Tread wear and replacement tyres.

[otherclive]

My car is fitted with Continental Premuim Contact6 tyres tyat have covered 12400 miles. The front are now down to between 3-4mm and back 5-6mm. Ordinarily I would change tyres at 3mm. So in the current case I normally would move the rears to the front and fit new tyres to the rear. However I planned to fit all seasons to the car but am loath to renew all four and throw away two good tyres with 5-6mm tread.

So my thoughts are to ditch the fronts, move the rears to the front and fit premium all seasons to the rear. Then when the summer fronts reach 3mm I would scrap those, move the all seasons to the front and fit new matching all seasons to the rear.

I know that some would advise against this, but my logic is that drivers will have different makes of summers on the front compared to the rear, or Premuim and mid range/budget tyres mixed between axles. In my case the Premium all seasons on the rear would probably have the performance of many summer tyres anyway, so no real difference between mixing Continental on one axle and another brand on the rear axle for example.

Any views?

 

[Sam Vimes]

Personally I've never bothered with winter or summer tyres or premium rated, just using a mid-range all year round tyre. Not sure what you did in Canada but we only ever used all year round tyres and never had a problem - well except spinning round on black ice but then nothing short of studs would stop that.

Also when the occassion has arisen I've never worried about different brands on front or rear and can't tell the difference when I've had that.

In one case last year due to a damaged tyre I happily drove with a budget brand and mid range brand on the rear for a couple of months and again couldn't tell the difference. Budget was all I could get to get me home. I did change it though as soon as I was able and it just coincided with needing a new set on the rear anyway. Kept the budget tyre just in case but not sure if it will ever get used.

I move my tyres front to back and vice versa every 6k miles - in fact did just that on Friday. It evens out the wear. I don't replace all four tyres at the same time, leaving a couple of months between the sets just to help the cash flow.

Somewhat surpised at the - to me - low mileage you're getting out of your tyres. Your strategy seems ok to me though.

 

[cooky1]

I would do as you suggested and move rears to front and fit premium all season tyres to the rear. When the fronts are well worn do as you said and move rears to front and fit new all season to the rears.
Don't see a problem fitting all season to one axle and summers to the other.

 

[Buckman]

My car is fitted with Continental Premuim Contact6 tyres tyat have covered 12400 miles. The front are now down to between 3-4mm and back 5-6mm. Ordinarily I would change tyres at 3mm. So in the current case I normally would move the rears to the front and fit new tyres to the rear. However I planned to fit all seasons to the car but am loath to renew all four and throw away two good tyres with 5-6mm tread.

That seems quite low mileage for Continentals. On the Jeep the rear tyres had done over 35000 miles and still had well over 3mm of tread. Did the car originally come from brand new with Continental tyres?

I know there is a big difference between your type of tyre and ours. On the Corolla which has budget tyres they have done over 12000 miles and plenty of tread left.

 

[Guzzilazz]

I have Conti Contact 6's on my new Sportage GTLS HEV. A month or so ago it was in for its first service at 10000 miles. The inspection mentioned tread depths on all 4 wheels, and the fronts were at 4.6/4.8mm. So, I thought that was a bit low, and contacted Continental in the UK. So the as new from them was 5.9 (may be a bit less due to shrinkage once off the mould). Therefore instead of having nearly half worn tyres (assuming 8mm new) I had only done less than 2mm... The car went back in for a fault investigation ay 11000 and the OSF came up as an advisory at 4.5mm... Projecting the wear forward, to about 2.5mm I'll get 26700 miles before replacing.

New cars are being supplied with tyres with less tread to reduce weight and therefore improve fuel consumption.

 

[JRT]

New cars are being supplied with tyres with less tread to reduce weight and therefore improve fuel consumption.

Or to put it another way - "New cars are being supplied with tyres with less tread so that tyre companies can rip folk off because the tyres prematurely wear out"......

 

[toad a caravan]

What's summer ?

 

[otherclive]

Personally I've never bothered with winter or summer tyres or premium rated, just using a mid-range all year round tyre. Not sure what you did in Canada but we only ever used all year round tyres and never had a problem - well except spinning round on black ice but then nothing short of studs would stop that.

Also when the occassion has arisen I've never worried about different brands on front or rear and can't tell the difference when I've had that.

In one case last year due to a damaged tyre I happily drove with a budget brand and mid range brand on the rear for a couple of months and again couldn't tell the difference. Budget was all I could get to get me home. I did change it though as soon as I was able and it just coincided with needing a new set on the rear anyway. Kept the budget tyre just in case but not sure if it will ever get used.

I move my tyres front to back and vice versa every 6k miles - in fact did just that on Friday. It evens out the wear. I don't replace all four tyres at the same time, leaving a couple of months between the sets just to help the cash flow.

Somewhat surpised at the - to me - low mileage you're getting out of your tyres. Your strategy seems ok to me though.

