New Fiesta Front Tyre Wear

[Jonny87]

Cheers Keith :) Will give those sites a whirl now and see how big the cash spillage will be.

I know I can get cheapo ones for 35 quid but want to stick to the Bridgestone Potenzas. Am I sucked into a mis-placed brand loyalty? and has anybody got any alternative tyre brands they can recommend? I dont really want the cheapest possible, more like a quality mid-range tyre with a good mix of performance and lifespan

Just had a quick browse and i'm quite suprised to find that the original tyres are more or less the most expensive one available for the car!

[KeithC]

Cheers Keith :) Will give those sites a whirl now and see how big the cash spillage will be.

I know I can get cheapo ones for 35 quid but want to stick to the Bridgestone Potenzas. Am I sucked into a mis-placed brand loyalty? and has anybody got any alternative tyre brands they can recommend? I dont really want the cheapest possible, more like a quality mid-range tyre with a good mix of performance and lifespan

Just had a quick browse and i'm quite suprised to find that the original tyres are more or less the most expensive one available for the car!

Always the !Removed! case pal.

I've just put Vredesteins Ultrac Sessanta on the M3, don't know if they do them in your size. They are getting very good write ups and considering they are only £150 each for mine instead of £280 for the Michelin PS2's, then there's quite a saving when ou buy 4. :o

Another tyre recommended on the M3 forum and which a lot are using is the Falken 452 which are cheaper. I have also run Toyo Proxes T1-R when I had my 406 Coupe and they were a good tyre as well. Found another, Kumho KU31.

[AndrewL]

Another tyre recommended on the M3 forum and which a lot are using is the Falken 452 which are cheaper. I have also run Toyo Proxes T1-R when I had my 406 Coupe and they were a good tyre as well. Found another, Kumho KU31.

Such an underated car, looked beautiful compared to the saloon. Designed by Pininfarina weren't they?

Im hoping to get at least 20k out of my tyres, now they're 17's im expecting quite a hefty bill when it comes to replacements compared to my old car.

[Hurricane 868]

Ok here are my depth readings:

Bridgestone Potenza ~~~ 205/40 R17 84V ~~~ Titanium X 17" Alloys ~~~ 1.6 Petrol

Tyre pressures always kept to handbook spec for light loading (as opposed to fully loaded)

Courtesy Check: 5959m

Outer Middle Inner

N/S Front 5 5 5

O/S Front 5 5 5

N/S Rear 6 6 6

O/S Rear 6 6 6

First Service: 15641m

Outer Middle Inner

N/S Front 5 4 5

O/S Front 4 4 5

N/S Rear 5 6 6

O/S Rear 6 6 6

Interim Observation: 21000m (ish) (2/2/2010)

Outer Middle Inner

N/S Front 2 3 3

O/S Front 2 3 3

N/S Rear 4 5 4

O/S Rear 5 5 5

So there we go :)

Rears look to last 50,000 - 60,000

Fronts look to last 25,000 at a stretch

My thoughts on this :-

- Why didn't Ford switch the front to rear at the first service? (Then again, if they had I would have to fork out for 4 tyres at a time)

- Why did I leave the first service so late? Will this void the warranty? (it was only 5 months old, but 15461 miles)

- Car will need new fronts at every major service, what a ball ache

- Alignment appears to be spot on

- All different tyre types and brands that Ford use is going to make choosing replacements a bit confusing, so maybe I'll stick to the potenzas

- I need to find the cheapest supplier of this tyre quite soon. Anyone recommend a vendor? Has anybody bought tyres cheaply then taken them to ford for fitting?

- The Spare is still a virgin B)

Impressive figures. I think there are a few factors involved here.

1. You are doing mainly motorway driving whereas I am hardly ever on one.

2. You are driving a Petrol car against my heavier diesel.

3. Bridgestone potenza tyres are more expensive than my Pirelli's so should be better quality and last longer.

However having said all that I still think I have a problem with alignment.

Best vendor I have found is Black circles. Bridgeston REO40 fitted at £112.14 each I ordered my Yokie's on Sunday and they will be fitted tomorrow.

[KeithC]

Such an underated car, looked beautiful compared to the saloon. Designed by Pininfarina weren't they?

Yep, lovely design and not a bad car to boot.

[KeithC]

For info here is a tyre test results from EVO magazine from around 2007

Tyres tested:

1. Bridgestone Potenza RE050-A

2. Continental Contisport Contact 3

3. Dunlop Sport Maxx

4. Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymmetric

5. Kumho Ecsta STP KU31

6. Michelin Pilot Sport 2 PS2

7. Pirelli PZERO Nero

8. Vredestein ULTRAC SESSANTA

9. Yokohama S.DRIVE

Wet Handling:

Lap Times:

1. Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymmetric - 100%

2. Vredestein ULTRAC SESSANTA - 99.05%

3. Continental Contisport Contact 3 - 98.38%

Lateral G:

1. Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymmetric - 100%

2. Vredestein ULTRAC SESSANTA - 97.85%

3. Continental Contisport Contact 3 - 97.34%

Subjective:

