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-   -   ARTICLE: Choosing The Right Set Of Tyres for your Car (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifying-car/24991-article-choosing-right-set-tyres-your-car-46.html)

Please get yourself Bridgestone :)

I'll suggest you to get two new tyres and change both the old MRF's at the rear. Don't change just one tyre.

Thanks Anurag. I was thinking the same thing myself but just wanted confirmation.
Cheers,
SS

Im happy with Bridgestone B290, The original tyres were Apollo on my i20 crdi and I replaced those at 44K kms. I was not happy with Apollo 's because, these tyres were prone to get puncture and tyre noise was more. Somehow covered 44K kms with two punctures on each Tyre and replaced with B290. I covered till now 30K Kms on B290, no punctures as of now, touch wood :)

B290 is better compare to Apollo's and the Tyre noise is less, but cant compare with Michelin. Michelin has a soft side wall. This provides a very smooth drive. Few of my friends had side wall punctures on Michelin. Not sure Michelin fixed this in XM2 series. I opted B290 as I was driving frequently to Mangalore/Udupi from Bangalore and Shiradi ghat was in terrible shape. Over all I'm happy with B290.

Even my i20 came with the factory fitted Apollos and in the 1st 2 years, I used to frequently visit the tyre shop for puncture repair. I'm pretty sure I had more puncture-repair-tape than rubber on the Apollos when I finally switched to the XM2s. lol:

The XM2s are truly a breeze to drive with, and in these 4 years, I've only had 1 incident of tyre puncture. :D

Did you up size the tyre ? What's the XM2 tyre size ? 185/65/R14 or 175/70/R14

Same here, I used to check everyday in the morning for punctures, when I was driving on Apollo's. Once I drove from Bangalore to Udupi (410Kms) with one nail pierced in left side rear tyre, I filled air in between, Apollo was capable of holding air with one nail :uncontrol

Funny story behind that one. When I went to change them, I had planned to keep the stock alloys and the 185/65/R14 size.

But when the guy removed the tyres, the OEM alloys were bent - most likely a result of constant low pressure due to frequent punctures and undulated city roads. :Frustrati

The alloys I really liked were only available in 15 inches - so I decided to go with a set of 185/60-R15 XM2s.

Obviously, things went over-budget but I still get a lot of compliments over the wheels. :D


I believe many bhp-ians would call that a "miraculous drive". lol:

The Apollo's worked diametrically opposite (pun-intended) for me. I had filled air over the weekend, and since I rarely take it out during the week, the car was just sitting in my building. Following weekend, I found my front right tyre had deflated completely and the rear left was pudgy / partially flat.

I guess that was the turning point for me.

Update:

So I have been using this tyre for 5 months and they are 4000kms old now. Performance is satisfactory. But I have a new problem:

Had switched from normal air to nitrogen on recommendation of the tyre shop folks when I changed the tyres. Continued with the recommended pressure i.e. 33psi in all 4. But this has brought down my mileage by a good 2kmpl :Shockked:

Before the change while on stock tyres, I used to get something around 16-17kmpl in city consistently(measured by tankful to auto-cut method). Usage pattern didn't change nor the traffic/road condition in the area(outskirts of Bangalore). But strangely the mileage I get now is between 14-14.5 only(had 9-10 tankfuls). Initially thought the new tyres need time to bed-in before they perform better, but 4000kms seem to be good enough time to settle? Even got the car serviced now but no change.

So my doubt is , does nitrogen lead to such reduction often or are the bridgestones heavier than the MRFs leading to this change? Should I maintain higher pressure(>33psi)?

Assuming that everything else has remained the same, I suspect that your car needs an outstation trip very badly. A trip where you get to drive spiritedly, at various rpms, in different gears - at times redlining them. This will allow your vehicle to come out of the sluggishness that is the result of daily commute in the congested, pot hole filled roads of Bengaluru.

Also to be checked are the conditions of the air filter, spark plugs and most importantly the clutch.

