[GTO]

Originally Posted by IQBAL VEERJI

I wanted to sell my car and did not want to spent a fortune on tyres, Iopted for TOP brand Chinese tyres from CST Road.In all I paid 4600/- for all 4 tyres.

Iqbal, sorry to say, but I'm shocked a veteran automotive enthusiast such as yourself took this decision. There is a reason why unknown Chinese brand tyres are so cheap; they are....well, CHEAP! Don't expect the quality, grip level or durability of these fly-by-night operators to match that of a reputable brand like Michelin, Yokohama, Bridgestone, Apollo etc. Heck, the R&D budget of either of these brands will be more than the net value of "Top" tyres.

For all the safety features & driving skills we depend on, end of the day, it comes down to those 4 palm-sized contact patches your car has with the road (i.e. the tyres). I wouldn't touch these unknown brands with a barge pole.

P.S. No offense. I highly respect your knowledge of all things cars.

[josejoseph]

Originally Posted by humyum

Coil Spring suspension is what I had in my 800. It was a 1998 DX model. The Non DX model's had leaf spring suspensions behind. Instead of raising the height and getting into those complexities, why not get the bumper fixed ? With your tyre size i ll never scrape the insides if the suspension has not sagged.

1 inch should not affect handling considerably but in my opinion, your solution lies in simpler solutions rather than the complexities of raising the suspension.

Humyum, I gave my car to M.A.S.S. for resolving the rear tire scraping issue. Initially I was planning to put spacer, but then I was apprehensive about the handling and bumpiness.

Mechanic showed me a rubber ring of 1" thickness that will be used as spacer. It costs Rs. 100/- each and labor charge of Rs. 250/-.

But since only the right side was scrapping, I asked him to check the suspension. After checking he confirmed that the shock absorber is weak. We then decided to recondition the shock and see if the scrapping persists. But after reconditioning, the problem is gone. Tested with 4 people and till now the tire does not scrape. Further tests are pending.

M.A.S.S. charged me around 1K for this job.

I was able to drill down to the root cause. Thanks a lot for the pointers.

BTW, my car also has coil suspension. It's a 5-speed variant. Sorry for misguiding.

Regards,
Jose.

[ashyanbhog]

Hi all

Changed tyres on my 2002 model M800 about a month ago. After going thru posts on Team-BHP for a couple of hours, decided to go in for Michelin XM1+.

Why Tubeless?
1. Car has single occupant(me) 90% of the time, except on weekends
2. It runs only inside Bangalore,
3. Rims are in good condition.

The car has clocked 80K Kms, and had Goodyear GPS2 first and GVT 770 before I changed them now. Went in for 145/80/12 XM1+ as CarNation had only these in stock. Here is my experience to date

# Amazingly low rolling resistance, specifically when compared to both Goodyears I had before. In fact, the brakes have worn out a bit, as it took a couple of days for me to get adjusted to taking my foot off the accelerator much earlier.

#Grip is as good or better than GPS2. GVT770 used to "float" when going over large puddles of water. It is no longer the case with Michelins.

# Car used to vibrate above 80km/hr on GVT770. With XM1+, this has magically disappeared. To be fair, could the push car as fast the engine could take it with GPS2. Haven't had the time take XM1+ out on a test drive, but it has taken whatever I have thrown at it and come out a smile.

# Small bumps on the road are no longer noticeable, though this may have to do with taller side walls.

All in all, very happy with the decision.

[ashyanbhog]

Hi all

Changed tyres on my 2002 model M800 about a month ago. After going thru posts on Team-BHP for a couple of hours, decided to go in for Michelin XM1+.

Why Tubeless?
1. Car has single occupant(me) 90% of the time, except on weekends
2. It runs only inside Bangalore,
3. Rims are in good condition.

The car has clocked 80K Kms, and had Goodyear GPS2 first and GVT 770 before I changed them now. Went in for 145/80/12 XM1+ as CarNation had only these in stock. Here is my experience to date

# Amazingly low rolling resistance, specifically when compared to both Goodyears I had before. In fact, the brakes have worn out a bit, as it took a couple of days for me to get adjusted to taking my foot off the accelerator much earlier.

