[guyfrmblr]

Originally Posted by racer_ash

1) Are my tyres nearing end of life? If so, what is the explanation for a side wall crack in a parking lot?
2) My car came with apollo aceleres. I plan to buy the A-drives. How good are these things. I have heard from reviews that A-drives have softer side walls than Aceleres. In that case, wont I make the situation even worse?
3) I am planning to replace only the recently cracked tyre. If so, is it advisable to run tyres with different tread depths?
4) Any other tyre makes for replacement? I am looking for tyres with strong sidewalls especially after the latest episode.

Since your tire expert has told that the thread on other tires is good enough for another 15K km, you can continue using them (not the one which is damaged, replace it). The Aceleres in my i20 served very well for 57K km. I then changed to A-Drives and absolutely loving it. A-drives have already run for around 28K km and I'm not seeing any signs of wear. I have taken it to places where roads doesn't exist at my native place and it has never let me down. I just had a single puncture until now because of a nail.

[honeybee]

It may not be a good idea to run three used tyres with one brand new tyre. You may not get the same balance at higher speeds. Suggest to keep the brand new tyre as spare and use the original four tyres as 'running' tyres.

You could look at MRF if you are looking for tough tyres.

[racer_ash]

Thanks for your inputs. Since I have two tyres now with side wall crack, I plan to ditch both of them and go for A-drives. My tyre guy said that I can use these new tyres at the front as maximum braking and steering load are borne by them. He also said as as long as the outer circumference of both front tyres are same, there should not be any issue.

Planning to take up the tyre change this weekend.

@guyfrmblr: How much did u pay for your A-Drives. Since I will be buying only one pair, I may not get a good deal but just asking for reference. Also, will the old tyres fetch anything??

[honeybee]

Old tyres may fetch some value, depends on their condition. If the good ones have any usable tread left they may fetch half the value of one new tyre, or maybe more.

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by racer_ash

Thanks for your inputs. Since I have two tyres now with side wall crack, I plan to ditch both of them and go for A-drives. My tyre guy said that I can use these new tyres at the front as maximum braking and steering load are borne by them...

It's a misconception that the new tyres are supposed to be mounted on the front. Since it gets more grip and added weight of the engine, ideally new tyres / better grip has to be provided to the rear.

[racer_ash]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

It's a misconception that the new tyres are supposed to be mounted on the front. Since it gets more grip and added weight of the engine, ideally new tyres / better grip has to be provided to the rear.

It is not the grip I am worried about. The old tyres (atleast one of them) gave away without any indication and that too in a hospital parking lot where speeds would not be greater than 25kmph. Agreed that they served well for 30k kms without even a single puncture. But this episode has made me little wary of the old ones. And since I am planning multiple highway trips in the near future, I want to make sure that the front tyres do not give away at highway speeds leading to loss of steering control. Hence this decision to mount them at the rear.

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by racer_ash

It is not the grip I am worried about. The old tyres (atleast one of them) gave away without any indication and that too in a hospital parking lot where speeds would not be greater than 25kmph. Agreed that they served well for 30k kms without even a single puncture. But this episode has made me little wary of the old ones. And since I am planning multiple highway trips in the near future, I want to make sure that the front tyres do not give away at highway speeds leading to loss of steering control. Hence this decision to mount them at the rear.

In that case, wouldn't it be prudent to spend another 10K and NOT worry at all ? Even if you have the new ones mounted in the front, you might start worrying about the old tyres during the whole of the drive.

[racer_ash]

Well...finally, my i20 has got a pair of new shoes. Got a good deal with the help of a friend on the earth-1s. The Yokohoma dealer was saying that A-drives are no longer in production and recommended Earth-1s to me. The tyres are Feb 2014 manufactured (0714).

Since it was a sunday and the shop was formally closed, me and my tyre mechanic had a chance to find the root cause of the suddenn deflation. Here is the chain of critical events that were unravelled by us leading to those final Seconds from disaster (sorry for copying the NGC show)

1) Feb 2014: We were returning from Bangalore and were around 60kms from Hyderabad: On the highway a rogue stone placed carelessly in the middle of the fast lane caught the driver (read me) unawares and he went over the stone at close to 90kmph
2) I could feel that both the left side wheels had run over the stone. But when I had stopped some distance away to check the damage, I could find only the front left wheel having a side-wall cut. Inspected the rear left tyre but it did not show any signs of damage (or so I thought)
3) Changed the front tyre with the spare and continued my drive back to Hyderabad.
4) Since the spare was a completely unused one (this was my first puncture), the front tyres had different tread wears. The friendly tyre guy (FTG from here-on) advised me to move the front left (the erswhile spare) to the rear. Hence the rear left wheel was moved to the front right.
5) Car was without issues for almost 3 months and another additional 1000 or so kms.
6) Last week the front right wheel gave way while at parking speeds leading me to beleive it was a manufacturing defect or tyres nearing end of their life (how wrong I was).
7) During yesterdays Root cause analysis of the suspect wheel, the FTG applied a fine coat of talcum powder on the sidewalls (both outer side and wheel well facing side). As per him, it would help reveal hidden cracks on the tyre.
8) The tyre had a side wall crack at the outside due to which it had deflated. What was amazing was that at the exact place on the wheel well side , there was a hairline crack (though it had not completely opened up). What was more amazing was that both cracks were eerily similar to the crack developed when the front left wheel went over the stone on the Bangalore highway. Carbon copy, if I may say.
9) Did a similar talcum powder coating on the other old tyres and luckily there were no visible cracks and the FTG gave a go-ahead to use these tyres for another 15k based on the TWI

So now, my beauty has two new Earth-1s at the front and 31k old aceleres at the back. Lets hope my next tyre change is not until the next 15k atleast.

