Westlake Tyres????

BenEadir

Hi all,

Just purchased a 2nd hand Touareg from a VW dealer who agreed to put new tyres on it when we did the deal. Collected the car today and there are 4 x Westlake SU307 P235/65/R17 104H W+S tyres on it.

They are 'E' marked so I guess meet the relevant standards but I've never heard of them, they aren't reviewed on http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk and Westlakes website http://www.westlaketire.com doesn't really tell me much, in fact I can't find my specific tyres on there at all!!

Anyone got any experience with Westlakes or information?

I'd like to know the rubber I'm driving my family around on is fit for purpose.

Ben

Nissan doctor

They are an economy tyre. They are road legal etc but I personally wouldn't be putting such a cheap tyre on a vehicle like a touareg.

EPM

Never heard of them. But on a heavy In an emergency stop situation...I'd go for a proven brand...

BenEadir

Jaysus, that's depressing lads. what are my options?? The garage did their bit so won't replace them and I don't want to throw away 4 new legal tyres.

Do tyre shops take trade in's??

Ben

Nissan doctor

BenEadir wrote: »

Jaysus, that's depressing lads. what are my options?? The garage did their bit so won't replace them and I don't want to throw away 4 new legal tyres.

Do tyre shops take trade in's??

Ben

Check to see if they are the same speed and load rating as the factory tyres(depends of which model touareg you have), if they are not then go to the dealer and ask them why they haven't fitted tyres specified by VW.

Tyre shops won't take trade in as used tyres can't be guaranteed.

BenEadir

Doctor,

There is a sticker on the car door which lists out several tyre size options. The 235/65/R17 option has "108 H XL" after it whereas my 235/65/R17's have "104 H M+S" after them. From what I can gather 104 = load carrying ability of 900KG's and 108 = load carrying ability of 1,000 KG's.

I also found out from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tire_code that "M+S" means "Mud & Snow" and that means it's an "All seasons" tryre with "above-average traction in muddy or very light snowy conditions, and for low ambient temperatures" and that the "XL" mark on the factory recommended spec means "eXtra Load; tire for vehicles of heavier standard weights"

I don't mind that the tyres are All Seasons with extra grip in light snowy conditions (given the winter we just had) but I am a little concerned that the load carrying ability of the Westlake's is only 900KG instead of the factory recommended 1,000KG and that they are not XL rated as factory specified.

I won't be fully loaded that often but will be doing a family holiday trip to France with fully loaded bike rack, roof rack and fully loaded luggage compartment + 100 or so bottles of wine on the way back so don't want a blow out on the motorway.

Would I be pedantic asking the dealer to replace the Westlakes with properly spec'd 108 XL tyres even if the replacements are a different model of Westlake?

Worth making a fuss or not?

Ben

Esel

Depending how it goes with the dealer (load rating is a major issue, btw, especially with your continental trip...) you could, if necessary, offer to pay the difference in cost between the 'wrong' tyres and a new set of brand-name correctly specified ones.

Nissan doctor

BenEadir wrote: »

Doctor,

There is a sticker on the car door which lists out several tyre size options. The 235/65/R17 option has "108 H XL" after it whereas my 235/65/R17's have "104 H M+S" after them. From what I can gather 104 = load carrying ability of 900KG's and 108 = load carrying ability of 1,000 KG's.

I also found out from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tire_code that "M+S" means "Mud & Snow" and that means it's an "All seasons" tryre with "above-average traction in muddy or very light snowy conditions, and for low ambient temperatures" and that the "XL" mark on the factory recommended spec means "eXtra Load; tire for vehicles of heavier standard weights"

I don't mind that the tyres are All Seasons with extra grip in light snowy conditions (given the winter we just had) but I am a little concerned that the load carrying ability of the Westlake's is only 900KG instead of the factory recommended 1,000KG and that they are not XL rated as factory specified.

I won't be fully loaded that often but will be doing a family holiday trip to France with fully loaded bike rack, roof rack and fully loaded luggage compartment + 100 or so bottles of wine on the way back so don't want a blow out on the motorway.

Would I be pedantic asking the dealer to replace the Westlakes with properly spec'd 108 XL tyres even if the replacements are a different model of Westlake?

Worth making a fuss or not?

Ben

Well if the car is specified as having extra load tyres as standard then it will be because VW(and Porsche in your case), when developing the car, will have found that due to the maximum weight, cornering force, braking weight transfer, speed etc etc that the touareg is capable of that standard load tyres were not able to maintain stability and so a heavier load tyre was specified.

If we were talking about a small city car or something that's never going to see the outside of a shopping center car park then I wouldn't worry about it but a Premium SUV that you plan on touring Europe in then I'd be wanting the correct spec tyres at the very least, and my preference would be a suitable premium brand.

PaulKK

Bit of a disgrace that a VW main dealer would put tyres like that on a premium SUV.

As an example, they are the cheapest in that size online:
http://en.febishop.eu/tyres/westlake/su-307-235-65-r17-104-h


At the very least you would expect a good quality mid range tyre.

richardsheil

BenEadir wrote: »

Jaysus, that's depressing lads. what are my options?? The garage did their bit so won't replace them and I don't want to throw away 4 new legal tyres.

Do tyre shops take trade in's??

Ben

They did not do their bit. They did you unfortunately. Not suprised unfortunately.

I saw an 08 Focus being imported this week up at the NCT centre in Greenhills by a very well regarded Bmw and Toyota garage not far from Rathgar.

What tyres did it have? Wanli. The mind boggles. To think that punters go to this garage expecting to be looked after (and paying for the privilege) and get this rubbish.

I also know of a guy who paid 22k for an 08 Audi and it has crap tyres on it too.