159 / Brera / Spider tyre wear issues - VIP - Revised Information

[chris_haseldine]

My 3.2 Q4 came from the factory with continental contisport 3 tyres. Haven't seen much talk form other people about these tyres.

I drive my car hard and with 12,000 miles on the clock in 4 months i'd say the inside edge still has about 4-5000 miles left on them.

Rears have worn pretty even and about 1/2 gone.

[Tango India]

7500 miles on the clock and my first set of daps are needed for the front.

6mm on the outside, completely bald on the inside (continentals)

33mpg
constant rubbing noise
noisy tappets
and now tyres that only last 7500 miles

I'm beginning to regret this car

Oh I can't be mad at her for long when she looks at me like she does!!!

[popdog76]

Originally Posted by revuptv

1.9 JTDm 2007 Angel re-map. On Original 18" for 2500miles. Switched to Hancook Sport K104 on 19" Ti rims. 100% loading on the tyre (Bridgies are 85%) and stunning handling in wet and under braking. (Lets face it one out of every three days in the UK is wet and handing in the wet is more important than the dry) Had Bridgies on other makes of performance car and they do wear out very quickly. So far these Hancook tyres are only 100 quid a corner (off the web from a firm in Workington), give amazing grip and have done 17,500 miles. At it's 12 month service the mechanic took the following measurements - inside front nearside edge was 3 mm down with tyre overall 3.5 mm wear. Outside front 2mm on inside edge with 3.5mm wear overall. Rears only 2mm down. I do NOT hang about and do push the car so am very satisfied with the tyres now. I think reading the posts that one of the common factors throughout are the soft Bridgstones that come with the car and the larger the rim the less the problem seems to be.

Can you give us more information on the tyres and the fitter; I can not find any tyre place that supplies these tyres in the correct size for a ti eg 235/40 R19.....and they sound to good to be true

Cheers

[Alfa 4eva]

OK so they have finally phoned back today and asked the same questions they asked last week "where is the tyre wearing" "how many miles have you done" etc...I wasn't happy with having to go through this again and i told them so

Anyway its booked in at Platts on Saturday I'm a suspicious kind of guy and I'm wondering whats stopping them finding the tracking is not set up right adjusting it and telling me they have found no problems???
would be an easy way for Afla to make these premature wearing of tyres go away.......or am i being silly??? should i ask to view them working on my car???

How many people apart from SR have actually had a refund???
and whats the best course of action if they do say nothing is wrong???

Sorry for all the questions

[Tango India]

My car went in for numerous problems yeterday.

I was told that having to change my tyres at 7500miles was "normal" for a front wheel drive car, especially Alfa's!!!

I strongly disagree with this but to top it all the dealer doesn't even have the facility to check the tracking

[ip75]

Originally Posted by Alfa 4eva

How many people apart from SR have actually had a refund???

I have. I had a full refund on the front tyres.

[Squadrone Rosso]

Just had new fronts on.

Traction & grip restored to normal £416

Anyway, the ones that they replaced had worn pretty well with only slight inner wear.

They came off the back at 9k miles and they've done an additional 5.5k on the front.

The geometry wasn't adjusted until 11k so they did two with the extreme toe setting.

Hopefully this set will wear well

[revuptv]

Originally Posted by popdog76

Can you give us more information on the tyres and the fitter; I can not find any tyre place that supplies these tyres in the correct size for a ti eg 235/40 R19.....and they sound to good to be true

Cheers

Just checked and Camskill and Hancook have dropped this size (don't know why-maybe so cheap to clear stock but they are great however read to the end) gone to 235/45's but I found this at VREDESTEIN TYRES / CAR / VREDESTEIN ULTRAC SESSANTA - 245/40R19 98Y XL TL :: £154.15 :: Car Tyres - MPV Tyres - People Carrier Tyres :: R19" - 245/40/19, 245/40 R 19 :: which is the 245/40R19 98Y XL TL VREDESTEIN ULTRAC SESSANTA and on the tyre review sites it gets 4.5 out of 5 on wet and dry conditions so I bought 2 from here at 25 quid a corner cheaper than Camskill Vredestein 235/35R19Y. Does this help?

