Tyres: One premium or two mid-range?

grogi

I've damaged the front left tire, needs replacing.

Should I change only the damaged one and do some rotations to approximately match the wear? Currently I have OEM tyres - Michelin Energy Saver+ - around 2 years-old and 15kkm on them. A new one will cost around €125 fitted. I would balance the rest when I am at the shop - so €140 in total.

Or alternatively change two tyres to something more budget - two well reviewed Nexen N'Blue HD Plus and balancing the rest will cost me €150... I would put the Michelins from the rear to the front and the keep the third Michelin as a spare. That way if I hit the curb again, I would have identical one to swap...

What do you think?

biko

It really depends on your driving I suppose but me, I'd swap to 2 new budget ones and keep the undamaged Michelin as a spare.

grogi

biko wrote: »

It really depends on your driving I suppose /.../

It is a tall mummy wagon... It will roll before it starts skidding.

Nuw

I'd go with the 2 new ones and leave them at the front. As they may grip a little less than the Michelin (especially in the wet) it is better to have them at the front. If you put them at the back (and if they do grip less), the car will behave very differently in a tight corner which might be scary to the driver.

I tried it myself, had to replace front tires and tires at the back were OEM (Michelin, with less than half thread left), didn't have much budget at the time, so went cheap (-ish), and in all my wisdom (I genuinely thought it was the thing to do) I put the michelin at the front and the others at the back... Basically turned my front wheel drive hatchback into a tail happy drifter in the wet... The first few corners were quite exciting to say the least, quickly switched that back to front, as I wasn't the only driver of the car...

colm_mcm

What brand did you buy that ended up doing that?

jca

Nuw wrote: »

I'd go with the 2 new ones and leave them at the front. As they may grip a little less than the Michelin (especially in the wet) it is better to have them at the front. If you put them at the back (and if they do grip less), the car will behave very differently in a tight corner which might be scary to the driver.

I tried it myself, had to replace front tires and tires at the back were OEM (Michelin, with less than half thread left), didn't have much budget at the time, so went cheap (-ish), and in all my wisdom (I genuinely thought it was the thing to do) I put the michelin at the front and the others at the back... Basically turned my front wheel drive hatchback into a tail happy drifter in the wet... The first few corners were quite exciting to say the least, quickly switched that back to front, as I wasn't the only driver of the car...

Yea right... I've driven all sorts of vehicles with all sorts of tyres in various states of wear and never experienced tail happy drifting.

jca

biko wrote: »

It really depends on your driving I suppose but me, I'd swap to 2 new budget ones and keep the undamaged Michelin as a spare.

This is what I'd do as well.

H3llR4iser

Well, I wouldn't change just one tire - even if you get the same make/model as the other ones, 15k km isn't exactly nothing, there'll be a noticeable difference in wear level (the car might pull one side).

As far as I know, the Nexen ain't in the "budget cr@p" category - they're not WanLi or Triangle; they're fairly decent for the price - they're actually quite well regarded even on venues such as AlfaOwner as..."pocket conscious" alternatives

I also wouldn't be 100% sure that new Nexens would grip less than 2 years old, 15k+ km Michelins...

I would also prefer a "tail happy" car a thousand times over one that tries to go straight, I always thought oversteer (especially in an FWD car) to be way more intuitive to keep in check than understeer (which requires you to "open up" the steering angle to regain grip), but that's just me

dar83

jca wrote: »

Yea right... I've driven all sorts of vehicles with all sorts of tyres in various states of wear and never experienced tail happy drifting.

Not unless you were entering corners too quickly and lifting off during it! Then you may get lift-off oversteer, but it's not exactly something that comes easily so you'd have to be pushing it quite a bit to have it happen. It also generally corrects instantly if you put your foot back down on the accelerator, but I guess if you weren't used to it or expecting it, then the last thing you'd think to do is accelerate.

Supergurrier

Check prices on camskill and get 2 keep undamaged tyre as spare.

I recently bought Michelin PS4's for the ST @ £98 each from camskill, cost 50 to fit and balance at a local tyre place, nowhere outside of dublin maybe could come near that price.

kerten

grogi wrote: »

I would put the Michelins from the rear to the front and the keep the third Michelin as a spare.

I would do this as I trust 2 years old michelins more than brand new nexens on front axle.

Edit: Or buy something better than nexen(Uniroyal, Hankook, etc) for fronts and be done with it.

CiniO

How much tread left on them front Michelins after 15kkm?

grogi

CiniO wrote: »

How much tread left on them front Michelins after 15kkm?

Not much honestly... 4.6mm at the front, 6.0 at the rear.

Two new ordered.

colm_mcm

What size are the tyres?

grogi

H3llR4iser wrote: »

As far as I know, the Nexen ain't in the "budget cr@p" category - they're not WanLi or Triangle; they're fairly decent for the price - they're actually quite well regarded even on venues such as AlfaOwner as..."pocket conscious" alternatives

I don't consider such products as tyres honestly. They are tyrelike, Nankang is lowest I would ever considered... And that after verification of particular model...

grogi

colm_mcm wrote: »

What size are the tyres?

205/60 r16, weird size...

Nuw

I think what happened was that I got used to the grip from the Michelin (as they are my default tires) and got a tad overconfident while forgetting that the ones I had at the back (while brand new) were not of the same quality.

On a daily basis and under 'normal' driving circumstances, you expect the front (in a basic hatchback) to go before the back does, understeer is easily cured by lifting off the gas (again under 'normal' driving conditions). When you get oversteer, it's not the end of the world (and I personally wouldn't have mind) but the other drivers of the car are not necessarily familiar with oversteer and would probably have hit the brakes under the same circumstances (which is what most people would do, let's be honest), especially in a car they're used to drive.

What I was trying to say is that if there is a difference of performance between your front and back tires, put the grippier ones at the back, unless you're the sole driver of the car and you know what to expect.

Nuw

colm_mcm wrote: »

What brand did you buy that ended up doing that?

I actually don't remember but definitely not premium, probably something on the cheap side of middle range... It was the first and only time I did not put premium brand on my car, and it was a good while ago...

fancy pigeon

colm_mcm wrote: »

What brand did you buy that ended up doing that?

Austones on the back of the Avensis did that to me here, here and here when I first got the car. Putting the pirellis on not only quietened the road noise but left it a lot more stable

All at low speeds on wet roads, with no scandanivian flicking/lifting the stick/unsettling the balance of the car during turning (slowing/speeding up etc)

The only other time I've unintentionally made a car steer from the rear was with a set of nankangs at the back