1. Vredestein ULTRAC SESSANTA - 100%

2. Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymmetric - 96.15%

3. Continental Contisport Contact 3 - 94.23%

Aqua-Planing:

Straight Line:

1. Dunlop Sport Maxx - 100%

2. Bridgestone Potenza RE050-A - 98.85%

3. Continental Contisport Contact 3 - 97.01%

Cornering:

1. Vredestein ULTRAC SESSANTA - 100%

2. Bridgestone Potenza RE050-A - 83.37%

3. Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymmetric - 80.09%

Braking:

Wet Braking

1. Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymmetric - 100%

2. Bridgestone Potenza RE050-A - 98.19%

3. Continental Contisport Contact 3 - 97.44%

Dry Braking - Very little to choose between top and bottom [7% difference]

1. Michelin Pilot Sport 2 PS2 - 100%

2. Vredestein ULTRAC SESSANTA - 99.08%

3. Bridgestone Potenza RE050-A - 98.94%

Best at the Pumps:

Resistance (rolling):

1. Yokohama S.DRIVE - 100%

2. Michelin Pilot Sport 2 PS2 - 97.88%

3. Kumho Ecsta STP KU31 - 92.72%

Dry Handling:

Lap Times:

1. Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymmetric - 100%

2. Michelin Pilot Sport 2 PS2 - 99.79%

3. Bridgestone Potenza RE050-A - 99.18%

Lateral G:

1. Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymmetric - 100%

2. Michelin Pilot Sport 2 PS2 - 97.19%

3. Bridgestone Potenza RE050-A - 96.18%

Subjective:

1. Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymmetric - 100%

2. Michelin Pilot Sport 2 PS2 - 95.55%

3. Pirelli PZERO Nero - 93.33%

Road Route:

Subjective:

1. Vredestein ULTRAC SESSANTA - 100%

2. Dunlop Sport Maxx - 92.50%

3. Michelin Pilot Sport 2 PS2 - 90.50%

OVERALL RESULTS:

1. Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymmetric - 96.4

A decisive win for the new Goodyear, with more table-topping performances than any other tyre. Better still, those wins came in both the wet and the dry objective test, and subjectively it was voted best tyre on the dry handling course.

2. Vredestein ULTRAC SESSANTA - 95.3

3. Continental Contisport Contact 3 - 93.5

[saluja123]

Hi

Has anyone had any problems with New Fiesta MK7 front tyre wear. I have a 2009 Titanium with 17" rims and 205/40/17 Pirelli tyres as fitted as optional extra. I put the car into my local dealer for it's first service at 12000 mile and they say it needs new front tyres.

Both front tyres have excessive wear on the inside edges to about an inch wide. Rest of tyre is great. The dealer checked the tracking and said nothing is wrong. I contacted Ford who said I will have to pay a fee for dealer to investigate further even though car is still under warranty. Is this a scam?

Any ideas? Will I have to replace front tyres every 12k miles? Let me know if any one else has similar problems. Thanks

I have 1.4d zetec fiesta. front tyres have just over 13k and will definately need replacing before too long. I've had several minis over the last few years (60k on front tyres) and more recently 4 corsa diesels (35k on front tyres), so I'm bewildered to find such wear. I'll take mine to dealership too, but don't expect miracles, but will post outcome.

[saluja123]

Ok here are my depth readings:

Bridgestone Potenza ~~~ 205/40 R17 84V ~~~ Titanium X 17" Alloys ~~~ 1.6 Petrol

Tyre pressures always kept to handbook spec for light loading (as opposed to fully loaded)

Courtesy Check: 5959m

Outer Middle Inner

N/S Front 5 5 5

O/S Front 5 5 5

N/S Rear 6 6 6

O/S Rear 6 6 6

First Service: 15641m

Outer Middle Inner

N/S Front 5 4 5

O/S Front 4 4 5

N/S Rear 5 6 6

O/S Rear 6 6 6

Interim Observation: 21000m (ish) (2/2/2010)

Outer Middle Inner

N/S Front 2 3 3

O/S Front 2 3 3

N/S Rear 4 5 4

O/S Rear 5 5 5

So there we go :)

Rears look to last 50,000 - 60,000

Fronts look to last 25,000 at a stretch

My thoughts on this :-

- Why didn't Ford switch the front to rear at the first service? (Then again, if they had I would have to fork out for 4 tyres at a time)

- Why did I leave the first service so late? Will this void the warranty? (it was only 5 months old, but 15461 miles)

- Car will need new fronts at every major service, what a ball ache

- Alignment appears to be spot on

- All different tyre types and brands that Ford use is going to make choosing replacements a bit confusing, so maybe I'll stick to the potenzas

- I need to find the cheapest supplier of this tyre quite soon. Anyone recommend a vendor? Has anybody bought tyres cheaply then taken them to ford for fitting?

- The Spare is still a virgin B)

I've always shopped around for tyres and found blackcircle to be very good, with top brands at best prices, fitted by network of local dealers. Much cheaper than well known companies. My local ford will match kwik fit, but blackcircle will be cheaper like for like (pretty certain, anyway).

