Tyre advice

[Jusitne]

I would appreciate some advice.  My front Continental tyres (premium contact 2) on my fiesta need changing.  I’ve researched the options available at the main tyre outlets and as usual their are mixed reviews.  I drive to work through country roads so want a tyre that has good grip in the wet and dry, good wear and is safe. The continentals have lasted 33,000 miles on the front which appears reasonable.  

 

Can anyone advise which tyre I should get - the same - Premium contact 2 or are there better tyres available?

[catch]

whatever you buy you should always fit the new tyres to the rear axle, with the ones taken off  the rear axle put onto the front axle.

[tef89]

1 hour ago, Jusitne said:

I would appreciate some advice.  My front continental tyres (premium contact 2) on my fiesta need changing.  I’ve researched the options available at the main tyre outlets and as usual their are mixed reviews.  I drive to work through country roads so want a tyre that has good grip in the wet and dry, good wear and is safe. The continentals have lasted 33,000 miles on the front which appears reasonable.  

 

Can anyone advise which tyre I should get - the same - Premium contact 2 or are there better tyres available?

33,000 sounds very good to me. My A3 chewed through the factory fitted Bridgestone's in 17k of mostly motorway (normal) driving. 

If you're happy with the performance then I'd be tempted to keep to the same ones. 

[ThaiFiesta]

17 hours ago, catch said:

whatever you buy you should always fit the new tyres to the rear axle, with the ones taken off  the rear axle put onto the front axle.

Actually that should be the opposite on a front wheel drive car like the Fiesta. The front tyres carry most of the weight, do most of the braking, and all the drive and steering. You want your best tyres on the front. Just like you never put a space saver spare on the front. 

[iantt]

1 hour ago, ThaiFiesta said:

Actually that should be the opposite on a front wheel drive car like the Fiesta. The front tyres carry most of the weight, do most of the braking, and all the drive and steering. You want your best tyres on the front. Just like you never put a space saver spare on the front. 

nope, best on the rear. . do a bit of research on oversteer and understeer theñ you will change your view. 

[stef123]

6 minutes ago, iantt said:

nope, best on the rear. . do a bit of research on oversteer and understeer theñ you will change your view. 

I second this. 

[cjay1]

To be fair I have always rotated the tyres regularly to ensure the best tread is at the front as front ware faster and never had an issue with a rear end happy car. Frequently rotating means you can  replace all tyres at same time when my current contental premium contact 2 have hit 2mm I will replace all 4 with kleblr quadraxer2 as they have the same wet grip performance b as current tyre but are more fuel efficient c instead of e  less noise 69 db instead of 71db and have a mud and snow rating for the odd wintery spell we get in the UK.

[Paulkp]

I agree with Ian - understeer is preferable to oversteer.

And 33k sounds good to me, so go with the same.

[pragmatix]

4 hours ago, ThaiFiesta said:

Actually that should be the opposite on a front wheel drive car like the Fiesta. The front tyres carry most of the weight, do most of the braking, and all the drive and steering. You want your best tyres on the front. Just like you never put a space saver spare on the front. 

Wrong, the best tyres should be on the rear.

[Justine1]

3 hours ago, iantt said:

nope, best on the rear. . do a bit of research on oversteer and understeer theñ you will change your view. 

Hi everyone who replied.  I’ve decided to stick with continentals and get replacements like on like. Car has one existing Continental on back plus an event futurum due to a very urgent fix due to major puncture.  Do I move these to front axle and put new continentals on rear?  Will it make lot of difference?  Sorry I’m fairly uneducated regarding under and over steering!  Justine 

[Another Richard]

On ‎10‎/‎10‎/‎2019 at 7:56 PM, Justine1 said:

Hi everyone who replied.  I’ve decided to stick with continentals and get replacements like on like. Car has one existing continental on back plus an event futurum due to a very urgent fix due to major puncture.  Do I move these to front axle and put new continentals on rear?  Will it make lot of difference?  Sorry I’m fairly uneducated regarding under and over steering!  Justine 

To put it simply, good tyres on the back and poor ones on the front will mean a car tends to understeer (try to go straight on when you turn the wheel). Good tyres on the front and poor on the back will lead to oversteer, where you turn a corner and the back of the car starts to swing out. For 99% of drivers, it is much easier to cope with understeer (ease off and turn the wheel more) than oversteer. All modern mass-market cars are designed to understeer slightly for safety reasons. For normal driving, I doubt if the placing of the good and bad tyres makes a lot of difference (I have done both and I am still accident-free), but on a wet road, in an emergency, you might just be glad that you followed the best advice.

