[darklord]

Kerala Power Minister M M Mani, known for his verbal outburst, leads the list with 34 replacements of tyres in 10 instances over two and a half year at an estimated cost of Rs 3.4 lakh.

One tyre cost about Rs 10,000 to Rs 13,000.

The statistics also reveal that all the tyres of Mani's official car K L 01 CB 8340 were replaced every month. Two of the tyres were replaced nine times, while the other two eight times.

Read more at: https://english.manoramaonline.com/n...icial-car.html


Perhaps he should be provided with a tracked vehicle?

[sanjaykk]

The minister has responded that this particular car has run for 1,24,075 kms during this time.

He further claims that the average tyre life for Innova Crysta is 20,000 kms on normal roads and that his car has achieved average tyre life of 14,597 kms because most of the running was in hilly regions of Idukki.

Average tyre life of 20,000 kms sounds a bit less. Is that true?

[tejas2323]

If this is the case of just one car and that too about tyres, what would be other bills such as fuel, maintainence, also other security car costs.
We often see ministers of other countries using bicycles or state transport but here in India there is so much wastage of resources.
We as citizens are also responsible for their behaviour.
People often consider a minister more powerful on the basis of how many cars he owns or how many cars are there for his security.
We should change this attitude of wasting our resources and help in sustainable development.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Have heard that Crysta is very sensitive to uneven tyre wear unless wheel balancing and alignment is carried out every 5k kms.

Without proper care, the car does tend to eat up a set in just about 20k kms.

14k seems too low even then though!

[tharian]

Sounds like the tyre was replaced everytime it had a puncture.
Probably the driver has a friend/relative who owns a tyre shop. All we can do is speculate as it is the tax payers money after all and the truth is beyond us.

[batman]

One possibility is the used tyres in Minister's car may have been used as replacement tyre for other Govt. cars which may not be as privileged as Minister's car, for getting a sanction for tyre replacement.

[anb]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

14k seems too low even then though!

I live in Idukki, the same place as that of the minister. I was on 6th set of tyres when I sold my cruze at 90k km. Average tyre of life my Cruze is 15k. Polo GT TSI and BMW 320d is 20k km

[Sunil2307]

Seriously? Is this some new way to make money? Change tyres on the official car every month.

[Latheesh]

As per bhpian anb in the above post - He used 24 tyres by the time odo reached 90k (Cruze) and this minister used 34 tyres by1.25L (Innova).

Let us wait for details before jumping to conclusion.

Note: This particular Innova model year is 2017. We all know Toyota changed wheel size from 17" to 16" in 2017 due to many field failures.
edit: looks like this car has 16"

[Aditya_Bhp]

I live near Idukki and the I had got 4 oem Apollo tyres on my VW Vento and replaced them with 4 Michelin XM2s at 38000kms and now odometer is 92000kms and the Michelin is good to go for another 20000kms.

I get an average tyre life span of 35000kms on any tyre, irrespective of the brand. Of course Michelin gave me a unexpected tyre life of around 54000kms and is still good for another 20000kms.

The Minister had used a Innova Crysta V, which had 16 inches and not 17 inches and hence was free from tyre bursts. So I believe its the poor choice of the tyre brand or poor wheel alignment that's responsible. Idukki has both good roads and bad roads that are narrow at some places and with twists and bends. But most of the roads which the minister would use are tarred and an Innova would have no issues. Rest of the roads will be too difficult for an Innova to travel on, you would need AWD vehicles for such roads.

Whatever be the reason, spending lakhs replacing tyres is not the solution to this.

Ps. The car used 10 replacement tyres, it had one come with a set of oem tyres, so if you recalculate it, the actual lifespan per set of tyres goes down to 11300kms and not 14000kms.

[KrisTvpm]

Some members mentioned the tyre life is quite less in the ghat/high-ranges in/around "Idukki".

Can't question this as unaware of this behaviour in hilly terrains, but does the minister live/work/use his car exclusively in and around this geography throughout the year, for as many years as he's in chair !? Isn't he supposed to be working from the state capital, notwithstanding the fact that he'd be visiting his assembly-seat once in a while ? Does the tyre wear pattern in Idukki apply in state capital too, then !?

Doesn't add up, something fishy.

[anb]

Originally Posted by Aditya_Bhp

I live near Idukki and the I had got 4 oem Apollo tyres on my VW Vento and replaced them with 4 Michelin XM2s at 38000kms and now odometer is 92000kms and the Michelin is good to go for another 20000kms.

I get an average tyre life span of 35000kms on any tyre, irrespective of the brand. Of course Michelin gave me a unexpected tyre life of around 54000kms and is still good for another 20000kms..

I live in proper Idukki, Kattappana where roads are fulll of corners. No one gets a tyre life of 70k km here unless drive at extremely slow speeds. You are staying in near by district, may be Ernakulam or Kottayam going by your car registration KL32 which is not a hill station.

[IshaanIan]

Large 1.5 ton sedans can chew through a set of tyres in 15k kms so it stands to reason that a 1.7 ton ladder on frame 7 seater, would be able to do the same, however the difference is in the tyres that are used on such vehicles. The sedans use low profile soft tyres while the ladder on frame mini trucks use much harder wearing tyres. I feel like 20k kms ought to be the tyre life.

[Aditya_Bhp]

Originally Posted by anb

I live in proper Idukki, Kattappana were roads are fulll of corners. No one gets a tyre life of 70k km here unless drive at extremely slow speeds. You are staying in near by district, may be Ernakulam or Kottayam going by your car registration KL32 which is not a hill station.

KL32 is not a hill station and I do not live in KL32.

I live in KL 17 and have mentioned near Idukki but I do most of the travel through KL-38, which is Idukki district. I have mentioned getting 50k km as totally unexpected.

Also do remember this car must not have been used in Idukki district only. It would be used by the minister to go to Trivandrum and other places. Its not practically possible to travel 1.25L kilometers inside Idukki district in 2 years time. Whatever be the reason, I still find it too difficult to believe that such a popular car used by taxi drivers also needs such frequent tyre replacements, equal to the number of oil changes needed.

[Nikhilb2008]

I should have had a tyre shop in Idukki!

14k tyre life on an Innova is very improbable. Even if the tyres had really worn out, it could have been made to last longer by getting the car aligned regularly.

There is no way a well aligned car will wear out it's tyres in 14k kms irrespective of the road conditions.