[puchoo]

Tizzie is now running on brand new shoes!

I waited till the new tyres had a a decent number of kilometers run before posting this review to make it more accurate for whosoever it helps. Big thanks to everyone who took the time and patience to respond to me during the time i was procrastinating on which ones to buy.

After the incident there was absolutely no way i was going to have anything to do with Good Year or drive anymore than i had to on them, the window thus to replace the tyres was reasonably small - one weekend, 2 days and as a result substantial time was spent on research and with feet on ground exploring the more popular areas and shops for buying new ones such as BK in Lajpat. I had narrowed down to 3 options - Pirellis Cinturato P7 . Michelin Primacy 3ST and the Continental MC 5 - the final decision was to go ahead with the Pirellis.

The reason to go with the Pirellis was what i believe the best balance in my head between cost , performance and comfort. I knew the P7's would not be as silent as the others but for some reason was more assured on their ability to handle abuse especially in the context of the amount of driving i do on hill roads and bad ones at that.

Have clocked about 2500 kilometers on them now since i changed and i am quite satisfied and relieved with the decision. Depending on the road surface they can actually be totally noiseless - irrespective i hear the engine more now than i do road noise , they are grippy and far more "pushable" than the Goodyears were. They have gone through the Delhi rains, floods, the broken roads of Gurgaon and are holding up as well. In my personal opinion , the performance actually went up once they had done about a 1000 KM's - both grip and noise levels.

The best Goodyear out of the 4 i have kept and i finally now have an turbine alloy as a spare wheel. The only problem is the clamp which holds it down, since that was designed for a space saver it is too small for the Alloy and i will need to find a solution for this at some point.

Great experience in the purchase as well, dealt with a dealer called A 1 Tyres - Ceat Shoppe in CR Park. Father son duo who were absolutely delightful to deal with . The father actually worked with a tyre manufacturer as a senior regional executive and upon retiring started this setup.

Total damage was acceptable. 29,000 for the new tyres including wheel alignment and balancing and then a little reduction for the older tyres. Taking the rubber of the alloy which had burst was quite a laborious task, they then did a very close inspection of the alloy as well to ensure it was ok before putting it back. The continentals would have cost me 34,500 and the Michelins would have been 40,000.

[TheTeacher]

Glad you're happy with the Pirellis; been wanting to ask you! I'm quite happy with my Pirelli P7s too; have no hesitation pushing them, they've never failed me grip wise on any road and in any weather condition. You got a great deal on the price too!

[grevvity]

Originally Posted by puchoo

Tizzie is now running on brand new shoes!.....

Puchoo, did you find out the cause of tyre burst ? Was it some nail or blunt metal piece which caused this or was it simply the age of the tyre combined with the road condition which acted as the culprit ?

[khoj]

So the Cinturato P7s "bed in" at approx. 1000 kms, good information to have.

Originally Posted by puchoo

Tizzie is now running on brand new shoes!

In my personal opinion , the performance actually went up once they had done about a 1000 KM's - both grip and noise levels.

[puchoo]

Originally Posted by TheTeacher

Glad you're happy with the Pirellis; been wanting to ask you! I'm quite happy with my Pirelli P7s too; have no hesitation pushing them, they've never failed me grip wise on any road and in any weather condition. You got a great deal on the price too!

Yes i completely agree , it was a great deal and like i wrote they are holding up well.

Originally Posted by grevvity

Puchoo, did you find out the cause of tyre burst ? Was it some nail or blunt metal piece which caused this or was it simply the age of the tyre combined with the road condition which acted as the culprit ?

No i did not , the tyre had seen 2 punctures if memory serves correct but i do not think it would be that , even age really seems a bit weak as an argument because they were only 2 years old and had done around 18,000 only so thats not really "old"

Originally Posted by khoj

So the Cinturato P7s "bed in" at approx. 1000 kms, good information to have.

Yes , atleast that is what i felt.

[TheTeacher]

Originally Posted by puchoo

Tizzie is now running on brand new shoes!

How are the Pirellis holding up, puchoo?

[puchoo]

Sorry for the late reply , absolutely fantastic. Just back a few hours ago froma round trip to the hills, the same 850 odd that i do and i loved the performance of the Pirellis

Firstly , no screeching sounds heard in the hills which there were a lot of with the GoodYears

Absolute silence while driving where the roads also cooperated in terms of material of build, i just heard the engine on those stretches

On the others road noise was there but far lesser than earlier

In the end it added upto a much more comfortable driving experience.

Originally Posted by TheTeacher

How are the Pirellis holding up, puchoo?

[puchoo]

Long time no update!

Tizzie has been running just fine , shifted to Gurgaon sometime ago and that has taken a toll on the car a bit with respect to scratches etc thanks to the driving style i encounter on the roads here but outside of cosmetic problems she is purring away.

Routine servicing has been carried out - i got the 40k one done a few weeks ago which also included a new battery since the older one was dying out. Everytime it goes to the workshop now i get them to do a suspension checkup thanks to the quality of the roads here which atleast between my home and office is quite bad. Replaced on tie rod again, under warranty when it went for servicing , zero cost.

Coming close to completing 35,000 KM's , i should hit that mark in another few days and as of last month she is now 3 years old!

Have managed to do 3 trips back home between now plus one more to Kausani and my last update - she is still driving like she is new, absolutely roars up the hills. The Pirellis are holding up beautifully - i am so happy with the fact that i decided to invest in them , the noise levels still remain as they were when they were new, the grip has not worn off either and this is after i have done roughly 15,000 Km's on them by now.The Kausani trip was fairly hard on the car - quite a distance, bad roads at places and was carrying 4 people and a lot of luggage but she did it without any complaints.

