What tires?

[mrnice.]

Probably been asked a thousand time before but im after 4 new tyres.

Firstly I would like to ask: is it true you have to replace all 4 at once to keep the same rolling road circumference or can you replace only one at a time etc?

My next question is: Ive been running on 4 x Goodyear Eagle F1 225/55/ZR17 for the last year and they have performed great (only worn out a little quick tbh) could anyone tell me a good place online to get me some more of these?

Also: What alternative tires are people running about on and how do they find them to be.

Finally: does anyone know what the original "allroad" tires are thats supposed to be on it and where I can get me a set of them, how do they perform?

TBH most of my offroading will be done in the Land Rover thats got some lovely BFG ATs on it (thinking of changing to MTs soon) so the allroad will be mainly road biased.

Im welding up the Landy atm and as such had to take the allroad up the mountains on an offroad expedition with my almost slick road tires in the rain and I was VERY impressed with its offroad capability, no drama at all, admittedly it couldnt quite go to the same places as the Landy could but its a more than capable soft roader, its a good machine off road.

Shredded one of my tires but thats a story for another thread, all I can say is - make sure your space saver is seated properly before you set off as if like me you find out a good 5 miles away from civilisation, its not such great fun, bloody stupid things!

[kid-jensen]

I'm constantly irritated by the harsh ride of the Air springs.

They allow far too much in the way of short-sharp road imperfections through to the body structure. There's not a lot you can do about this without spending serious money, so it's down to careful choice of tyres.

If you drive enthusiastically, you need stiff sidewalls to make sure that the car responds to sterring inputs as quickly as possible during turn-in. The downside of this is crashing over sharp bumps, potholes etc that we have to live with on our third-world roads.

If you're more concerned with a good ride, youi need tyres with soft sidewalls to absorb the sharp road-shocks, and in return you will get a car that takes a while to respond to the steering and rolls more....swings n roundabouts.

I would say that the Goodyear F1s fall into the stiff-sidewall category, and if you are not too concerned with the ride, these are obviously the type of tyres to re-fit if they keep you happy. They wear ojut quickly because they have tread compound that's biassed towards grip over mileage. Other tyres are biassed the other way.

There's nothing wrong with looking for more grip, so I will be upping the width of the standard tyre and reducing the aspect ratio (so the rolling radius stays roughly the same). The Quattro system is tolerant of unevenly worn tyres or even different tyre sizes front-to-back (within reason!) so I wouldn't worry abouut that.

I have bought a set of 255/50x17 Diirectional tyres made by General (part of Uniroyal) which I have used in the past, and been very pleased with in terms of smooth ride and outright wet/dry grip. The rolloing radius is about the same as standard.

Not fitted them yet, I'm still trying to wear out my 235/45s that I got stuck with when I changed alloys. The lower profile being the reason why I get such a harsh ride. It has to be said that the standard 225/55s are pretty poor in this respect too.

More news when the Generals are fitted. I'm not expecting a Rolls-Royce ride, just one that deesn't rattle my fillings...

[ceilidhalfie]

bought 4 Pirelli Allroad tyres last Oct from this co. Excellent service - very pleased. Made enquiries today and they say now Pirelli P7 are all thats available. Here is the ref if you are interested:
Pirelli Tyres / All Season Car / Pirelli P7 Cinturato All Season Pirelli P 7 - All Season - Four Season - All Weather - Car/MPV Tyres - 17" R17" - 225/55/17, 225/55R17 <span class=blue>OE Audi</span>

[kid-jensen]

Just to put this thread to bed.....

I had the 255/50x17 USA-made "General" directional tyres fitted, as I've finally managed, after selfless efforts, to wear the old 235/45x17's out.

I had to suffer the usual lecture from the tyre fitters "those are way too big - they'll never fit" and "they're non - standard, we can't fit them"....you all know what we have to put up with ...

Anyway, unsurprisingly, they fitted just fine and by my calculations they should be within 1% of the rolling radius of the standard 225/55x17 tyres, so no problems with speedo errors.

The fitters charged £15 per wheel, which was more than double what they charged last year, but now seems to be the going rate around here.

The "sportiness" that I had got used to with the 235/45's has been reduced a bit, as expected, but it still turns-in pretty well and the general handling is much as before, just the ride that has enormously improved. No longer do I spend every journey scanning the road for potholes to dodge around, I just crash into them like "nornal" cars do....within reason of course, there's a few potholes near me that would swallow a transit van.

So if you're looking to improve the grip and smooth out the ride of a standard Allroad, I'd recommend a set of these wider tyres, the only downside I can think of is the increased cost and possibly the limited availibility.

There's a bit more tyre-noise (slight roar) but nothing offensive, any and all downsides are worth having for the much smother ride and a significant reduction in interior rattles... mind, no matter what tyres you fitted, you would never mistake the Allroad for an S-class Mercedes over a rough road!

[All-rod]

Thanks for your feedback, I always thought that higher profile rather than wider would improve ride comfort, but if you found this helps then is also good option.
How do they sit on rim, much overhang, sit tighter in arch?

[kid-jensen]

They sit slightly proud of the rim (which is 7" wide IIRC), and that's exactly what I was aiming for, having scratched-up my shiny new rims on many an occasion.

With these tyres on, granite kerbs hold no fears for me!

They're no tighter in the arch because they are exactly the same diameter. Bit closer to the suspension upright, but nothing drastic..

[allan_audi]

I always vote for the cheap Chinese tyres with Rim Protection, 70 quid a piece, very little difference in performance in my opinion :-)

[M1tchy]

Wait until you are in an emergency situation in the wet. You will see a difference then!


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[allan_audi]

Yeah, the wet performance is prob where they fall down, but you have no chance of stopping at speed in the wet anyhow, I fit a couple of goodyears to try it out, def better, but other than that no difference

[Scottie7]

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I went for Michelin Pilot Sport 3's always use them on my cars!