever used when towing a horse trailer on wet grass. On a greasy wet roundabout they are literally in a different class to most tyres.
However this does come at the expense of dry road steering response and ultimate dry grip. This effect on steering response will be magnified if you fit them to the front only...depending what you have on the rear.
I fitted a pair to the front of mine first and it was a couple of weeks before I afforded the rear pair. I didn't like the handling balance and wouldn't have wanted it like that for good.
I don't drive on the limit all the while but I like a car to feel right!
David
To respond to some of the comments:
I have also been onto the Goodyear website and noted that they are still listed, can't buy direct though to the best of my knowledge.
I don't think I've been bull****d (not much anyway) as I've witnessed 2 tyre places phoning round trying to locate a pair.
I had wondered if the mix of tyres would negate any benefit but 4 tyres in one hit of the wallet and when the rear tyres are almost unworn.
I'm going to keep trying anyway.
Mark
I have also been onto the Goodyear website and noted that they are still listed, can't buy direct though to the best of my knowledge.
I don't think I've been bull****d (not much anyway) as I've witnessed 2 tyre places phoning round trying to locate a pair.
I had wondered if the mix of tyres would negate any benefit but 4 tyres in one hit of the wallet and when the rear tyres are almost unworn.
I'm going to keep trying anyway.
Mark
I fitted Ventura's on the front of my Xantia. Two months later during heavy rain after a prolonged dry spell producing a very greasy road surface, the car went off the road backwards, when the rear tyres didn't want to go round a corner the fronts had no problem with. Not the Goodyears fault, it was mine, I hadn't bought four in one go, and was going to buy a pair for the rear that week, just hadn't got round to it. If you buy them two at a time, fit them on the rear first.....
I then had a Peugeot 306 DT and fitted the Ventura's all round ASAP after I bought it. It had a mix of Pirelli and Dunlop tyres with at least 7mm all round on it. At a stroke, the wheelspin disappeared and the wet weather performance was sensational. No aquaplaning, great on snow, only thing was a marginal loss of dry grip. As regards the steering, both times the Ventura's made the steering slightly heavier, but the feel was vastly improved, I could feel exactly what was going on. If you can get them they are unsurpassed.
I then had a Peugeot 306 DT and fitted the Ventura's all round ASAP after I bought it. It had a mix of Pirelli and Dunlop tyres with at least 7mm all round on it. At a stroke, the wheelspin disappeared and the wet weather performance was sensational. No aquaplaning, great on snow, only thing was a marginal loss of dry grip. As regards the steering, both times the Ventura's made the steering slightly heavier, but the feel was vastly improved, I could feel exactly what was going on. If you can get them they are unsurpassed.
Mark,
Reffro raises a *very* serious point. If you only intend to fit two new tyres it is important to understand the possible handling issues in extreme circumstances.
When my Xantia was on its four old Michelins it was fine in the dry and below average in the wet. Some of the poor wet performance obviously was down to the low tread of about 2-2.5mm on all tyres. But the thing was it had at least a proper balance front to rear.
When I fitted the first two Ventura's to the front only their dry road turn-in response and grip was less than the Michelins so the car felt less secure and ultimately understeered more than before.
However the Ventura's were so good in the wet I could quite understand how the old rear tyres could let go and cause a spin with the new Venturas on the front only.
As a matter of interest current tyre dealer advice is to fit new tyres to the rear to avoid just this circumstance. I do not follow this advice for our own cars, but changing tyres earlier than most negates the problem somewhat.
David
Reffro raises a *very* serious point. If you only intend to fit two new tyres it is important to understand the possible handling issues in extreme circumstances.
When my Xantia was on its four old Michelins it was fine in the dry and below average in the wet. Some of the poor wet performance obviously was down to the low tread of about 2-2.5mm on all tyres. But the thing was it had at least a proper balance front to rear.
When I fitted the first two Ventura's to the front only their dry road turn-in response and grip was less than the Michelins so the car felt less secure and ultimately understeered more than before.
However the Ventura's were so good in the wet I could quite understand how the old rear tyres could let go and cause a spin with the new Venturas on the front only.
As a matter of interest current tyre dealer advice is to fit new tyres to the rear to avoid just this circumstance. I do not follow this advice for our own cars, but changing tyres earlier than most negates the problem somewhat.