I realise this is a 35 height rather than a 40 but the 159 suspension should cope extremely well and not loosen any fillings. Firmer sidewalls will allow tighter cornering with a 98% load index.

[Fraser]

The Ultrac Sessanta is a great tyre and one of the best wet-weather tyres I have ever had the pleasure of sticking on a wheel. The only downsides are:

They are quite noisy
Steering isn't quite as sharp as P-Zero's
Ride feels a little less well controlled

I suspect the last two are down to more rounded shoulders and a less-ridgid side-wall.

[AlfaStealth]

Originally Posted by Fraser

The Ultrac Sessanta is a great tyre and one of the best wet-weather tyres I have ever had the pleasure of sticking on a wheel. The only downsides are:

They are quite noisy
Steering isn't quite as sharp as P-Zero's
Ride feels a little less well controlled

I suspect the last two are down to more rounded shoulders and a less-ridgid side-wall.

You have to run the Ultrac's at a higher pressure, this make all the difference.

[Alfa 4eva]

Well it went to the dealers today had to get the Mrs to take it as i had other stuff to take care of Basically they say there is nothing wrong with my car in the way of tracking the tyre pressures were very slightly down but nothing major and they will pass this info on to Alfa UK so nothing obvious, will just have to wait and see what Alfa UK say when they ring back i can see i might have to fight this one to get any help with cost of some new tyres

[David C]

Originally Posted by Alfa 4eva

Well it went to the dealers today had to get the Mrs to take it as i had other stuff to take care of Basically they say there is nothing wrong with my car in the way of tracking the tyre pressures were very slightly down but nothing major and they will pass this info on to Alfa UK so nothing obvious, will just have to wait and see what Alfa UK say when they ring back i can see i might have to fight this one to get any help with cost of some new tyres

Did they tell you what the tracking is actually set to?

[Alfa 4eva]

They only told the Mrs that it was set to Alfas recommendations so could mean that there recommendations are wrong il wait and see what Alfa UK say and if i have to have it checked elsewhere il do so and if necessary have it set with zero toe out in the hope it will stop the excessive wear

[Fraser]

Originally Posted by AlfaStealth

You have to run the Ultrac's at a higher pressure, this make all the difference.

I run them at the pressures recommended in the 159 manual - would you suggest a higher pressure.

(sorry to butt in on the thread, but I couldn't send you a PM).

[David C]

Originally Posted by Alfa 4eva

They only told the Mrs that it was set to Alfas recommendations so could mean that there recommendations are wrong

yes it would seam so!
But, there is also a tolerance with those and there will be a difference in tyre wear between the two extremes of the Alfa settings.

Originally Posted by Alfa 4eva

I'll wait and see what Alfa UK say and if i have to have it checked elsewhere I'll do so and if necessary have it set with zero toe out in the hope it will stop the excessive wear

yep. With it set to zero your tyre wear will be very even across the tread.

[Gibi]

just curious. Has anyone had any problems with tyre wear on a Brera S ? Hopefuly the prodrive settings will improve things. if not I may not be keeping it for as long as I was planning.

[alfaredthegreat]

MIne went from extreme toe-out, to extreme toe-in (within the recommended range). I must check to see if that improved the wear on the inner edge. They also recommended upping the pressures to 2.8 all round.

[Pud237]

Originally Posted by revuptv

Just checked and Camskill and Hancook have dropped this size (don't know why-maybe so cheap to clear stock but they are great however read to the end) gone to 235/45's but I found this at VREDESTEIN TYRES / CAR / VREDESTEIN ULTRAC SESSANTA - 245/40R19 98Y XL TL :: £154.15 :: Car Tyres - MPV Tyres - People Carrier Tyres :: R19" - 245/40/19, 245/40 R 19 :: which is the 245/40R19 98Y XL TL VREDESTEIN ULTRAC SESSANTA and on the tyre review sites it gets 4.5 out of 5 on wet and dry conditions so I bought 2 from here at 25 quid a corner cheaper than Camskill Vredestein 235/35R19Y. Does this help?