The Loan on the car is over as well and surprisingly the NOC just arrived at my house. I was under the impression that i might have to write and coordinate with the bank for it but it arrived within 20 odd days, must be a new process since the Fabia NOC has not arrived and in both cases the bank is the same - ICICI.

[puchoo]

As 2016 draws to a close , i felt that another update was definitely warranted.

Tizze is going strong, on the verge of touching 40k now , outside of another routine service she has not faced any problems. The roads in Gurgaon are getting worse in some areas and the route between office and home is one of those, i get a suspension test done now at DRS every time she goes there, alignment corrects and so on just to be on the safe side.

Did one more trip home in October 2016, 5 people in the car with 4 days worth of luggage and she performed flawlessly , behaved as if there was only one person sitting in the car. My highway runs continue to get me FE's in the region of 16-18kmpl without fail each time.

With winters here, true to her personality , the FE has gone upto 13-14, but she is a little more sluggish now with the AC on. The Pirelli's continue to hold up well too , they are close to doing 20,000 Km's since i got them but a recent inspection indicated to me that i can continue with them for at-least another 10,000 if not more.

Cosmetically , she is a bit more worn out since i shifted to Gurgaon ,lots of scratches all over the place thanks to people and bad drivers in general, a majority of them will go away with a paint treatment which is what i plan on getting done sometime next month - my annual efforts at acquiring a BMW 3 Series failed this year again thanks to BMW jacking up ex showroom from last year ..... almost there with the finances but not all the way. Which means that i have Tizzie for another year atleast and hence will get that paint treatment.

CArs24 gave an evaluation of 2.5 lacs for her which in-itself was offensive enough for me to not want to sell.

Some squeaks and rattles arise more frequently now thanks to Gurgaon but WD 40 tends to solve most of the those and as a result of that i now keep additional stock most of the times with me.

Will be sending her for another service around the 45k mark.

[johy]

Originally Posted by puchoo

Tizzie is now running on brand new shoes!

I had narrowed down to 3 options - Pirellis Cinturato P7 . Michelin Primacy 3ST and the Continental MC 5 - the final decision was to go ahead with the Pirellis.

Hey, do you still have your T-Jet? As I have mine.

Looking to change the tires to Conti MC5 or Pirelli P7. My car does not run much at all, but I like to make every minute enjoyable. So grippy tires are very imporant for me. Which one should I go for? I ruled out Michelin ST3 as they are only available online , and locally they are expensive.

[puchoo]

HI , yes i do and she is going strong. Taken a bit of a beating now thanks to general traffic conditions etc but planning on giving her a bit of an overhaul later this month - servicing , paint treatment as well as some new shoes.

The Pirelli's i have , have done more than 35,000 kilometers so they need to be changed. In response to your question - i have had an excellent experience with the P7 and for the most part i will probably replace them with another set of P7's - however i will also take a look at the continentals too , back when i had got my P7 , it was a few jobs ago so budgets were also limited , different situation now so lets see what i decide eventually but to summaries in a single line - i would definitely definitely recommend the P7's !

Originally Posted by johy

Hey, do you still have your T-Jet? As I have mine.

Looking to change the tires to Conti MC5 or Pirelli P7. My car does not run much at all, but I like to make every minute enjoyable. So grippy tires are very imporant for me. Which one should I go for? I ruled out Michelin ST3 as they are only available online , and locally they are expensive.

[puchoo]

As of yesterday Tizzie compleeted 60,000 KM's. Quite a personal achievement for me because as i have mentioned multiple times in the past i never thought that i would have the car for that long.


I have been dancing around in my head between selling her now or keeping it and as of now the decision is to buy the new Skoda nevertheless and keeping her as a second car ( which might not be the best thing from maintenance perspective) - but we will play it by ear. No dealer or used car organization is going to give me a price which is close to the value of the car and i am not going to discard it for the sake of it.


She has touched 60,000 without any fuss at all , the engine still runs like oil on a hot fan , gree flowing and absolutely smooth - she was due for her annual service this month and it so happened that i got involved in a semi major accident a few days ago - car is at the workshop now and i have decided to get everything done under insurance this time around - most of the damage is cosmetic with some mechanical damage , nothing major just that between the insurance person taking a look at the car and the work being completed she will probably be at the service station for about 10 days.


Post 10 days i need to take a decision now on new shoes because the existing tyres have had it , if she adorns the status of a second back up car then i can stretch them for another 1 year or so , but if she will be used more frequently than that they i need either new ones or atleast get the existing one's retreaded.


The interiors have aged well, outside of the fact that they are fairly dirty - nothing which a dry-clean wont fix, i have no complaints there either - there is not one squeak coming out of the car even now at 60k with the last 2-3 years being driven aggressively on gurgaon roads... this was truly a great decision in hindsight.



I am running one service ahead , so while it has gone in at 60k , i am technically getting a service which was due potentially at about the 80,000 mark - the usual stuff, engine oil , top up's, suspensions checks etc, should cost me about 15k.

[puchoo]

So after weeks and weeks of procrastination , i eventually made the heart wrenching decision to let the Jet go. It was a very tough decision but the growing need on a daily basis for a newer car, with features such as an Auto box while at the same time not being able to get into an arrangement where i could keep the Jet and buy a new one as well eventually pushed me into a corner.

This was my 3rd car and probably the one i loved the most and i will much more than the new one as well - an absolutely smooth, trouble free, excitement and Adrenalin inducing 60,000 Kms and 6 years, it truly turned out be a fantastic fantastic product and one you would get hooked onto from day one.