Ibiza Toca tyre question

[Clairebear76]

Afternoon all, hope everyone’s well?
I’ve got a 2013 Toca 1.4 and a few weeks ago I had a puncture on my offside rear tyre. The car had Continental Contipremium Contact 2 all round but as I needed a tyre quickly and all of my local tyre fitters needed to order a Continental in I plumped for a Dunlop SportMaxx. I didn’t realise until afterwards but this is a directional tyre so the question is is this ok with Continentals on the other 3 wheels. And come to think of it is it better to have changed both tyres on the same axle for the same sort? I’m not sure if it’s in my head but I think there’s a bit of vibration when I’m doing about 50mph that I hadn’t noticed before and I’m wondering if the tyre could be the problem?
TIA

 

[RUM4MO]

Oh bother, I would hope that your tyre fitter sold/fitted a suitable tyre, but I'd be a bit bothered about having a single directional tyre on my cars, so people do not bother about this at all.
Directional tyres are always going to be a slight worry in case you end up in the opposite situation next time, some times you can't avoid using directional tyres, for example my wife's Polo 6C uses them in winter.
I'd guess that the rear tyres still have/had quite a bit of tread on them.

Sorry no straight answer for you, just not what I would consider best practice - but you did not have any other option at that point, I hate walking into that situation as you probably had no idea if that tyre was going to be saved, if you had known it would probably be written off, your best plan would have been to find another tyre place and run on the smaller spare until you had got what you wanted.

 

[Alan Kyp]

Just Googled this and although not illegal it is definitely not recommended.
Best option is get a Conti and maybe use the sport max as a spare/sell on, or 3 Dunlops.
At the end of the day your tyres keep you glued to the road.

 

[G.P]

Perfectly legal, I'm sure it still legal even if used in the incorrect direction.

As said, you could get another Conti and a Duny for furture use if your going to keep the car, or just put the Duny on the front so it wears quicker..

 

[camelspyyder]

They don't wear. Those awful SportMaxx last forever so you'd be best getting another. We have Dunlop SP Fast Response on our TOCA.
Night and day better than SPortMAxx.

 

[Clairebear76]

Thanks for the replies everyone. So the general consensus is it’s best to change two tyres on the same axle even if technically only one’s requires (as in a puncture)? Seeing as the SportMaxx is the new one i guess it’d be better to get another one for the nearside. I’ve not done many miles on the one I’ve just had so the wear won’t be too uneven by now. camelspyder - if the SportMaxx doesn’t wear what is it you don’t like about them?

 

[camelspyyder]

They're notoriously noisy and hard riding, so the fact they wont wear out just prolongs the agony.

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/Dunlop/SP-Sport-Maxx.htm

There are lots of different Dunlop models with similar names mind - you might have SportMaxx GT, RT, RT2, TT or 050 Plus.

The RT RT2 and 050 review really well, the others not.

 

[Clairebear76]

Thanks for the help everyone. I’ve finally made my mind up and I’m going to get another Dunlop (sorry camelspyder! ) for the nearside rear so the rear axle has the same tyres. I’ve been and checked and the one I’ve got on is getting there in the wear stakes so I may as well take the plunge. When I checked though I noticed that the oustide edge of the old tyre has more wear than the inner. Is this just a case of the wheel will need rebalancing or does the alignment need checking? Does the Ibiza allow for adjustments like that on the rear?

 

[RUM4MO]

The uneven tyre wear could be due to the steering alignment being slightly out so get that sorted, if that tyre has always been on the rear of that car, then maybe get the four wheel alignment checked just in case there has been kerbing damage to that car.

The other thing that might cause this is if the springs have been replaced with lowering springs, as the front suspension relies on the actual ride height to give the correct camber, lowered springs will give the inner edge of the tyres more wear, incorrect and heavier duty front springs will give the outer edge of the tyres more wear.

Edit:- one other possibility is that the lower arms bushes are torn slightly and letting the front suspension geometry go out of spec.