Rubbish tyres.

what about federals 595's , there ok but not great in the wet.

Got me some F1's all round - sweet rain and dry

Originally Posted by ransoman

on my way home from work the other day, pouring with rain, came round a downhill sharp lefthander at 30mph, normal corner speed. (145 used to do it at 35, any faster is too dangerous), front end pushes wide, vdc light flashes, front end pulls in and back end swings out, hold the slide untill the end of the corner, perfect recovery. Felt like a true hero, then changed my trousers.

If that's the road I think it is (Forrit Brae - W'Hill / 4 MIle Garage) then it's a brill piece of tarmac, but a bit interesting round corners . Quite happily go several miles out of my way to take it home every evening.

Originally Posted by tom147

Got me some F1's all round - sweet rain and dry

Have to agree. Had two sets of them on the old 156 and they saved me on a few back roads if I wasn't paying proper attention. Now all I need is Goodyear to start making them to fit the Brera.

i have dunlop sport tyres on front and firestones on rear, the way i drive from plymouth to bideford I need em, the roads are great, any other tyre I would be dead or any other make of car... LOL

i have a set of toyo t1r on my 156 2.5 v6 they are very good indeed, i can also recommend pirelli p zero nero as a very good tyre, both stick like glue in the wet or dry, i prefered the pirelli more as there is less flex in the sidewall so they feel slightly more direct on the steering

Nangkangs and wanlis should be banned along with sunny tyres all crap. And dangerous.

I got some Nexar on my 17" rims... They are ok... but i prefer my pirelli P7 which i had on the 16"ers (my sisters 147 came with 17" so naturally i had to take em ;D)

i think the best way to go about it is get a big named brand like pirelli toyo goodyear michelin etc. and choose the most expensive ones you can afford, it makes all the difference, and it maybe that the extra money you spend will save your life, if not then at least your car,
the four small patches of rubber at each corner are all that keeps your car on the road

Originally Posted by frozen-north

If that's the road I think it is (Forrit Brae - W'Hill / 4 MIle Garage) then it's a brill piece of tarmac, but a bit interesting round corners . Quite happily go several miles out of my way to take it home every evening.

Not quite, it is the westhill to blackburn road. about 3 1/4's of the way to blackburn when the hill suddenly drops and you can see all the country for miles around (all the way to inverurie). brilliant road to live on.

We've stuck to the original equipment Firestone Firehawks on the JTD. We have absolutely no complaints about them and at £56 each from Blackcircles last week you can't say fairer. They are also a 'Which' best buy..not that I pay that much attention to Which.

The rears did 80,000 miles, the fronts 38,000, and they wore evenly and could probably have legally done another 3,000 mile or so, but experience has told me that even on the most expensive tyres braking performance and wet weather performance drops off rapidly at 3/4 worn. I had some frights in my 75TS when the Pirellis P6000s were just over half worn.

The Firestones are also low rolling resistance tyres, so with the improved MPG you probably save in the end over a set of high resistance budget tyres anyway.

I've always liked Michelins. They are a quality tyre and always have been, but I can't really justify the extra outlay for our style of motoring.

AlfaLincs

Originally Posted by pcbuild2k

i think the best way to go about it is get a big named brand like pirelli toyo goodyear michelin etc. and choose the most expensive ones you can afford, it makes all the difference, and it maybe that the extra money you spend will save your life, if not then at least your car,
the four small patches of rubber at each corner are all that keeps your car on the road

I agree entirely with this.
You cannot emphasize enough how important tyres are.
The p zero neros on my GTA grip like glue, cornering is amazing wet or dry, ok they only last 10k miles but rather that than buy 'ditchfinder supremes' and end up in trouble. it soesn't matter how good the car is, stick rubbish tyres on and it will be downright dangerous.

It would be nice if everyone could afford to put the most expensive top brand tyre on their cars but sadly life's not like that. If you can only afford budget tyres then that's the range you have to make your choice from. Surely the important thing is to drive within the limits of the car and its tyres, otherwise it's the driver that's the dangerous ditch finder, not the tyres.

If you read the tyre reviews in magazines such as Auto Express, and Evo magazine where they use specialist equipment to test the tyres and you will realise that the most expensive arn't always the best. Thought he more expensive tyres tend to be up the top half of the list.

Budgets are nearly always the worst though.

Tire Test: The Quick and the Tread - Feature/Features/Classic Cars/High Performance/Hot Lists/Reviews/Car and Driver - Car And Driver

Tyre test | Total Tyre Guide | Products | Auto Express

Originally Posted by Mark Saunders

The day we got my wife's Multipla it was a little damp and I couldn't understand why the ABS kicked in on the approach to almost every roundabout. On inspection I found that someone had just fitted a brand new pair of cheap far-Eastern tyres on the front (I'm not sure, but think they were Wanlis). We 'switched to Michelin' as the ad used to implore us and it's much, much better. I've still got the cheapies in my garage and I've always rather wondered if it would be worth putting them on the back for a laugh :-)

They were Westlakes. Car is now on Michelin front/Firestone rear and this combination works well.

I did have Kormorans, which are made in Europe by Michelin, on the Thema and they seemed fine (it was an 8V non-turbo - they might have struggled with 185HP )

Originally Posted by alfafamily

It would be nice if everyone could afford to put the most expensive top brand tyre on their cars but sadly life's not like that. If you can only afford budget tyres then that's the range you have to make your choice from. Surely the important thing is to drive within the limits of the car and its tyres, otherwise it's the driver that's the dangerous ditch finder, not the tyres.

Normally i would agree with you, but this is an Alfa Romeo, not a ford Ka. if the previous owner could afford a premium car then i would expect premium tyres.

Also, it is quite hard to drive within the limits of the tyre when they are so low. i haven't changed my driving style in 5 cars and this is the first time i have found the limit (on what is supposed to be an excellent car).

Got the car back from the garage today and the wheel bearing noise is still there, this leads me to believe it is actually tyre noise and not bearing noise.....

Michelins NOW!

the problem with driving within the limits of bad tyres means in the wet you would have to drive at very low speeds and with very large distances between you and the car infront as the stopping distance in an emergency is so great, while perfectly safe for normal driving there is no real danger, if you are driving in the wet on 40 mph road at 40 mph and someone steps in front of your car how quickly will it stop? is that risk worth saving £100 every time you buy tyres? or your no claims bonus from a low speed shunt, someones life? your own life or your passengers lifes?

My missus found a ditch at the side of the M4 with Barum tyres in her KA!
She has Michelin Energy's now and grip 100% better and they are a low friction tyre

No one was hurt in this tyre test, but she did go between a barrier and a lamp post backwards with 12" spare on either side. I consider her a lucky wife

PS she was on a damp sliproad doing 40 when the suggested speed is 60 (signed) for that corner which she drives everyday!

really does show the difference, how much were the replacement michelins out of curiosity?

£35 a corner from costco but htey are 13" rims

Bought them for her as she wanted me to clean the undergrowth from her car and find out if there was anything wrong with it. Rubber was the answer as I drove it there I 'misjudged' a roundabout on the way to getting the tyres and nailed it on the way back!

She fells much safer and I am glad to spend £130 on not killing my wife(she owes me money).

lol, does she owe you more than the car is worth? its not worth the trouble for the extra money

you could always sell the ka to get back what your owed