When I was living in Canada all I did was take the Jeep Renegade into Canadian Tire and ask for four new tyres. Very little discussion on type of tyres other than being told I could not use studs or chains in the area unless on gravel or non asphalt surfaces. So I finished up with a set of what in Britain we would have called “ Town and Country” tyres. I didn’t really have any issues with them although in Ottawa-Hull and environs the roads were cleared very quickly. Although they did pirouette a couple of times.

My Continental tyres were fitted from new and have had a pretty gentle life in the manner in which I drive. Being FWD obviously puts more wear on the front set, but I must admit that I do not measure tread depth on new tyres, so it’s a surprise to hear that the new tyre tread depth has been reduced. I took the wear rate as being due to a soft compound. If I took them to 2-2.5 mm I would probably get a few thousand more miles but their wet performance would be further diminished particularly wrt aquaplaning.

I’m pleased to discover that no one has shot down my proposed approach of rear Continentals to the front and new All seasons on the rear. Our other car has recently had Goodyear Vector Generation 2 all seasons when there was a good deal at ATS. . So I’m going along with the same tyres albeit Generation 3 and keeping a watchful eye out for deals on what are quite an expensive size at 235/45/18 V.

Thanks for the contributions.

 

[Hutch]

I tend to fit tyre in sets of 4, rotating front and back 3 times, so that the temps sensors are at the front when the replacements are due.
I tried all season tyres Purley for the tread pattern for Grass pitches. As here in Buckinghamshire We don't get enough snow or low temps, for me to warrant them.
Last change, I went back to Hankooks, but K117, as they had a more aggressive tread pattern, a summer tyre. Good for grass.
Found them to be great.
You really have to look at the grading on tyres, as the grip/ wear/ and noise can vary on the same tyre Description.
ie. A Hankooks K115 could have a grip rating of A, whereas a K115a could have a grip rating of "b".
Not all Black Rings are the same.

 

[otherclive]

New EU tyre regulations will require the tyre to have the same wet braking performance when it’s at 1.6mm as it had as a new tyre. Carbon dioxide saving of 34 million tons per year. Too many tyres are removed before they’ve reached 1.6mm on account of reduced wet braking performance. Be interesting to see how tyre companies achieve it and what it will cost the customer as selling less tyres will not be attractive to the companies.

. https://www.evo.co.uk/news/206983/n...torists-ps6-billion-in-tyre-replacement-costs

 

[Buckman]

New EU tyre regulations will require the tyre to have the same wet braking performance when it’s at 1.6mm as it had as a new tyre. Carbon dioxide saving of 34 million tons per year. Too many tyres are removed before they’ve reached 1.6mm on account of reduced wet braking performance. Be interesting to see how tyre companies achieve it and what it will cost the customer as selling less tyres will not be attractive to the companies.

. https://www.evo.co.uk/news/206983/n...torists-ps6-billion-in-tyre-replacement-costs

Surely the new EU tyre regulations would not be applicable in the UK at this point in time?

 

[otherclive]

Surely the new EU tyre regulations would not be applicable in the UK at this point in time?

Why not. Do you think tyre makers are going to do something special for U.K.? Do you have a problem with the new tyre regulations?

Michelin supports the new European Regulation R117-04 on worn car tires | Michelin

Michelin supports the new European regulation R117-04 on the performance of new car tires once worn, which comes into force on July 1, 2024.

www.michelin.com

The new EU regulations regarding car safety technology are being incorporated into cars sold in U.K. Whether U.K. wishes to activate them is our decision but all the portents are that we will.

 

[Buckman]

Why not. Do you think tyre makers are going to do something special for U.K.? Do you have a problem with the new tyre regulations?

The new EU regulations regarding car safety technology are being incorporated into cars sold in U.K. Whether U.K. wishes to activate them is our decision but all the portents are that we will.

I asked a simple question which you never answered, but went off on a tangent again? A simple "Yes or No" would have sufficed. In my opinion you would have made a first class politician!

 

[otherclive]

I asked a simple question which you never answered, but went off on a tangent again? A simple "Yes or No" would have sufficed. In my opinion you would have made a first class politician!

It’s not possible for me to give a “yes/no” to your question. I would have thought that was obvious. What point in time do you think that they might be applicable to tyres sold here?

Unless the UK formally decided to not have tyres conforming to the new regulations we will probably get them by default, like we get many other goods that meet EU regulations.

PS please resist the personal barbs.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Surely the new EU tyre regulations would not be applicable in the UK at this point in time?

Even though we have gone through Brexit, what many people do not realise is that for us to survive outside the EU will still need us to trade with the EU and other markets around the world.

Theoretically we could go off on our own tangent and do what we did so many times before the EU existed and have all our own construction regulations.

BUT there would be a massive double cost to us, becasue if we wanted to import OR export we would have to pay for all the conversions that our difference in regulations would require.

Having spent 30 odd years as part of the EU and the vast majority of our motoring regulations were harmonised with the EU we would be committing commercial suicide if we simply changed all those prior protocols.

When Brexit took place one of the UK's actions was to continue to harmonise motoring regulations with EU standards, so most car manufacturers didn't have to make even more variations just for the UK.