Thanks for your valuable inputs

[quadbike]

Always put new tyres at the rear. If the front slides out for lack of grip you could at-least do corrections with the steering.

[racer_ash]

Originally Posted by quadbike

Always put new tyres at the rear. If the front slides out for lack of grip you could at-least do corrections with the steering.

Thanks for your advise. I was initially thinking the same. Actually, one of the supposedly old tyre at the rear itself is only 1000kms old. This particular tyre was a spare and I am using it only after the Feb incident mentioned in my earlier post. Mounting this tyre and another acelere at the front would result in different diamaters of the front wheels. The old acelere has a good 4mm less tread compared to the unused acelere (the spare). The precise reason why my tyre guy did not recommend using these at the front.

Also did not want to use odd combos (1 acelere + 1 earth-1) for either the front or the back.

[guyfrmblr]

Updates:

1. The Roots Windtone horn conked off after 11 months of usage. Today I went with Minda Trumpets. Its more shriller than Roots Windtone. I'm expecting it to work for around a year since all the trumpet kind of horns doesn't last long. Earlier I had bosch Symphony which worked only for around 8 months.

2. I could see some amount of black smoke on hard acceleration. When the air filter was checked, it was completely choked. This time I went with K&N Hi-Flow air filter. The engine breathes more freely now. The black smoke phenomenon is gone.

[joshguy]

Originally Posted by Kimified

Had a problem with my i20's clutch. So, thought ill ask you about it since yours is the most run i20 on the forum

Mine is a i20 diesel and has run around 48k kms and is 3.5 years old. Over the last couple of weeks I have noticed a screeching sound coming when I release the clutch on inclines. The more the incline, the more the sound too. I do not hear that sound on flat surfaces or while driving on almost flat roads

I have the very same car which has done 36000km and it's 2010 model and had the same problem.the first owner was sense less guy and clutch was very had due to his clutch driving,

Had the same symptoms and it clutch problem only,hyundai guys gave me a quote of 20 to 24 k for replacing entire assembly,I got it done by ignite garage for about 16k and works butter smooth now,
Shocking news is that whole assembly cost only 10 to 11 k rest all are tax and labour.

[Kimified]

Originally Posted by joshguy

Had the same symptoms and it clutch problem only,hyundai guys gave me a quote of 20 to 24 k for replacing entire assembly,I got it done by ignite garage for about 16k and works butter smooth now,
Shocking news is that whole assembly cost only 10 to 11 k rest all are tax and labour.

Oh. Thats sad :( Mine is a Nov 2010 model too. I had no problems for the first 1.5 years and 30000 kms I was using it in Bangalore. I was in Mumbai for the last 2 years and a driver was driving it for the last 2 years and 17000kms in Bangalore . Dont know if it got damaged due to that. Where exactly is the Ignite garage? I will probably get it done there as well. Will get a quote from a few Hyundai service centers before that. Thanks a lot.

[ampere]

Nice updates to a well maintained car. The post-3M pictures that you posted, dont reveal the age(err.. distance clocked) of the car at all. I guess by now car must have seen every nook and corner or Malnad. All the best for many more.

Do you notice any noticeable change in performance? I am not a major auto-tech guy. So I was curious to know, how do you notice if the engine is breathing easier?

[guyfrmblr]

Originally Posted by ampere

Nice updates to a well maintained car. The post-3M pictures that you posted, dont reveal the age(err.. distance clocked) of the car at all. I guess by now car must have seen every nook and corner or Malnad. All the best for many more.

Thanks Ampere. Yes, the car has been to many places in Malnad. It has visited some tough places with horrible roads and it never complained or showed any resistance to visit those places. Still there are lots of places for it to explore and hope it'll show the same enthusiasm in future too .

Do you notice any noticeable change in performance? I am not a major auto-tech guy. So I was curious to know, how do you notice if the engine is breathing easier?

I do feel some changes. The first thing is that the car was emitting thick black smoke on hard acceleration. Once the air filter was changed, this was stopped. The other thing was that the car wasn't feeling peppier like how it was before. It was showing a bit of resistance while pulling. The resistance wasn't much but one could make out clearly in open roads. The engine note too was a bit gruff. After the filter was changed, the car is again peppier to drive and the engine note feels very smooth.

I must also mention that Stanadyne diesel fuel additive was added after the last tankful. This cleans the injectors if clogged. So I really don't know if the air filter or Stanadyne fuel additive has made the difference. The remaining fuel additive will be added after the next tankful.