I realise this is a 35 height rather than a 40 but the 159 suspension should cope extremely well and not loosen any fillings. Firmer sidewalls will allow tighter cornering with a 98% load index.

235/35 is a bit of a difference to 245/45.. What does the Ti come with as standard on the 19" rims?

[Paul J]

Originally Posted by Pud237

235/35 is a bit of a difference to 245/45.. What does the Ti come with as standard on the 19" rims?

Ti tyre spec is 235/40/19 96Y. 235/35/19 will have too small a rolling radius and the speedo will be way out. 245/40/19 will be closer.

[Pud237]

Originally Posted by Paul J

Ti tyre spec is 235/40/19 96Y. 235/35/19 will have too small a rolling radius and the speedo will be way out. 245/40/19 will be closer.

Gearing for acceleration will be better on 35 profiles though.. Not good for economical cruising though.

[dpat]

Just a note: spoke to a dealer recently and mentioned the tyre wear issue on the 19'' cars in particular and got a reply along the lines of 'well you don't buy a Ti and go crusing in it, most people hammer them' and 'I bet those same people complain about the fuel economy'.

So there you go, dealers will still not recognise this as a problem and try to pooh-pooh it to potential customers.

[Paul J]

I got told when I was ordering mine that "the front tyres will only last 10K miles on a 2.4". Mine are still just about okay at 11.5K miles, but will have to change soon.

[David C]

Originally Posted by Paul J

Mine are still just about okay at 11.5K miles, but will have to change soon.

Are yours wearing evenly?

[revuptv]

INSURANCE. A previous comment re this got me reading the policy from Swiftcover (AXA) very carefully. Whilst at one part it stated the tyres had to be legal and a current MOT obtained (not 2 years old yet!) on another section it clearly stated that they required it to Manufacturers Spec. I emailed them, told them of the wear probs with the 159/Brera/Spider fronts and that I did not wish to spend a load of money or average grip tyres (Bridgestone Potenza's). I told them I was thinlking of 235/45 x 19 and 235/35 x 19 tyres and why due to much better grip which reduced the risk they were taking and also improved my peace of mind, especially in the wet. (Independant Tyre reviews give the Bridgstone 3.5 out of 5 for dry grip and 3 out of 5 for wet. Vredestein get 4.5 out of 5 for both wet and dry) Today I got an email back stating they would cover me for either of these tyres so it seems I am now fireproof. Well worth doing BEFORE anything happens so thank you to the poster who brought the topic up.

TYRES. The 235/35 will knock out the speedo by 3 mph at 70 and 1 mph at 30. The 235/40 that came with it was also out on the speedo so I used a GPS to give me the correct spped and remember the offset factor. Very simple really. A Pal who has 17 inch wheels tells me that his speedo is reading slow.

The Vredestein 235/35 x 19 were fitted and it only took about 60 miles for the grip to come up as the silicone release agent left on the tyre from the mould wore off. NOISIER than other tyresd? No nopticeable difference. TRAMLINING? No not a bit and I purposely drove on the inside lane that was heavily rutted up here. GRIP? Hells bells, you have to keep your wits about you as the steering is even more pointy than before but grip levels are way up too. I considered the previous FALKENS much better than the original Bridgestones but these are way better still and I must recommend them. HARD RIDE due to 35 profile? No not a bit. Wet weather grip was stunning! Honest I am mightly impressed by these tyres.

Lastly, it has been brough up about fuel economy. Just come back from a run of 185 miles and still getting 44.6 mpg cruising at 75 in sixth so still happy about this.

I hope this helps others in case they wish to make the transition to the Vredstein which I bought for £127 each post free off the web. See Vredestein 235/35R19Y

[David C]

Did you also inform them that the tyre size you are using have a lower load index than the OEM size?