 

[otherclive]

It’s interesting to note that Michelin seem to already design their tyres to perform as well on worn tread as they do on new tread. They quote a wet stopping distance of 3.4 m less than a competitors new tyre. Not stated which company was the competitor. Perhap this can highlight the difference between a premium tyre and a lesser tyre , but I certainly wasn’t aware that a company like Michelin had such performance already.

 

[Hutch]

It’s interesting to note that Michelin seem to already design their tyres to perform as well on worn tread as they do on new tread. They quote a wet stopping distance of 3.4 m less than a competitors new tyre. Not stated which company was the competitor. Perhap this can highlight the difference between a premium tyre and a lesser tyre , but I certainly wasn’t aware that a company like Michelin had such performance already.

I have a Scottish engineer, ( all the best ones are) ( Helmets on, Flack. jackets ) friend who worked for Michelin in Nigeria, They have been producing there for decades. He then went to China in the 2010's and stayed there for Michelin for at least another 10 years.
He told me not to worry about tyres that are not branded,as the technology is licenced.

 

[Buckman]

It’s not possible for me to give a “yes/no” to your question. I would have thought that was obvious. What point in time do you think that they might be applicable to tyres sold here?

Unless the UK formally decided to not have tyres conforming to the new regulations we will probably get them by default, like we get many other goods that meet EU regulations.

PS please resist the personal barbs.

Although it sounds good, it seems another daft idea from the EU like straigt bananas! Not sure about others, but I think I would still continue to change tyres when they are down to about 3-4mm. People have been doing it for decades so unlikely to change the habit.

 

[otherclive]

I have a Scottish engineer, ( all the best ones are) ( Helmets on, Flack. jackets ) friend who worked for Michelin in Nigeria, They have been producing there for decades. He then went to China in the 2010's and stayed there for Michelin for at least another 10 years.
He told me not to worry about tyres that are not branded,as the technology is licenced.

On our Rio it had Prestiva tyres which are a sub brand of Yokohama, and on a caravan I had Firestone Van Hawks ( Bridgestone). Both were fine. I’d be a bit more cautious about some of the Chinese budget brands though. Looking at the tyre performance tests carried out by AutoBild and Auto Zeitung there are differences in performance between the leading brands and lower brands. The reason I put Goodyears on the runabout was that the incentive discounts and half price alignment made them cheaper than the intermediate brands.

WRT the new wet braking regulations I think I would still opt to change at 3mm as the resistance to aquaplaning is certain to drop off cf new tyres despite wet braking being maintained.

 

[Buckman]

WRT the new wet braking regulations I think I would still opt to change at 3mm as the resistance to aquaplaning is certain to drop off cf new tyres despite wet braking being maintained.

Spot on and I think many others will be thinking the same way. Using tyres below 3mm will give me the heeby jeebies and will be a constant worry.

 

[Dustydog]

I have a Scottish engineer, ( all the best ones are) ( Helmets on, Flack. jackets ) friend who worked for Michelin in Nigeria, They have been producing there for decades. He then went to China in the 2010's and stayed there for Michelin for at least another 10 years.
He told me not to worry about tyres that are not branded,as the technology is licenced.

Is it fair to say a Licenced Chinese tyre will be manufactured as per the branded tyres and use the same chemical compound?

Somewhere in the past I recall reading advice not to rotate tyres. Apparently the tyres structure settles into a form that can cause extra stress to the structure when reversed.
Is that rubbish today?

 

[otherclive]

Is it fair to say a Licenced Chinese tyre will be manufactured as per the branded tyres and use the same chemical compound?

Somewhere in the past I recall reading advice not to rotate tyres. Apparently the tyres structure settles into a form that can cause extra stress to the structure when reversed.
Is that rubbish today?

Ive had unidirectional now for a long while and so all I would do is change positions on each side. but I have never done this, preferring to replace worn fronts with the rear tyres and then fit new tyres to the rear.

 

[Hutch]

I would normally replace tyres as they get down to the 3mm depth, this is because the grip in the wet decreases. So if the new regs. State that the wet grip must stay the same, then why not keep the same tyres on for say another 10 k miles, just don't push the performance of the car, your not on a race circuit.

 

[otherclive]

I would normally replace tyres as they get down to the 3mm depth, this is because the grip in the wet decreases. So if the new regs. State that the wet grip must stay the same, then why not keep the same tyres on for say another 10 k miles, just don't push the performance of the car, your not on a race circuit.

But one unknown is the aquaplaning limit of each vehicle and its tyres. Some can be as low as 50 mph. Think I will stick to 3mm despite it impinging on my green values. 😂

 

[Sam Vimes]

But one unknown is the aquaplaning limit of each vehicle and its tyres. Some can be as low as 50 mph. Think I will stick to 3mm despite it impinging on my green values. 😂

Which car, which tyres.

I assume you mean at 1.6mm - so what is the aquaplaning speed limit at 50mph?