[Request] Tyres for Primera

litirspam

Need the following. 4 x (205/50 R16) for a 2000 Primera.
Can anyone suggest where to buy please?

lomb

litirspam wrote:

Need the following. 4 x (205/50 R16) for a 2000 Primera.
Can anyone suggest where to buy please?

pretty much same everywhere unless ur handy with a tire iron and go with eiretyres. more important is what brand u buy. michelin are most energy saving and hardest wearing but offer not great traction in wet although with 205s it wont make any difference. they in my opinion are the best although are a little pricy.

litirspam

Thanks for reply lomb.
I have since been reading on a different thread about champiro gt tyres - seem to come highly recommended.

BrianD3

I've had good experiences with the Champiro GT. They are not too cheap - in 205/50 R16 they will be around 85-100 euros each. Michelins will be around 140-170 euros each. They may give a little bit better grip but don't last as long IME.

I've just replaced a front Champiro GT on my Laguna (only one because the other one died prematurely after an argument with a pothole) After 40k miles, the tyre was still a bit away from the minimum legal tread depth. And I don't swap tyres around so that's 40+k from a set of front tyres. The Michelins that were on the front axle previously only lasted 27k. I didn't notice any difference in grip betwene the Champiros and the Michelins. My tyre size is similar to yours at 205/55 R16. I now have Tigars on the front. They are a bit cheaper than the Champiro GTs and they seem OK.

BrianD3

lomb

BrianD3 wrote:

I've had good experiences with the Champiro GT. They are not too cheap - in 205/50 R16 they will be around 85-100 euros each. Michelins will be around 140-170 euros each. They may give a little bit better grip but don't last as long IME.

I've just replaced a front Champiro GT on my Laguna (only one because the other one died prematurely after an argument with a pothole) After 40k miles, the tyre was still a bit away from the minimum legal tread depth. And I don't swap tyres around so that's 40+k from a set of front tyres. The Michelins that were on the front axle previously only lasted 27k. I didn't notice any difference in grip betwene the Champiros and the Michelins. My tyre size is similar to yours at 205/55 R16. I now have Tigars on the front. They are a bit cheaper than the Champiro GTs and they seem OK.

BrianD3

sounds very good, who makes champiros? ive never heard of them.
id say rolling resistance is related to tire carcass stifness and a hard compound giving less flex. so if the champiros are this hard wearing rolling resistance is likely low which is good for fuel economy

BrianD3

Champiros are made by GT Radial. I think they're Malaysian.

Now I'm not saying that these tyres are infallible. I would guess that if you were pushing your car to the limits you'd get better grip from softer brand name tyres such as Pirellis, Continentals, Michelins. However I'd say most people driving on a public road in FWD cars with <200 bhp, would hardly notice the difference between a dear tyre and something like a champiro. A lot of the praise that people give to dearer tyres is a placebo effect IMO The major difference that you would notice is your tyres could last nearly twice as long and cost half as much when you do eventually have to change them.

PS the champiros that were on my car had a treadwear number of 250 i.e. not particularly hard. Really cheap, hard, nasty tyres can have treadwear numbers of 380-400.

BrianD3

lomb

BrianD3 wrote:

Champiros are made by GT Radial. I think they're Malaysian.

Now I'm not saying that these tyres are infallible. I would guess that if you were pushing your car to the limits you'd get better grip from softer brand name tyres such as Pirellis, Continentals, Michelins. However I'd say most people driving on a public road in FWD cars with <200 bhp, would hardly notice the difference between a dear tyre and something like a champiro. A lot of the praise that people give to dearer tyres is a placebo effect IMO The major difference that you would notice is your tyres could last nearly twice as long and cost half as much when you do eventually have to change them.

BrianD3

the problem i have with cheap tyres is that they might be a false saving. why is it michelin claim 5% fuel savings with their energy line. thats 50-100euro a year and over the life of the tyres is def 150euro which will pay the difference anyway. then theres road noise factors, wet grip. it could be the day u need it that little extra grip could be life saving. somehow i personally wouldnt be trying to save on tyres, its the one thing thats more important than airbags, seatbelts and crumple zones.

having said that i was driving a yaris the other day gently and lost grip in the wet on a roundabout at 10mph on 175 bridgestones with loads of tread. i wasnt impressed to say the least. i wont be buying anymore bridgestones.

bazz26

I agree with you Lomb, my 03 Avensis came with 215 R17 45 Bridgstones and they were fine for the first 15k but deteriorated very fast after that. Had to replace them at around 27k miles. Replaced them with Vredestein Sportracks and they are great both in the wet and dry. The road noise is reduced also and there is still plenty of thread left 18k miles later. Would not touch Bridgestones ever again.

fletch

lomb wrote:

pretty much same everywhere unless ur handy with a tire iron and go with eiretyres.

Yeh I tried to buy off these guys but could not find anywhere that would fit the tyres....even some of the recommended fitters on the site refused to

lomb

fletch wrote:

Yeh I tried to buy off these guys but could not find anywhere that would fit the tyres....even some of the recommended fitters on the site refused to

lol

Furp

Just before Christmas I got four GT Radial Champiro Tyres for my Primera same size as your 205/50 R16 from Advance pitstop at €80 each.

I find them be excellent tyres with lots of grip, and not as much road noise as my previous Continental Eco tyres; also I haven't much difference in fuel economy, although this is hard to judge as I'm doing a lot of driving with all electrics on.