[Focus_ST-3]

It could be the lowered suspension on the zetec s that is the problem, i only got 14000 miles out of mine. I bought a set of Continental ContiSport 3s, £165 a tyre from kwik fit Got a decent discount though

[AndrewL]

Sorry for bringing up an old thread, but somehow my car has completely scrubbed the insides of the front two tyres over just 14500 miles. It was first mentioned to me when I got the car serviced last month, but to be honest I wasn't too concerned about it until I had a look myself the other day. The first inch and a half in from the inside of the tyre is totally worn, whereas the outer tyre has a good 4mm left. Seeing as I've never (touch wood) bumped the car or taken a tyre off, and both are equally misaligned (to rule out that I hit a kerb on one side) does anyone know how this could have happened? Or whether I can push ford to contribute seeing as I don't see how I could have caused this?

It also makes driving in the snow a bleeding nightmare, I've had to practically let the tyres down to get any grip.

[Hurricane 868]

Based on my experience of the Mk7 you are lucky to have got 14,500 miles out of a set of fronts. I have now done 22,000 and I have only managed 11,000 on each set. I had the tracking checked by a specialist and they found nothing wrong. Ford said I would need to pay a fee to have the car checked by a dealer.

I have fitted Kumho tyres this time which are about £55 each from Blackcircles and fitted locally. The car drives great on the Kumho's. It used to really grab hold of ruts and the cats eyes, white lines etc. Not any more. Hopefully if I get the same mileage from them I reckon that equates to about 30,000 on more expensive Pirelli Zero Nero as fitted standard when the car was new which is more respectful.

[Focus_ST-3]

Sorry for bringing up an old thread, but somehow my car has completely scrubbed the insides of the front two tyres over just 14500 miles

I had exactly the same problem, kwik fit checked the tracking and said it was fine

[grin factor]

13K out of my front tyres, nearside wore quicker than offside, but even ish.

Tyres are made quite soft these days for extra grip etc. I had a VW scirocco yrs ago and got 25K out of the front tyres, but it did understeer when pushing on.

[mrobins64495]

Great so another car that burns through its tyres!

Anyone actually getting a good amount of time from a pair at the front?

[Focus_ST-3]

Great so another car that burns through its tyres!

Anyone actually getting a good amount of time from a pair at the front?

Ive done 10000 miles with the Continentals so far and they seem to be wearing very well, maybe its a harder tyre compound

[la3195]

Managed to get 20k out of my Bridgestone's that were on the front, rears are still good at 30k replaced fronts with Michelins about 5mm left. Michelins grip a lot better but the Bridgestones felt better Michelins sometimes feel very understeery, although that could be because they allow you to carry more speed into the corner due to their higher levels of grip.

[UpTheHammers]

Should we do the same as these guys did with there Tyres and alloys

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7937839.stm

From my understanding they all got new tyres after speaking to one of them so maybe this forums of users could too

[grin factor]

Should we do the same as these guys did with there Tyres and Alloys

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7937839.stm

From my understanding they all got new tyres after speaking to one of them so maybe this forums of users could too

Thats interesting, sounds like there is a fault there. Could be the same with some fiestas?

[Hurricane 868]

Thats interesting, sounds like there is a fault there. Could be the same with some fiestas?

That is very interesting. I wondered if it only affects the models with 17" rims and low profile tyres, or is it right across the range? Petrol or Diesel engined cars?

[Allenysm82]

This tyres/wheels issue is a long-running problem on the Titanium model Ford Fiestas and Kas. The 17" 15-spoke wheels are prone to buckling, there's a big thread on here somewhere about it. Tyres wearing on the inside of the wheel is one of the major signs of this, and often your tracking is found to be correct. I had 15" 8-spoke wheels on my 1.4 Zetec and never had a problem, downgraded to the diesel Ka with 16" 15-spoke wheels and I intend to replace the car 5 weeks after buying it because they can't (or won't) fix the problems I'm having with it regarding handling.

[Meller]

I have this problem and I think I've Sussed what's causing it. This will probably happen if you have alloys on the car. There is a design flaw inside the wheel arch. Unless you have very stiff suspension when you turn left or right and your car leans over slightly due to speed one edge of the tyre moves closer to the inner walls of the wheel arch and unfortunately just where the edge of the inner wheel is there is a lump of moulders plastic that sticks out due to the design of the inner engine design and to compensate for this piece of metal that sticks down into the wheel arch the inner wheel arch lining is mounded round this lip that sticks down and it is this that rubs on the top inner edge of the tyre and wears it down. It's annoying the hell out of me and I can't believe ford never realised this problem.

[Meller]

I'm going to remove the wheel arch cover and hack saw this bit of metal out and hammer flat the moulded lump of plastic on the wheel arch lining to stop it rubbing on the tyre 

[Bobr]

Fronts are always going to wear quicker as they take care of acceleration, braking and steering all of which cause wear.   I'm on my third Fiesta and have never had excessive tyre wear.   I usually get between 25 and 30k out of the fronts.