K11 Tyres : UniRoyal

[stokefan]

Hi all,

Decided I need 2 new tyres on the front, so went down to the local tyre fitter this morning who said he sells Firestone, Goodyear, Dunlop ( I think ) and UniRoyal, all for around £30 each, but he recommended UniRoyal for £34 each.

Any thoughts on these tyres anyone? Just wondered if anyone had used them before and what they thought.

 

[paddymarsden]

not sure about tyres, can make a huge diff in performance, prob go with goodyear

 

[mike]

I have uniroyal rainsports and they are great for the wet. im guessing for the price though it is most likely their entry level tyre. Not sure what they are like but if they are like mine they should be good.

 

[stokefan]

cheers guys, they seem ok for the money then. I have Toyo's on the front at the moment, and theyre' a) not very good in the wet and b) fitted incorrectly!!! They are bald completely one one side!! grrr

 

[James]

What Toyo's do you have? I have T1-Rs and havent had a problem in the wet as of yet

 

[stokefan]

What Toyo's do you have? I have T1-Rs and havent had a problem in the wet as of yet

they say "toyo 330"...

 

[Ben]

uniroyal rainsports are great but i paid a lot more than £34 for mine

 

[stokefan]

not sure if they're rainsports or not, the bloke at the tyre shop did say that they are heavily discounted though.

 

[James]

they say "toyo 330"...

Ah I see, well you can see the difference between the 330 and the T1-R hehe

 

[k11_998]

your fronts are completely bald on one edge you could have a problem with your alignment, have you had it checked recently, or have you noticed that driving in a straight line it pulls to one side if you let go of the steering wheel,

you might wanna get it checked, you wouldnt believe how many tyres people have gone though cos they have picked up on alignment problems

 

[andy1767]

Yeh I can't empathise how much tyres make a difference, I went and got a new set of Bridgestone's for my K11 and it made such a difference to the handelling, it was like a new car. Also having them at the correct pressures seem to really help to.

 

[k11_998]

also with tyres if you change the size of the tyre i seem to remember something about a really complicated formula to work out what pressure you should put in them,

and your brakes are only ever as good as your tyres, theres no point fitting n14 brakes or fast road pads, if your still running budget t rate tyres

 

[stokefan]

your fronts are completely bald on one edge you could have a problem with your alignment, have you had it checked recently, or have you noticed that driving in a straight line it pulls to one side if you let go of the steering wheel,

you might wanna get it checked, you wouldnt believe how many tyres people have gone though cos they have picked up on alignment problems

The guy at the tyre shop said that he'd check "tracking" for me for free, is this the same as alignment?

I'm getting pretty desparate for tyres though, I'm not sure whether I can wait till Saturday even!

 

[k11_998]

technically no, as tracking only really applies to the toe angle, but in the real world probably yes, if i referred to alignment as tracking at work i would be kicked somewhere (and have been before), but most people do, sorta like with the dread "fan belt" terminolagy, i think we offer to check it for free, but charge for adjustments, make sure you know this first as someplace only tell you afterwards

 

[hughes_16v]

if your tyres are blad on one side of the tyre then yes you have a wheel alignment problem. my mums rover was the same till i sorted it out for her!

 

[k11_998]

you'd be suprised how many cars driving around do have the alignment out, probably 1 in 3 of the cars that come into work are out abit, its cos of all the speed bumps around, the slightest knock can affect it,

and while i'm thinking about it, if anyone has fitted larger wheels they might wanna look at the wear, if there set to the standard pressure, and are worn on the outer edges, then they might wanna put the pressure up, or if there worn more in the centre they wanna lower it abit, worth thinking about could save you abit of money on having to replace otherwise good tyres

 

[Soixantaine]

"Which" tyre tests for stokefan

Which magazine (courtesy of my local library) carried out a series of tyre tests last year and published the results in the March (2004) issue. Twenty-seven tyres sized 165/70R14T up to 225/45R17W were tested under varying road conditions for wet and dry grip, comfort and noise and wear. In the 165/70R14T size the best buys were the Bridgestone B330 Evo, the Continental Eco-Contact 3, and the Michelin Energy E3A.

In an update this year, they added, in size 175/65R14T, the Pirelli P3000 Energy, Kleber Dynaxer-P2 and the Firestone F590 Fuel Saver.

Based on the results of the testing, I bought a set of Continental Sports Contacts for my Super S and, so far, am happy with them. They were expensive but as I don't drive the car that much I expect they'll dry-rot before I wear them out.

Most libraries carry several years of Which back issues. You might want to check the March 2004 issue, and this year's update, before you decide on a set of tyres. You don't even need a card to do so.

S