Tyre conundrum

[chrisw]

My loverly goodyear hyragrip fronts have worn out. (they deminished very quickly from about 4mm in only a few 000miles)
The local tyre emporium suggested i put either EfficientGrip or excellents on the fronts as their is no replacements for the hyrda's.
Researching ive found that these are summer shoes.
Their all  year Vector4 tyres have a completly different tread pattern,  so i dont know how that will effect the handling on my 9000T cde?
damn you Goodyear for making my life hard
Money is very tight at present as im not currently working, so im not free to experiment.
So my quandrey is
1) should i buy the excellents for the front during the summer and swop front and rears for the winter months
2) should i buy the efficients for the front during the summer and swop front and rears for the winter months
3) get the Vectors ?
4) get a completely different tyre for the fronts ? if so what ?
5) anyone here got better ideas ?

tnx  Chris

Chris

[Skiddins]

What do those tyres cost?

There might be a better alternative.

[sgould]

If you're looking for a reasonably good budget tyre try the Neutons from Neo Bros.  http://www.neobrothers.co.uk

Otherwise, Uniroyal Rainsport2, Falkens, etc.

Look at http://www.mytyres.co.uk

etyres
black circles
Tesco Tyres
http://www.camskill.co.uk

[Kev_Mc]

If you're looking for a reasonably good budget tyre try the Neutons from Neo Bros.  http://www.neobrothers.co.uk

I've got some Neutons on my Dame Edna 9-5. So far they've been fine in the dry and the wet, though as they're a harder compound, they do have the tendency to scrabble about when you're near the limit. I've also found that fuel economy is not so good with these tyres..

[chrisw]

Thx for the link

i see only the NT3000 are available in 195/65 profile with a 91v rating.  Are their any independant comparison tests of these tyres ?
google hasnt revield any to me.

Chris

[David]

Avon ZV3s 

[sgould]

I've not seen any independent comparison tests of Neutons,  I was a bit sceptical, but they are fine on my wife's car, wet and dry.  But it's not driven at the limit and the tyres are quite new. The NT5000 are used on Neo's track cars.  I would be happy to try an NT3000 on any car that used them. 

They seem to be OK, maybe not at the top of the tree, but definitely not ditchfinders.

Tyres are very subjective.  Are you looking for long life? Quiet running? Grippy at high speed?  Grippy in the wet?  Short braking distance wet/dry?  You may have to compromise on some aspect of these regardless of budget.  For, example, the grippiest tyres usually wear out quickly!!

[chrisw]

Most summer tyres are reasonably good in the dry. The tests ive read seem to vary by about 15%. in the wet its a different story
I liked the hyrdagrips because of their Wet grip and wet stopping distance give we have an ave of 200 wetdays a year in the UK, and yes it was a trade off against longdevity and fuel ecconomy. The static grip on these whernt that high ie any over enhusiasm with the loudpedal from a standing start and them wheels would spin, but the rolling grip was very good not once did they feel like they were braking way regardless of how looney i drove.

The strange thing that has always struck me, is the desire to "save money by buying cheaper tyres" but at the same time are also happy with a many many hundred of pounds insurance excess if you have a prang, so pepes will pay to have a fender bender ! but wont pay to avoid one,  Weird, or is it just cos im an ex-biker ?  where bad tyres = pain (sometimes extreame) ?  How the word insurance seems to have changed since i was a biker.

However I contacted a very nice man at Goodyear technical support who just happened to have the same tyres on his car. He advised me to put their effecentgrips on the fronts as this will improve my ecconomy a bit whilst not compromising the wet performance very much or unballancing the car which would be the case if i put the vector 4 seasons on the fronts. As the existing rubber will be at a higher temprature >7c after warming up even if the road temp is down at 3-5c. And to look at running wintershoes later on, if it proves to be a bad winter (when i can afford it) and there will be good deals on winter tyres about then (he did hint that ultragrip8 @ the end of oct might have one).   
So im still thinking about it.

[chengny]

Couple of thoughts. You did ask if anyone had any better ideas. These may not be better but they're different anyway:

My loverly goodyear hyragrip fronts have worn out. (they deminished very quickly from about 4mm in only a few 000miles)

Maybe the first, most basic, issue to address is the pre-mature wear.

Seems a shame to find, buy and mount new rubber if  the underlying cause of abnormal tread wear is still unresolved. Check toe settings, that's really the only thing you can adjust on your car.


An extra set of rims is key to saving money. It allows you to change your own tires as weather conditions dictate. A major expense is having your tires mounted and balanced 2X per year.

Where I live, last time I  had to, I was paying USD 20 per wheel. 20 X 4 X twice a year = 160. And I get grew up with the guys. Got smart and started changing my own (5 vehicles). 160 per car per year = $800 just to take the snows on and off.

 Find a set of good, true rims to mount your rain/snow tires on. Then take your time and search for a good deal on tires. Look in salvage yards, want ads, garage sales, etc.

When you have 2 complete sets of rims/tires, buy a nice floor jack. Then, when winter/summer comes you can change over at your leisure - for FREE.

[phoenix]

It is not unusual for tyres to wear more quickly in the later part of their life. They are often designed this way, with different compounds lower down the tread. This is to maintain grip in the wet as the tread depth reduces.

My own experience suggests there is far more than 15% variation in surface grip in the dry between premium and budget brands.