Tyres....what to avoid?

[Mr Bigglesworth]

Only issue I have is the fronts aren't balanced properly (and maybe the rears too) which was a tad annoying on the French ultra smooth motorways! I'm yet to find a decent tyre fitter, used event tyres for both sets of Goodyears who come out in a van and whilst they did a great job of not damaging the rim (something I had major problems with at two places on my old Leon), they don't seem to be able to balance the wheels.

I had mine fitted at F1 autocentres in hemel and they managed to not put any scuffs on the rims (unlike the prior unamed place in St Albans which may as well have used a hammer to fit the tyres), don't have any problems with the balancing that I've noticed. They are the best I've found yet!

 

[Tom B]

So you got 15k miles from your fronts which have a bit left and it is a noise heavy car, and 17k from your rears .Overall, I'd say that's not bad at all! And actually the Goodyears out performed the Dunlops considering they were on the front.

Yeah I'm not sure why I mentioned the Goodyears in the same sentence, my apologies. Its the Dunlops I was annoyed at. On previous cars, the rears would've worn down to 5-6mm after 17k.

Soft compound is definitely a factor, I will admit the alignment was done when the Goodyears went on but it was set up as an A4 Avant B7 with sports suspension as the Exeo wasn't in their database. Despite the parts being identical between the two models, the alignment strangely appears to be different. That or the alignment was done poorly.

 

[Mr Bigglesworth]

As a small update, covered just under 7k miles on the Goodyears and they've now come off for the winter. Fronts are down to 6mm, or a fraction under. Rears are 7mm.

 

[Mrski1]

Popped on some Nokian WR D4's last week, just in time for the temperature to drop and some snow to arrive!

So far so good, much quieter than the summer tyres that came off (some Barum tyres that came with the car). The steering is now a fair bit lighter, the ride is a little better as my winters are 17's rather than 18's, the fuel economy has dropped slightly but it also corresponds with the massive drop in air temps! I got to try them on some snow/iced up roads and had no issues with traction.

I am now looking forward to some proper amounts of snow to test them in.

 

[Mr Bigglesworth]

Popped on some Nokian WR D4's last week, just in time for the temperature to drop and some snow to arrive!

So far so good, much quieter than the summer tyres that came off (some Barum tyres that came with the car). The steering is now a fair bit lighter, the ride is a little better as my winters are 17's rather than 18's, the fuel economy has dropped slightly but it also corresponds with the massive drop in air temps! I got to try them on some snow/iced up roads and had no issues with traction.

I am now looking forward to some proper amounts of snow to test them in.

Heard good things about the Nokians - I went with some Michelin PA4s as Missus got a discount at ATS and then Michelin were running a fuel card offer so it ended up not being that much more to get the Michelins, well would have been if ATS hadn't scuffed up my alloys!

 

[Mrski1]

Heard good things about the Nokians - I went with some Michelin PA4s as Missus got a discount at ATS and then Michelin were running a fuel card offer so it ended up not being that much more to get the Michelins, well would have been if ATS hadn't scuffed up my alloys!

I really like them, they compare extremely well versus the usual big brands in the AutoExpress tyre tests.

I had a set of the WR A3's on my old Civic and other than them being a bit louder than my summer tyres, I had no problems. The new WR D4's are supposed to be one of the first winter tyres to receive an A rating for wet grip, and thankfully they seem a little quieter too.