I too drive a Zen Estilo Lxi and have upsized the tyres to 155/70 R13 in January 2018. Whenever there is a long hiatus between highway drives, my car too exhibits signs of lesser mileage. An extended drive with a bit of Italian Tune-up included, almost always solves the problem.

On second thoughts, have you checked the air pressure early in the morning? I have found out that the nitrogen dispenser at my regular pump has a negative error of 2 PSI, i.e, if the cold tyre pressure is to be set at 33 (checked early in the morning, after being parked for the entire night), I must fill in 35 PSI at around 9 AM, after driving for 2 kms from my home to the pump. So, it is possible that while you believe that there is 33 PSI of nitrogen in your tyres, there might actually be less than that. Also, more than some other cars (that I have driven), I have found the Estilos to be uber sensitive to variations in air pressure - in terms of ride, handling and fuel efficiency. So, you could indeed be right in suspecting the tyres :).

I did do a couple of 200km highway runs in between but again not exceeding 100kph as you know estilo becomes a boat at those speeds :uncontrol

Will do a couple more soon.

Just got my vehicle serviced a couple of weeks back. Spark plug and air filter did get changed. It has done only 34k kms and the clutch has no issues per say. Even got that checked during the service.

I see. Yes usually I fill it early morning when I start for office. Petrol bunk being 4kms from my place. Will try filling it to 35 next time. Thanks for the tip.

If still it doesn't help am gonna get back to normal air. Not just for mileage but I am a bit uncomfortable taking it on long drives doubting the availability of nitrogen in remote areas stupid:

I had a question regarding the tyre Ciaz of the Ciaz Z+ models.

They come in 195-55-R16, I am a little unhappy about the 55 profile and if I want to change that in the Ciaz, has anyone tried 195-60-R16?

They are available in Goodyear Assurance Triple Max, Michelin Primacy 3St, Bridgestone Ecopia EP150

Will this size foul with the wheel arches? I don't think the Maruti guys will notice a little difference in tyre size or will they? has anyone tried this size before in a Ciaz with 16 inch alloys?

We are running 205 /55 on stock 16 inch rims, it looks just right . you may add continental MC5 to the shortlist, a very balanced tire and works well for Ciaz.

Nitrogen is mostly what we breathe in and makes no difference to the tire or the car, don't bother with it. Use normal atmospheric air by all means.

buy an air pump and an air pressure Guage, fill it up at home and then check every week to see any drop in pressure, at the same time do a few tankful mileage tests. If your mileage has not improved you can be certain that it is not the tires.

Thank you for the reply Kosfactor, I am okay with 195 size, its the profile I want to up, I don't own the car currently, but I am thinking of getting one, I am more interested in the profile than the width, but like you answered 205/55/R16 or 195/60/R16, the diameter for both will be the same and hence since it has worked for you, when I buy the car, it will work for me too.

I have a question regarding tyres of my Jaguar. One of the tyres is damaged, and needs to be replaced. Jaguar dealer is saying that the company fitted OEM tyre is different from what's available in the market, and is advising to buy the tyre from them. He claims that the weight of the OEM tyre is different from the aftermarket tyre. :confused:
Does anybody have any experience with this? The tyre size is 225 55 R17.

Update:

So I tried filling in 34 & 35 psi of N2 in last two thankful Cycles and it seems to have worked. The car returned 16.5 kmpl in my last refill with usual route & traffic. :I Rule:

And now with fuel @ 70.8₹/L , driving is even more fun( ofcourse the kind of fun a humble estilo can providelol:) & economical.

I hope you want to increase the ride quality. My cousin is having the zxi+ version Ciaz with the stock 195/55/16 section tires, and has been using it for last 4 years for almost 60,000 kms and he has no complaints till now. The Ciaz is having a soft suspension set up, hence having a better ride and increasing the side wall height may result in increasing the body roll even further. So my suggestion would be to stick with OEM size which is a proper tire size and also increasing the tire width won't create much impact as the Ciaz is not a corner carver with that soft suspension.