How much do the tyres effect a Xantia?
I cannot afford the Michelin ones at £85 a tyre, but do Michelin make that much difference in terms on comfort?
I have wacked Hydraflush through, had new spheres all round (except rear middle) new LHM and on bumpy roads i am still not impressed with the suspention. The smallest bump and the car like bounces up and down, which is not comfortable. My mums ZX feels better most the time.
But sometimes my car does seem to glide....(rarely) but when it does its great, just a shame its not very often
Also somebody on another thread said somthing about a video of DS with a wheel missing at 100mph, anybody know where i can get any videos of Citroens traveling with a wheel missing?
ripsaw, I find Michelin tyres noisy, expensive and not long lasting; for the last 12 years I have used Avon which are quieter and turn in 35/37k on the front @ about £62.50/tyre.
Ripsaw, tyres can affect the ride quality but really only for the minor irritations like rumble strips etc. There are a lot of comments on here about different tyres but if your drivng style is a bit conservative and you don't push it to the limits on corners then you can use the lower cost alternatives.
One advatage of staying with the Michelins is the predicatble handling and higher milage you will get from them. The car was designed around the Michelin handling characteristics but that far from precludes any other fitment.
As a thought if you can get tyres and valves fitted and balanced locally at reasonable cost then consider purchasing on line from /www.mytyres.co.uk/ or similar people.
Good luck and regards, Robin
I know I may get shouted at but...
I used a budget tyre called "Stunner" on my 405 for around eight years and did serious miles.
When I bought the XM, I understood that it had a reputation for eating fronts, more so than the average french car.
I put some Stunners on, and they did 25K.
Cost? £50/corner fitted from my trusted tyre and exhaust indie, Derek Campbell in Yarm. He's been around for 25 years and has much repeat business. And all of his staff have already started shaving, unlike those at some other multiple outlets.
I am not a "flat capper", and there is no tartan blanket on my rear seat, so I would like to think that I drive fairly vigorously, and I have had no problems. Maybe the Michelins are quieter, but I am always alarmed at how the sidewalls start to "craze" on them, and wrinkles appear in the tread.
I would rather that the XM ate cheap but effective rubber, rather than a brand which costs 25% more. But, there again, I am self-employed, and think that some lines from Aldi and Netto are pretty good. And I hae a pair of Primark jeans in my wardrobe...I hate "brands for brands sake".
And the bouncy Xantia. Where are you in the UK. There is a good specialist near Huntingdon called Pleiades. It may be quicker to take it to them. Are you Hydractive, BTW? Did you replace the centre (softness) spheres?
HTH
rg
I'm too far away to be quoting brands, but the Michelins we get out here are all made in some strange places; banana republics or others where the waving palms meet the sea but they still want top dollar for them & I'll be damned if I know why. Out here where I am in the tropics and with a variety of road surfaces, the Michies all seem to send the steel casings through the tread of the tyre in no time flat. Also they are noisy, don't handle all that well & I can feel no different in comfort to many other tyres.
I had them on my CX and every tyre blew out due to failure of the casing whilst I still had plenty of tread left so as I'd tried many other brands over the years with varying degrees of success, so I decided to go cheapskate and bought a locally made tyre sold by a local tyre company for $79 a tyre (about 30 UK pounds)
They rode better, cornered better, handled gravel roads better, were quieter and didn't aquaplane in the wet (as the Michies did) and as the Michies were almost 3 times the price, I was really happy.
I've recently bought a Xantia and the first thing I did was put them on it. I reckon it also needs the centre sphere redoing but by comparison to the tyres that were on it, again, the cheapies are definitely better. By how much I won't fully appreciate until I get the ride sorted, but the difference when fitted was very noticeable.
I would say that you can confidently go for another brand, in fact Falkens which are Japanese that we get over here work magically on BXs so I'd imagine would also go well on a Xantia also.
These days, I have heard that Michelin has a deal with some of the Korean manufacturers and make a tyre specifically for a couple of their models that handle pretty poorly if fitted with anything else, so it could be a case that where we used to be their bread & butter we may these days just be the icing on the cake and as a result the standard has been let slip, as this seems to be the common thinking these days that they are living on their reputation and not the quality they once had.
Alan S
This topic is getting close to general chat but I do agree with the thoughts of both of the last contributors. The tyre world is dominated by a relatively few large manufacturers and the brand name is the marketing tool rather than their ability or performance. I too have Primark jeans and shop at Argos but you need to keep an eye on quality not brand or price.
