4 x 4's back in favour

[Zafiral]

Last Feb we bought a Peugeot 4007 4x4 as a main car. It is a fantastic towcar and a very comfortable car for long journeys. However it has cost more to run than planned. Low 30s mpg and £230 per tyre are big costs for a 31 mile each way commute.
I have just bought a 4 year old Clio diesel as a commuter car & can get 60 mpg and tyres only cost £65 each!!!
The 4x4 has been invaluable through the snow & I would not be without it.
Re electric cars.... For our use too expensive as a commuter car & too impractical for journeys to visit parents. I think GM have got the best compromise (so far) with the Volt.....

 

[xtrailman]

Zafiral
What size, type, tyre are you using to cost £230 ?

 

[MichaelE]

From memory a 4007 uses 255/55 18's so £230 for a top end tyre price sounds about right,could be worse mine are special for my car low resistance or something like that and i have only 3 choices of manufacturer cost £285!

 

[Zafiral]

My 4007 has the Irmscher pack so has 235/45 19 tyres. List price for the Pirelli tyres is around £300.
For winter I now have 16" wheels with 215/70 m+s tyres on. They are fantasic in the snow. The 19" wheels will go back on early March.

 

[Heethers]

Wow 230 quid for your tyres my Shogun 's are only 120 quid, nearly bought the outlander instead of another Shogun glad l didn't.
NigelH

 

[xtrailman]

My 4007 has the Irmscher pack so has 235/45 19 tyres. List price for the Pirelli tyres is around £300. For winter I now have 16" wheels with 215/70 m+s tyres on. They are fantasic in the snow. The 19" wheels will go back on early March.

You have my sympathy.
I towed with a Audi on 225/45 x17 Pirelli (P6000 i think).
The only tyre i had ever had side wall bleb, not once but over 4 years, 3 tyres were scrapped for the same thing.
In addition the car tramlined badly in the slow lane.
From year 2000 i was paying £120 fitted all in, pricey but not silly money.
I would never buy another car with low profile tyres.

 

[Dustydog]

The 245/70R16 BF Goddrich All Terrains on the Sorie cost me £100 each and last 40k miles.
Our previous car had low profiles at £200 a tyre. Unless you are a real racer I just cannot see the point especially with the state of our roads, potholes , sleeping policeman etc. Call me old fashioned but I like to see the rubber!

 

[MichaelE]

The problem is not with low profile tyres it is the amount of cars that use/have fitted that sized low tyre.The more cars that use that size the cheaper they become

 

[Zafiral]

With the 19" wheels on you have to be careful with the choice of tyre. The car came with standard fit Pirelli P Zero Rosso tyres which suit the car well & have no real shortcomings (except price!!).
When I needed new tyres in the summer (after 22000 miles), I fitted cheaper Bridgestone tyres that I was able to get for £160 each. However they were awful. The tramlining was terrible (especially with the caravan on the back), they were noisier & I also was getting 1-2 mpg less than with the Pirellis. Also the front tyres were down to 3mm tread in less than 7000 miles.
I had 4 Pirellis fitted & the two rear Bridgestones with 6.5mm tread on them are going to get eBay'd.
The 16" wheels with 70 profile Michelin M+S tyres on are good, but there is less steering feel than with the Pirellis, but they are more rewarding to drive with than the Bridgestones on 19" wheels. The 19" wheels also look much better!!!!!

 

[xtrailman]

The 245/70R16 BF Goddrich All Terrains on the Sorie cost me £100 each and last 40k miles.
Our previous car had low profiles at £200 a tyre. Unless you are a real racer I just cannot see the point especially with the state of our roads, potholes , sleeping policeman etc. Call me old fashioned but I like to see the rubber!

Thats right d dog.
You can always id a car with low profile tyres, usually accompanied with sports suspension, by the meander driving technique.
Trying to avoid pot holes and speed humps.
As i had to with the Audi.
The other option was to get a bone jarring crash bang running through the car!

 

[emmerson]

Gosh, I'm glad I've got a good old-fashioned car with tyres that cost only £60 each, last at least 25,000 miles, and LOOK like tyres, not rubber bands!

 

[mcghee]

where does the 30% come from?

the 70 profile is 70% of the tyre's width. about 120mm in the case of a 245 tyre.

 

[JonnyG]

Err, the side wall of a tyre with a profile of 245 x70 will be approx 171, in other words 70% of 245.
but as micheal E stated low profile and the newer ultra low profile tyres should not be grouped together as a statement of intent as to the usefullness of the tyres. believe both my vehicles are sitting on 195x60x16 , ride is supple enough, and I don't pay even £60 for a tyre.
but if I went for 50 profiles then the ride would indeed be to harsh and crashy for my liking.and if I had the equivalent 70s profiles fitted then the feel for me would be akin to riding on soft ballons underfoot, and vaguer steering too.of coarse I also thing that one has to accept that the suspension set up plays a big part in how a car rides and feels, as much as tyre choice

 

[xtrailman]

When it takes two tyre fitters to change a tyre, sometimes three.
Then you have low profile tyres fitted.

With the Audi only once did i escape a scrape to the alloy wheel.
They were a nightmare to replace.

 

[MichaelE]

I think we are getting confused with ultra low profiles here?
The defining characteristic of a low profile tyre is one that has sidewalls with a height of 70 percent of less than tread width.
Dusty your BF Goddrich All Terrains 245/70R16 are classed as low profile.
The wider the tyre then lower the %
The speed rating also has a big imput on the cost of a tyre

 

[MichaelE]

2 -3 guys to change a low profile tyre !
I have only ever used a mobile guy to change the tyres on my cars and he has never scratched my alloys, he has always used a plastic protector sleeve on the rim.

 

[JonnyG]

When it takes two tyre fitters to change a tyre, sometimes three.
Then you have low profile tyres fitted.

With the Audi only once did i escape a scrape to the alloy wheel.
They were a nightmare to replace.

Are you sure it was only 3? cuzz it sounds more like a council depo, 1 actually working and 2 telling him how to do his job!

.
It doesnt take anymore expertise to change a low profile tyre of say 50 series as it does to do a 70 series tyre, but alloy wheels vary in rim shape and how far they prutude and this can lend itself to alloy damage.nothing to do with the tyre profiles

 

[xtrailman]

When it takes two tyre fitters to change a tyre, sometimes three.
Then you have low profile tyres fitted.

With the Audi only once did i escape a scrape to the alloy wheel.
They were a nightmare to replace.

Are you sure it was only 3? cuzz it sounds more like a council depo, 1 actually working and 2 telling him how to do his job!

.
It doesnt take anymore expertise to change a low profile tyre of say 50 series as it does to do a 70 series tyre, but alloy wheels vary in rim shape and how far they prutude and this can lend itself to alloy damage.nothing to do with the tyre profiles

No i tried two different tyre specialist, both i had used before.
The alloys were very good, non of the wheel was proud of the tyre, so over 4.5 years i never kerb a wheel.
The tyre was 225/45.
These lads change 100's of tyre's a week, and know what the score is.
Never had a xtrail alloy scratched, and again the tyre is proud of the wheel, on both models.

 

[mcghee]

if it's taking 2 or 3 fitters to change a tyre you need to change your tyre fitter! i'll guarantee you the reason is their using a machine which isn't big enough for the rim size.

a good friend of mine, who used to be the only marcos dealer in scotland used to regularly change 35 profile tyres on 20 and 22 inch rims single handedly, with no drama and no damage to wheel or tyre. there is less rubber to stretch so it is more difficult, runflats are even worse, but it shouldn't be a fight.