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The front tyres on my mondeo are wearing but still legal.They are only a year or so old.My rear tyres are good treadwise but the rubber is about trhree years old.Should I swap them over to put off having to spend £140 for a couple of months? Is this OK to do?
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I don't see any problem with what you want to do Mark.
Make sure the pressures are correct after you swap them around
£140 sounds expensive for two tyres - what model do you have?
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Cheers for the advice.I think I'll swap'em and try not to bat it too much.Oh and David it's an Si with 205/55.The last Uniroyall Rally's were about £65 a corner.
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Tyre companies now advise against swapping tyres back to front. They reason that a front wheel drive car is less controllable with less tread on the rear, by which they mean more likely to snap into sudden oversteer. Mike Brewer demonstrated this with a crappy old Nova on the last series of Driven. So that's the advice of tyre companies, proven by a demo. But it isn't what I'd do. I want to get any front wheel drive car to handle as neutrally as possible, so I inflate the rear tyres 4 - 5 lb more than the fronts to reduce of terminal understeer. (Doesn't work on Vectras, mind.) In the dry, minimal tread on the front will give better grip at the front from the slick effect. But in the wet the opposite will be true. So which end you stick the crap tyres on really depends on how you want the car to handle and how good a driver you think you are.
HJ
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HJ,
Given that you want a neutral FWD car how do you rate the self-steer rear suspension on the Xantia.
I was very impressed when I'd owned mine for a few weeks and had the chance to try out the "on the limit" handling. The rear swerves just like a RWD about to break away but it stays safe.
Just my opinion.
David
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HJ,
Just re-visited the C5 road test and seen you comment on the Xantia lack of understeer.
Now trying to reduce the slap on the wrist for not getting round the site enough.
Is the Xantia handling a well kept secret I wonder. I've never heard anyone else comment on it in particular.
As a matter of interest I never swap round the tyres on our Citroen's. Just maximise life with correct pressures/balance/tracking/suspension bushes.
David
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David
">Is the Xantia handling a well kept secret I wonder. <"
I assume you are comparing your Xantia with your tractor (plus baler).....unless you drive an Activa
M
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Micky,
Never have to slow for the tightest corner with the tractor and baler, never exceed speed limit either....good job, no brakes!
Anyway you've got me all serious again, about the Xantia this time.
I am lucky to drive a good many cars, mostly family/exec types, and really do beleive my Xantia has very good handling for a mid range hatch with no sporting pretensions. It has the earlier 14" wheels which make it sit a little lower than the later models with 15" rims. It also has a set of matching tasty HR Michelins. I admit the steering feel is a bit too light and somewhat dead but once you trust the capabilities it's very good. Wet road balance and grip is another major factor that impresses.
And I put most of this down to the "steering" rear suspension that helps avoid that feeling of terminal understeer affecting many FWD cars.
David
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And I thought I'd slipped that comment past you David.
Strange that the X##tia I have the use of (should be safe admitting as much this far back in the Forum) has similar handling characteristics to a heavily abused mark 2 Granada (wallowing, weaving and pitching), without the attendant benefits of mass (for banger racing only). Have you tried travelling at a velocity in excess of 40 mph? Or perhaps I should check the tyre pressures on the X####a?
Hur, hur
M
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HJ - no doubt there are good theoretical reasons (but marginal) for keeping front tyres on the front and rear at the rear, but this surely is what the makers *would* say, wouldn't they? The front ones need swopping soon, and unless you do 30K+ a year the rears will need changing because the walls are starting to show cracks. I prefer to make all 4 last 50K and change the lot at once.
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Oh, then £140ish for two tyres is not bad then!
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back to mark & orginal question, if the rears are 3 years old then I would have a good look around the sidewalls for surface cracks, at that age there should be plenty of them! you should of thought of swopping earlier so that you could catch some wear before they go pop
I'm running a 95 mondeo that came with 4 nearly new conti contacts 14 mths ago they are quite good but as with most tyres they have benifited from being rebalanced when they were swopped
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One disadvantage of swopping tyres around and therefore spreading the wear is that you end up having to change all the tyres at once. Personally , I change the relevant tyre when required.
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