For years I used Kleber tyres but they went off and now belong I think to the same stable as Michelin and Dunlop. If I am wrong I know we will get the true answer soon[?]
Who can remember Cinturatos and the Dunlop SP sport? I thought they were wonderful tyres for the purpose and shod a Ford Anglia sport, an Austin Healey and a Rover with them. We rallied the Angle box.
My father, who does have a flat cap and tartan blanket has some chinese made tyres on his Astra, about £25 each I think, and I confess I cannot find a problem with them.
Perhaps we could do with some legitimate testing being done on the brands - One for Jeremy Clarkson but he would only be interested in Brands anyway!!
The area that is perhaps the mystery with these budget tyres is their ability at the limits of adhesion in wet and dry conditions. Most good quality tyres have a fairly gentle transistion from grip to slide to wheeeeeee here comes the ditch[:D]
Just thoughts for what they are worth. R.
Robin,
FWIW, my cheapjack tyres are extremely good in both wet & dry in fact possibly the only thing with them is that if taken to the limit, they let go ever so gently so much so in fact that I do it as part of my general driving as the car is completely controllable when it does as was the CX so I take it as an asset not a liability and a feature of the tyre. Being an ex-racer through Rally & speedway it doesn't bother me and I find the car totally controllable when they do break traction to a degree.
As regards ride, I've always been of the opinion that all that tyres do on a properly sorted hydraulic Citroen is keep the rims off the road surface as they really don't seem to affect the ride all that much.
Alan S
One of my Xantis runs on cheap no name (camac) tyres, the other runs on Michelins and Continentals, both cars came with the tyres they wear, so I didnt really have a choice over the tyres.
What I did notice is that the no-name tyres didn't wear as well as the Michelins do the shoulders seem to get worn off the no-name tyres even with the "correct" pressures and the Michelins seem to be a LOT better in the wet.
I put Michelin Pilot Primacies on my C5 but find them wearing badly despite having the tracking laser checked at Micheldever Tyres. I'm gonna go for Kumho at one third the price next time.
Re-tyre choice.
I ran a Xantia 1.9 TD as a taxi for nearly 3 years covering 150,000 miles (some milage eh!).Xantia evetually died with 250,000 miles behind it thanks to irresponsible driver writing it off whilst parked up outside my house (car was still running well)got another now 2.0 HDi.
Only ever used cheapo tyres from local dealer £25.00 each.
Usually got around 25,000 out of fronts and 60,000 out of rears.
Think the tyres were "Tigras"
These ran fairly quietly and were quite predictable in both wet and dry conditions.
Front tyres used to scrub tread edges so tried running them at 2-3 psi above recommended pressures which improved things without really affecting handling.
Michelins are soft in the sidewall and give comfort at the expense of noise. They seem ok in the wet, though. I've used Firestones on a BX and although they weren't as comfortable, the turn-in was probably better and the tyres quieter. Citroens are supposed to run on Michelin tyres, though, being the make the car was supplied with. Wear seems to be reasonable and the cost premium is about £15 per tyre on a BX. I'm happy to spend that for the peace of mind of knowing that I'm on the rubber that the car was designed for.
I changed from Michelin MX3 Energies to Continental Eco-Contact tyres when I had my Xantia. The ride was better, quieter, and there was much more grip when stopping in the wet, which with the Xantia's sharp brakes, is important !
They also improved the economy over the MX3's.
Just put michelin E3A's on the front of my 2.1td and in my experiance the noise as come down a great deal and the car seems smother and handles a lot better not been able to try them in the wet yet only had them put on yesterday but they seem great, the tyres on the front before where michelins also but can not remember the name ( think it was A1's or somthing ).
And the bouncy Xantia. Where are you in the UK. There is a good specialist near Huntingdon called Pleiades. It may be quicker to take it to them. Are you Hydractive, BTW? Did you replace the centre (softness) spheres?
HTH
rg
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Ripsaw,
Did you notice the last sentence in this reply? He mentioned the centre sphere WHICH you didn't replace .... so after all, it might not be the tyres that is causes the problem you're having!
Question of reading at times!
Cheers,
John
I asked at my local Citroen specialist, and they said they do not bother replacing them as they do not seem to effect the ride quality and its just an anti sink. So does the center one have an effect then?
