Tyre replacements

JohnD · Unread post by **JohnD** » 19 Jun 2005, 21:21

My daughter's Xsara is almost ready for some new tyres on the front wheels. From new it's been on Michelin Primacy but at over £100 each, I'm looking for an alternative. Any recomendations?

Ross_K · Unread post by **Ross_K** » 19 Jun 2005, 21:31

Have a look at http://www.mytyres.co.uk/start.html
You should be able to find something a bit more affordable there. They send the tyres out to you. They have a list of fitters on the site, so you should be able to find someone local to you to do the job.

mattpc · Unread post by **mattpc** » 19 Jun 2005, 22:20

Goodyear Hydragrip. Superb tyres, huge tread, massive grip. I run them on my Xsara and Xantia. About £42 each I think. Cost me £16 to get them fitted and balanced.

JohnD · Unread post by **JohnD** » 19 Jun 2005, 22:21

Thanks - I've looked at the site and also www.blackcircles.com where I've seen the same size tyre at more preferable prices. But I'm looking for recomendations concerning wear, road noise and grip.

bikeboyz · Unread post by **bikeboyz** » 19 Jun 2005, 23:12

Have a look at the Vredestein ranges.

ghostrider · Unread post by **ghostrider** » 19 Jun 2005, 23:25

I've been using Semperits on and off for about 15 years now on GS, CX, BX & xantia the last set I put on the front of the Xantia are now about half worn having covered about 25,000 miles since fitting, so the wear I reckon is good, The shoulders of these tyres seem to be rigid enough to avoid them being scrubbed off by the soft suspension especially noticeable on the CXs which always had an appetite for fronts. I've just fitted a set of 195/55s to my VSX which including fitting balancing and tracking came to just a shade over £200, as they've only been on a week can't say what the wear is like but road noise is OK, grip seems good
Pete

mattpc · Unread post by **mattpc** » 19 Jun 2005, 23:36

I found blackcircles very expensive for hydragrips, maybe they've improved their pricing since I checked but mytyres pricing was much better.. Infact by like £100!!! The noise on the hydragrips is higher than on a budget tyre like say arrowspeed. However, there's like twice the ammount of tread!!!

Kowalski · Unread post by **Kowalski** » 20 Jun 2005, 03:06

I have recently put Uniroyal Ralley 550s on my Xantia, wet grip is what they're supposed to be good at and they do seem to be good in the wet. The tyres I had on before were a pair of Continental Super Contacts, they gave good dry grip, and were reasonable in the wet until the tread wore, then they weren't. The ride seems to be a lot better with the new tyres than with the old and the handling and noise are similar.
After todays Indianapolis fiasco I'd be very hesitant to recommend anything with a Michelin label on it. [:)]

drpau · Unread post by **drpau** » 20 Jun 2005, 03:49

Never seen that blackcircles site before. DId a random check to see the difference between price including fitting and price for mail order only, on one tyre type (a Barum tyre), with fitting it was £40, without 26 quid!! So thats about 15 quid per tyre for fitting, which is a bit pricey I reckon!!
National tyre have still got their 'half price' offer on that 'must end soon' but has been on for about 6 months [:o)]- prices arent bad though. I got two Avon ZV3s for £82 or £84 fitted, with valves and balancing...
Cheers
Paul

Paulmi16 · Unread post by **Paulmi16** » 20 Jun 2005, 13:35

I've always had a preference for Goodyear or Dunlop. On my Avoid list would be Continental and Bf Goodrich. Cheaper brands dont always save you money, many moons ago I bought some Couriers that were made by under Pirelli licence, and they lasted 12,000 miles as opposed to the previous Goodyears that lasted just under 20,000 miles. The Couriers were £10 each cheaper to buy at the outset, but turned out to be false economy in the end.
Paul.

pete_wood_uk · Unread post by **pete_wood_uk** » 20 Jun 2005, 17:41

I've switched my HDI Xantia *to* Michelin Pilot Primacys, which probably isn't what you wanted to hear - but they are really fab - stick like glue on our badly-cambered wet and muddy fen roads, and since it's my wife's car and doesn't do 30k miles a year, I kinda figure the lives of her and our son are worth the extra few bob. £86 quid each fitted, I've just had another pair put on last week.
On my own drive-to-work TD Xantia I've got Goodyear Eagle NCT5s which were great when new, going off a bit as they wear, whereas the Pilot Primacys seem to keep gripping, wet or dry, right down to the wear markers.
Don't, whatever you do, use Michelin Energy, unless your daughter drives like an old lady and never in the wet.
Sorry if this sounds a bit over-opinionated - I grew up riding bikes and have always (well, at least since one or two memorable "learning experiences"

) appreciated sticky tyres.
Pete

SGould · Unread post by **SGould** » 20 Jun 2005, 19:02

Just replaced all 4 tyres on my Xantia using Kwik Fit - negotiated them down to £202 for 4 Pirelli 3000 R14s including wheel balancing and valves.
They also changed my exhaust a few months ago and have made a complete hash of it. I have been back 3 times for adjustments. First time, because the exhaust was making more noise than the original that they replaced. The second because they tightened the clamp so much, the exhaust was touching the plastic trip at the back and this has melted from the heat. And the last adjustment has made it noisy again. All they can say is how difficult Citroen exhausts are!

PeterMann · Unread post by **PeterMann** » 20 Jun 2005, 19:26

I used to run on Kleber tyres, which were as good or better than the Michelin while they were available in Australia, and better priced. Now I run on Kuhmo tyres (Kuhmo started by buying Michelin technology, and have been doing their own development for road and racing tyres for a good number of years). The 55 profile Kuhmo tyres on the Xantia have a silica rubber treadface, the performance in wet and dry is excellent, but wear is what might be expected for a high-grip tyre. These cost $A118 each fitted (approx 40 quid). The standard tyres on the BX are a bit cheaper, harder wearing, with respectable grip in wet and dry. Entirely satisfied with the Kuhmo from Korea.

Oystercatcher · Unread post by **Oystercatcher** » 21 Jun 2005, 03:15

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by ghostrider</i>

.....The shoulders of these tyres seem to be rigid enough to avoid them being scrubbed off by the soft suspension especially noticeable on the CXs which always had an appetite for fronts. I've just fitted a set of 195/55s to my VSX.....
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
If you have a MK1 Xantia VSX on the original alloys with 195/55s and suffer shoulder wear, bung on some 205/50s. I had bad wear on a new '94 VSX TD where the shoulders were almost gone at 10k miles. Citroen blamed it on me for driving 'round corners. I blamed it on them for poor choice of tyre size. Didn't get me anywhere..... [:(]
Citroen told me to fit the 205/50s. They wore perfectly even and lasted 25K. Go figure.....
Alan

patneenan · Unread post by **patneenan** » 21 Jun 2005, 03:57

I HAVE 205/60 15'S ON MY ACTIVA.
FALKEN BRAND, AND THEY TOO WORE OUT ON THE SHOULDERS AT ABOUT 12K.
WHY IS THIS?
I DON'T DRIVE LIKE A LOONY!