The Continental tyres have had great reviews in recent magazine tests. As we are entering the cold, rainy season, have you considered winter or all-season tyres? You have a mix of tyres on the rear axle, which is not recommended. Mine (owned three months) has a horrible mis-match of good and bad, new and old, so I will soon be fitting a full set of All-Season Contacts. I'm a bit obsessive about my tyres, and I don't like mixing makes and types on a single axle, and prefer the same tyre all round if I can manage it.

[cjay1]

I don't thing the UK climate demands winter tyres but all season are great for what the UK climate normally throughs at us and can be used all year 

[Westville]

46 minutes ago, cjay1 said:

I don't thing the UK climate demands winter tyres but all season are great for what the UK climate normally throughs at us and can be used all year 

You obviously reside in the warm south   

[cjay1]

Yeah for the couple of days a year winter tyres would be of benefit I can't see the cost benefit. All seasons get me up the snow covered hill out of my estate without drama where as the summer continentals really do struggle. For me good quality all seasons are perfect for my driving needs without the twice a year tyre swap.

[Jusitne]

Thanks everyone who replied.  I’ve ordered the summer continentals now - fitting on Tuesday.  When I looked at ATS, Halfords, Kwik Fit etc very few all season tyres were available so just gone with summer Continentals.  Let’s hope we have a mild winter!   With regard to the back tyres the existing Continental will probably need replacing soon - at that point I’ll replace both with the same Continentals and use the Event as a spare - does anyone know where I can buy spare alloy wheel from - 16 inch and cheap?  I’ve read that if I get a steel wheel, to use as a spare, the tyre size will be different and I cant use my Event tyre - it will be redundant.  So I need spare alloy or I need to buy steel wheel and yet another tyre.

[OldPastures]

On 10/13/2019 at 11:31 AM, Jusitne said:

Thanks everyone who replied.  I’ve ordered the summer continentals now - fitting on Tuesday.  When I looked at ATS, Halfords, Kwik Fit etc very few all season tyres were available so just gone with summer Continentals.  Let’s hope we have a mild winter!   With regard to the back tyres the existing continental will probably need replacing soon - at that point I’ll replace both with the same Continentals and use the Event as a spare - does anyone know where I can buy spare alloy wheel from - 16 inch and cheap?  I’ve read that if I get a steel wheel, to use as a spare, the tyre size will be different and I cant use my Event tyre - it will be redundant.  So I need spare alloy or I need to buy steel wheel and yet another tyre.

eBay is a good start !

[Paulkp]

"Event Tyres"

These do not get good write ups, and at 1/3rd of the price of a Michelin, reminds me of the phrase " you may not always get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you got".

I bought a Focus ST about seven years ago with four newish Events, replaced with 4x Michelin PS3s within weeks.............

[pragmatix]

On 10/13/2019 at 10:28 AM, cjay1 said:

I don't thing the UK climate demands winter tyres but all season are great for what the UK climate normally throughs at us and can be used all year 

Winter tyres are in my opinion essential up here, never mind the grip in snow its in the wet and cold that they really come into there own

[Frembrit]

I wish I got 33K miles out of my tyres!! haha...not with my driving, the roads I use and preference of tyres, (19" Michelin PS4s's) usually around 10 - 15K miles.

Agree with above, new tyres on the rear and move old tyres/wheels to the front.

I seem to be way further south than most/all of you and I use winter tyres, although on another set of smaller (18") wheels, which means they are cheaper (than 19's) and the savings goes towards the cost of the alloys (Focus ST250). These grip well in the wet, cold and icy conditions and of course snow when we occasionally get it down here.

All season tyres are a good compromise for most people as it does save the hassle of swapping either to winter/summer tyres on one set of wheels or swapping wheels and tyres (with the added hassle of storing them too). 

Further info here about tyres http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/  ... good videos on tyre tests for all types and links to many reviews and other tests, though can get a bit geeky.

[Jusitne]

Had both front tyres changed for two continentals at Kwik Fit - what a disaster!  They put the right tyres on but one had a 84 loading and one had a 88 loading - they don’t even sell the 88 loading on their website so how could that happen?!?!.  

I asked about putting them on the rear but they said best leave on front as the rear tyres are different so they should stay on the back.  

After three trips to the garage they eventually supplied me with two new front tyres as per my order.  

Waiting for the area manager to call after a week and a half.  They also damaged an alloy which they say was already damaged - don’t ever use KWIK FIT!

[Ian318]

Oh kwik fit, Lets fit kwik not carefully n correctly ! 

[pragmatix]

19 hours ago, Ian318 said:

Oh kwik fit, Lets fit kwik not carefully n correctly ! 

A teem of my motability lease is I gave to use Kwik Fit, just had two new fronts fitted, they wouldnt put them on the back but thats another issue, i drove out of  Kwik Fit thinking the car feels funny stopped and checked the tyre pressures the had just "checked " and found four different pressurs fronts where 38 and 33, rears where 35 and 32.