FIAT Panda 4x4 (2005 - ) - The Great Tyre Experiment

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Wed 10 Oct 2007 19:25
The Great Tyre Experiment - doctorchris
I have a bit of an obssession with tyres, after all they are pretty much the most safety orientated component on your car. Well, My Panda 4x4 has worn out its Bridgestone Duelers after 24,000 miles. They have gripped quite well but I want to see if another make of tyre will be better.
I need all season tyres marked M+S (no, not Marks and Spencer) to give a bit of 4x4 credibility. I have chosen Hankook Centum H720's from mytyres, based on the reviews that the website provides. They are a good looking uni-directional tyre so handling may even improve in adverse conditions. Fitted locally they will work out at £42.20 a corner which seems quite fair.
I suspect that Panda 4x4 owners up to now have just gone for OEM tyres so I will update you on the progress of the Hankooks if you are interested, or even if you are not.
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Wed 10 Oct 2007 21:10
The Great Tyre Experiment - bell boy
Interestingly an m+s tyre used to be just that mud and snow and usually had the holes already fitted for spikes.
The cheapest m+s tyres were remoulds,they had the grip but boy were they poor in the summer season and noisy on the road,you therefore used to swap them back in the spring to standars tyres.
So yes i would be interested how these hankooks do

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Thu 11 Oct 2007 10:09
The Great Tyre Experiment - Harmattan
I too will be interested in how you get on with the Hankooks. My wife chose a Suzuki Jimny over the Panda 4x4 just over a year ago and we ditched its 7,000-mile Bridgestones last winter because they were hopeless on a frosty road and went instead for Nokian WRs which are a winter tyre for year-round use - allegedly. In fact they were much better than the Bridgestones in icy conditions and have worn like any other tyres throughout the rest of the 10 months they have been on. However, I am shocked by the Nokian prices now on the Mytyres site and notice your Hankooks too are cheaper from a local supplier. We might move to a LHD Panda with the diesel engine so keep us informed about the Hankooks. I fitted a pair of their mid-range tyres to the rear of our 309 GTI for a couple of weeks until it was sold and noticed no difference between them and the admittedly more worn Goodyear Eagles swopped to the front.
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Sun 21 Oct 2007 09:07
The Great Tyre Experiment - doctorchris
Hankooks have been fitted for a couple of days now (took a while to arrive as the carrier lost 2 of the tyres in transit and MyTyres had to send 2 more out).
They seem a bit noisier just now than the Bridgestones but rolling resistance seems reduced. Whether these are just due to changing form worn to new tyres I don't know.
Handling is fine in the dry but here in the North East we haven't seen rain for a while and definitely no snow.
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Sun 28 Oct 2007 23:36
The Great Tyre Experiment - doctorchris
OK, here's another update since I had a run out to Wolsingham from Sunderland this evening, dry roads on the way out, wet on the way back. Now, this run involves some boring dual carriageway but also some demanding unlit country roads with lots of ups and downs and tricky corners.
The new Hankooks performed really well in both the wet and dry and I felt very safe. Fuel economy, maybe a bit better than with the Bridgestones and performance felt enhanced, bearing out my theory of reduced rolling resistance.
So, only snow performance and wear rate to report on now. Could be a while before that happens.
However, all you boring Panda 4x4 owners refitting Bridgestones when the old ones wear out, get out and try some sexy new rubbers!
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