Tyre tread patterns

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Re: Tyre tread patterns

Post by qprdude »

Had P6000 on my V6 S type jag . No major problems, but without traction control on, the back end twitched a bit on kick down out of a roundabout. With the power available, I doubt if many tyres would stick.
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Re: Tyre tread patterns

Post by Northern_Mike »

qprdude wrote:Had P6000 on my V6 S type jag . No major problems, but without traction control on, the back end twitched a bit on kick down out of a roundabout. With the power available, I doubt if many tyres would stick.

It's very odd how some tyres suit a particular type of car, and really don't suit another. They're known as ditchfinders in the MX5OC. I was just accelerating round a left hand bend on a moorland road in the rain, perhaps doing 60, as I had done (literally) over 1000 times before, and ended up sideways in a field, wrote the car off as it ripped the struts out their mountings when it dug into the grass.

Got another MX5, same year, wearing Avon ZV5s shortly after, and it was absolutely rock solid on the same bend in worse weather, yet some people complain the Avons are poor in the wet.
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Re: Tyre tread patterns

Post by Fake Concern »

Northern_Mike wrote:
Fake Concern wrote:
Northern_Mike wrote:
That said, the Matadors were a whole hell of a lot better than the far more expensive P6000s I have on one car, which were positively lethal in the wet. So lethal, that I crashed without even doing anything stupid!
I had P6000s on my Volvo V70 T5, a powerful car & I always found it very chuckable with them, I have read other adverse comments about them, but that wasn't my experience.
I think P6000s are very sensitive to what they are fitted to, and how it's set up. I've also read that they're ok on C-Class Mercs and the older T-5. It seems that on heavy cars, they're a decent tyre. I had them on two MX-5s and they were great in the dry, but so bad in the wet that the £30 Autoguards I fitted to a Focus once to get it an MOT were way better.
The T5 was a 2002 model (not the square shaped one) certainly a heavy car though. Previously I had them on a Golf GTI Mk3 & they were the best tyres I had on that, but I think I put on 4 of them after one of the Goodyears it had on before went soft and out of shape, leading to very strange handling & roadholding.
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Re: Tyre tread patterns

Post by Stickyfinger »

Personally, I would buy two new tyres and put them on the front, I would choose the best match on the rear and a spare.

I would never buy 2nd hand unseen and would never mix a tread pattern on an axle.

If the car is going to slip or spin I like to know how, unmatched tyres could unbalance the car and get "screwy" with the feel/feedback.

I put these on, very happy with wet grip especially ( I have needed it big time once , funny but it was a volvo V70 in a trilby hat that pulled out of a side road :) ) and dry is veryu good as well.
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Re: Tyre tread patterns

Post by daviemck2006 »

We had pirelli on the ex wife's ex pug 206 and they were abominable, to the point she span it in the wet, and it would not move in the snow. They got dumped for 4 Vredestein all weathers and transformed the car completely. If I were qprdude, I would swap the new tyre off the steel spare on to the alloy, get a matching federal new, and whack the 4/5mm one onto the steel spare. He is happy with their performance and wear on what is a big heavy car so why change? I would also put the new on the back, and when fronts are done move them forward and new on the back again. My c2 has goodyear efficient grip on the front and some unknown crap on the back and is very twitchy in the wet even though rears look new and goodyears about 1/2 worn. The c4 had goodyear efficient grips all round when on it's standard wheels and stuck to the road like glue.
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Re: Tyre tread patterns

Post by lankytim »

qprdude wrote:I have 4 tyres with the same tread pattern, but I will have to change one, or maybe two in the near future. Any problems with having different tread patterns on the same axle?
No, there's no problem at all. Just don't mix crossplies and radials!
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Re: Tyre tread patterns

Post by SwissSPEC »

Fake Concern wrote:@ SwissSPEC, I'm interested to know what you will get that are cheaper & better than Michelins as I have Pilot Sport 3 & rate them highly.
@qprdude I'd be inclined to buy one of whatever your preferred tyre is for now as with only 5mm left the others will need replacing soon & as the weather is improving (!) should be fine with one odd one.
I'm considering these http://www.mytyres.co.uk/cgi-bin/rshop. ... p=R-231979" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Tyre tread patterns

Post by SwissSPEC »

Northern_Mike wrote:
SwissSPEC wrote:. I also never buy budget tyres to save a few quid when a decent tyre stops you in a more predictable & safer way & when weather conditions are poor has more grip & less chance of aquaplaning. When i mean decent tyres, it doesn't necesserily mean that they are expensive one's, there is plenty of information on tyre performance on the web.
This paragraph doesn't make a lot of sense. I went for Matadors on the Berlingo, it's now got Continentals. The Continentals are quieter and better in the wet and have considerabl better grip characteristics.

