under 17k miles on €190 Pirellis?

impr0v

does this sound a bit low? brought my car in for a service today and they told me the two front ones are almost on the legal limit after 16600 miles, so they didn't even bother switching them with the rears. They're 215/55/R16 Pirellis, which he says they'll replace for 190 each, though i'm sure i'll get a better price somewhere else. He also has some 'Maxxis' tyres for 123 each balanced and fitted, which again i'm sure i'll get cheaper somewhere else, no point spending a lot of cash on a branded pair when they're only going to last that long anyway.

Captain Trips

Have a look at EireTyre.com, they have a big range. Usually 50 quid or so cheaper than advance or the other scam outfits.

Also, I would measure the thread depth myself. Ever garage will try and flog you tyres, especially if it's for more upper range vehicles.

Borzoi

TBH I've gotten less. Pirellis are good tyres with good grip, but this is because they are soft and wear very quickly.

I've switched from them to Goodyear Eagle NCT5 which are still expensive but a bit more durable without compromising too much on grip

There's been plenty of threads here on tires, durability and price etc if you do a quick search

Seth Brundle

Borzoi has said it.
With tyres you choose between longevity and grip. Generally tyres which are designed to last donkeys years don't have quite the same grip as they are a slightly harder compound. Conversly, your tyres were softer which gave good grip but don't last as long.

dcGT

Originally posted by Captain Trips
Have a look at EireTyre.com, they have a big range. Usually 50 quid or so cheaper than advance or the other scam outfits.

Yeah, I've been tempted to order from this place myself.....but you still have to pay for fitting and a lot of places will be reluctant to fit tyres that you havn't bought from them.....

Unless, of course, you know someone that will fit them for free

DC.

Dancing_Priest

You could allways fit them yourself , but getting them to balance, well I dont have a bloody clue how you would that!

dcGT

Originally posted by Dancing_Priest
You could allways fit them yourself , but getting them to balance, well I dont have a bloody clue how you would that!

Hmmm yeah I was talking to a few people about that yesterday...how difficult are car tyres to fit and what tools would you need?

As regards balancing - bring to a garage/tyre place...need a special machine to do it ..around €7 per wheel to balance.

DC.

Seth Brundle

DIY fitting can be tricky, especially getting the old ones off.
Given you will be paying someone to balance them it won't be much different to get them fitted at the same time!

unkel

Originally posted by Captain Trips
Have a look at EireTyre.com

Always good as a reference point. Got sorted cheaper and quicker in kwikfit for a very expensive tyre

Negotiate the price with them!

BrianD3

As others have said it's a trade off between longevity and grip. If you're a hard fast driver then you're going to need all the grip you can get. If you're slower and drive well within the limits of the car/tyres/yourself you may not notice any difference betwen a hard tyre and soft tyre - except that the hard tyre will last longer.

I am a fairly slow driver myself. My Laguna came with 205/55 R16 V Michelin Pilots when I bought it. I got 27k out of the front tyres and 39k out of the rears (no swapping around was done)

I'm now running cheapo Champiro GT tyres on the front and Pirellli P6000 on the rear. Fronts still have plenty of life left in them after 20k miles and seem to give quite good grip too. Rears are wearing quicker than I expected. Maybe Pirellis are a bit soft alright. I don't see any tread wear number on the Pirellis so it's hard to know.The Champiros have a tread wear number of 250 which is probably a good compromise between grip and longevity. The higher the treadwear number, the longer the tyre should last. Tyres generally have a number between 150 and 350.

Also, this may be stating the obvious but remember that if you get expensive tyres and hit a pothole and destroy one you'll be out of pocket more than if you had fitted cheap tyres.

BrianD3

Dancing_Priest

Well , its feckin hard enough to do even using the machine we have in the garage, plenty of carved knuckles , but all you need is a crow bar and preberably the tool to remove the valve from the tyre. Like I said its do-able , but doing all 4 (5?) tyres by hand would be bloody hard work!