David
Yes, good point.
Not really sure what to do now. Rotating the tyres (front to back) will only result in best tyres on the front. Cost is a problem (isn't it always) but I'm already spending upwards of £300 on servicing and MOT. The car has cheapo Tigar tyres on currently and I was hoping to move to something better but it now looks like I'll have to move the rears to the front and buy 2 more Tigar's for the rear this time.
Mark
Not really sure what to do now. Rotating the tyres (front to back) will only result in best tyres on the front. Cost is a problem (isn't it always) but I'm already spending upwards of £300 on servicing and MOT. The car has cheapo Tigar tyres on currently and I was hoping to move to something better but it now looks like I'll have to move the rears to the front and buy 2 more Tigar's for the rear this time.
Mark
<font face="Arial"><font color="blue">Hi all,
Same topic - but off a a little bit of a tangent. The current weather up here in the frozen north (wet & slushy) is reminding me just how crap the Michelins are in anything worse than a puddle - prob not helped by the fact all 4 are in need of a change - so it's off in search of the seemingly elusive Eagle Ventura's. Which brings me to my questions :
Current tyres 185-65 15's on standard steel wheels ('00 Xantia LX 1.8 16v). Pretty confident that I should be able to put 205-60 's on the wheels without any ill effects but can anyone confirm / deny ?
I know that the bigger Xantia's have these as atandard but is their any gain, particularly in the wet, to doing this in the collective experience ?
As a final point - I would like to thank all the regular contributors for their time and effort [:D]. As yet haven't needed to put any of the tips & tricks into practice, but they make v interesting reading none the less.
Tom.
... suppose i'd better get new brake pads all round as well and think about changing some spheres before things get too bouncy [xx(]</font id="Arial"></font id="blue">
Same topic - but off a a little bit of a tangent. The current weather up here in the frozen north (wet & slushy) is reminding me just how crap the Michelins are in anything worse than a puddle - prob not helped by the fact all 4 are in need of a change - so it's off in search of the seemingly elusive Eagle Ventura's. Which brings me to my questions :
Current tyres 185-65 15's on standard steel wheels ('00 Xantia LX 1.8 16v). Pretty confident that I should be able to put 205-60 's on the wheels without any ill effects but can anyone confirm / deny ?
I know that the bigger Xantia's have these as atandard but is their any gain, particularly in the wet, to doing this in the collective experience ?
As a final point - I would like to thank all the regular contributors for their time and effort [:D]. As yet haven't needed to put any of the tips & tricks into practice, but they make v interesting reading none the less.
Tom.
... suppose i'd better get new brake pads all round as well and think about changing some spheres before things get too bouncy [xx(]</font id="Arial"></font id="blue">
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rory_perrett
- Posts: 715
- Joined: 05 Nov 2001, 19:18
- Location: Leeds, Yorkshire
- My Cars: Xantia Exclusive 110Hdi Estate 1999
- x 1
Well my lovely new Goodyear Venturas turned up today from Mytyres.co.uk so there still available, not bad -3 day delivery.
I agree if one end is going to have less grip its better if its the front. Mind you I don't know what you chaps are doing with your cars but at the moment I've got new (Last June) Venturas on the front and a couple of old Dunlops down to 2mm tread on the back and I've got nowhere near feeling I was approaching any handling limits.
I agree if one end is going to have less grip its better if its the front. Mind you I don't know what you chaps are doing with your cars but at the moment I've got new (Last June) Venturas on the front and a couple of old Dunlops down to 2mm tread on the back and I've got nowhere near feeling I was approaching any handling limits.
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martyhopkirk
Fitted 4 BF Goodrich Touring from mytyres.co.uk to the Xantia.
So far so good. They balanced in well, have done a variety of speeds to my satisfaction and seem ok in the wet.
At £139 for 4 plus a pony to be fitted and balanced up by my local independant (included disposal of old tyres) - It was a darn site cheaper than 4 Michelins. The real test will come when i tow at speed[;)]
So far so good. They balanced in well, have done a variety of speeds to my satisfaction and seem ok in the wet.
At £139 for 4 plus a pony to be fitted and balanced up by my local independant (included disposal of old tyres) - It was a darn site cheaper than 4 Michelins. The real test will come when i tow at speed[;)]