That said, the Matadors were a whole hell of a lot better than the far more expensive P6000s I have on one car, which were positively lethal in the wet. So lethal, that I crashed without even doing anything stupid!

Uniroyal Rain Experts are a very good tyre, and they are pretty cheap too - at least in the sizes I need them. about £47 each fitted and Balanced for the Berlingo, that'll do for me.
Which bit doesn't make sense? Price isn't a factor when i purchase tyres, their performance is & there are plenty of tyre manufacturers who make extremely good tyres for sensible money. I personally have never had a set of michelin's on any car & found them to be all that great, and have always been pleased when they've worn out so i could replace them with something better & normally a lot cheaper in price as well. I quite like vredestein, superb in the wet & pretty good in the dry as well. Also had good results with Goodyear summer tyres & currently have some excellent Goodyear ultragrip 8 winter tyres fitted to one of my other cars, absolutely brilliant in the snow & sodden roads :)

Tyres can be very subjective with mixed results for the same type depending upon what car they've been fitted to, i've also got experience of runflats as well. I usually look at the various tyre review sites & make a judgment call on what to choose rather than any particular brand loyalty etc...some will only ever drive on michelin's, nothing wrong with that, but they are mega expensive & don't come out as well as others in the tyre tests, i'm not saying their rubbish, but why pay 30-50% more for tyres which aren't as good? But if you've alway's had them & like them, i won't argue even if i think you're mad for paying those prices :wink:
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Re: Tyre tread patterns

Post by qprdude »

OK, now I have a confession to make....................................................I'm an idiot. :^o :-**
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Re: Tyre tread patterns

Post by SwissSPEC »

Stickyfinger wrote:Personally, I would buy two new tyres and put them on the front, I would choose the best match on the rear and a spare.
If you prefer oversteer to understeer perhaps :?: I personally find understeer much easier to sort out & more predictable, call me boring :rofl2:
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Re: Tyre tread patterns

Post by Northern_Mike »

If you're driving fast enough on the road to get unpredictable oversteer, then your rear tyres are worn out, or you're driving like a tit, whatever the conditions.
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Re: Tyre tread patterns

Post by SwissSPEC »

I never realised you could get predictable oversteer with a front wheel drive car ;) Anyway, everyone can choose where to fit new tyres, seems strange when most manufacturers do suggest to get them fitted to the rear rather than the front & yet most do fit them to the front, heyho....
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Re: Tyre tread patterns

Post by Northern_Mike »

SwissSPEC wrote:I never realised you could get predictable oversteer with a front wheel drive car ;)
Of course you can :?
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Re: Tyre tread patterns

Post by bobins »

SwissSPEC wrote:If you prefer oversteer to understeer perhaps :?: I personally find understeer much easier to sort out & more predictable, call me boring
You prefer the increased stopping distances in the wet with the worn tyres on the front ? As you say - Hey-ho, everyone can choose where to fit their tyres :)
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Re: Tyre tread patterns

Post by Northern_Mike »

bobins wrote:
SwissSPEC wrote:If you prefer oversteer to understeer perhaps :?: I personally find understeer much easier to sort out & more predictable, call me boring
You prefer the increased stopping distances in the wet with the worn tyres on the front ? As you say - Hey-ho, everyone can choose where to fit their tyres :)
People seem obsessed with the idea that the new tyres must go on the rear because they tyre companies say so. I believe almost *all* modern tyres are acceptable for road use, and it doesn't really make a lot of difference as long as they're not less than about 3mm of wear. My mum, despite my protestations, puts the cheapest tyres possible on her cars, and has never, in 40 years driving, had any sort of accident at all.

I prefer my better tyres on the front because they do more there. Which tyres hit the standing water on a motorway first? Do you want worn tyres, which won't clear that water as well to hit if first, with a higher risk of aquaplaning? A lack of grip compared to the rear in an emergency stop , wet or dry? I know I don't. The simple fact of the matter is that anyone who loses the back end of a FWD car on legal modern tyres, in the UK, with our speed limits and our road conditions, is driving like a tit. I would wager that 99.999% of accidents where this has happened are down to driver idiocy. I know it was in my case when I wrapped my first Xantia up. That had 4 almost new Michelins on it. Didn't stop me spinning it on a country road, smashing through a stone wall and dropping 6ft into a field in the middle of the night..

Anyone in a small light car on P6000s has an excuse, because they're rubbish in any scenario in the wet.

It's easy to get predictable oversteer in any car, FWD, RWD or 4WD!
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