#Grip is as good or better than GPS2. GVT770 used to "float" when going over large puddles of water. It is no longer the case with Michelins.

# Car used to vibrate above 80km/hr on GVT770. With XM1+, this has magically disappeared. To be fair, could the push car as fast the engine could take it with GPS2. Haven't had the time take XM1+ out on a test drive, but it has taken whatever I have thrown at it and come out a smile.

# Small bumps on the road are no longer noticeable, though this may have to do with taller side walls.

All in all, very happy with the decision.

EDIT: Cost me 2250 per piece, including taxes and wheel balancing / alignment. Changed all four of them.

[askids]

I am looking to upgrade the tyres for my wife's M800. It has clocked 37k. I want to go for XM1+ tubeless. But had couple of questions.
1) Can I use the stock rims for fitting the new tubeless tyres?
2) How much will it cost for 145/80-R12 Xm1+ in Blore with exchange for my existing tyres(JK Radials)? Any suggestions for stores that I can get this done in Blore?

Thanks
askids

PS:I had PM'ed Nikhil. But haven't got any response on it.

[Skyline GT-R]

I would suggest 155/70R12 vs 145/80R12 Michelin XM1+ for M800 from personal experience. 8O profile is too much for rear wheel wells if 4 are seated. 155 gives better handling+looks and FE is not affected. Mine gave 23 kmpl with AC on a 375 kms drive last week with featherlite right foot on 155s.

[josejoseph]

Originally Posted by askids

I am looking to upgrade the tyres for my wife's M800. It has clocked 37k. I want to go for XM1+ tubeless. But had couple of questions.
1) Can I use the stock rims for fitting the new tubeless tyres?
2) How much will it cost for 145/80-R12 Xm1+ in Blore with exchange for my existing tyres(JK Radials)? Any suggestions for stores that I can get this done in Blore?

Thanks
askids

@askids, I've changed from stock size to Michelin XM1+ 155/70/R12 tubeless in my M800 couple of months back. Cost me 2500 bucks per piece. IIRC, 145/80/R12 was also similarly priced. Since my car is 10 years old, I bought new rims as well at 830 bucks per piece.

You can show the car to the tire shop and they may give you suggestion on sticking to your current ones or getting new rims.

I got 150 bucks per piece for the old tires and rims.

Originally Posted by Skyline GT-R

I would suggest 155/70R12 vs 145/80R12 Michelin XM1+ for M800 from personal experience. 8O profile is too much for rear wheel wells if 4 are seated. 155 gives better handling+looks and FE is not affected. Mine gave 23 kmpl with AC on a 375 kms drive last week with featherlite right foot on 155s.

@Skyline GT-R, I had problems with left rear tire scraping the wheel arches when I changed to 155/70. This problem was solved to an extent when I changed the rear shock. But when I drive above speed breakers, the wheel scrapes sometimes.

I haven't checked the mileage after the upgrades. Since the car is used 95% for city drive, I haven't observed any improvement in mileage figures.

But there is drastic improvement in handling and comfort level. I'm loving the steering feedback I get with these new set of tires.

Thanks,
Jose.

[askids]

Thanks jose. What other alternatives do I have in tubeless that will cost less than the XM1+ and be a more VFM?

[josejoseph]

Originally Posted by askids

Thanks jose. What other alternatives do I have in tubeless that will cost less than the XM1+ and be a more VFM?

A shop in Cochin had Good Year and Nexen brands of 155/70/R12 which were cheaper than Michelins.

I'm not sure about Nexen, but I've always heard bad reviews about Good Year .

If you ask me, don't compromise on the tires. From the safety prespective, they are the most important factor in a running car.

Regards,
Jose.

[Arkin evoisrevo]

Guys, I have a doubt that needs to be clarified ASAP!!!
My M800 has 2 JK Utlima Tubed Tyres, done nearly 500km up front , and two old MRF ZVTs at the rear. (all of size 145/70 RI2 need to change the rear tyres badly and the natural choice would be to just fit 2 more JK Ultima TTs. However, I want to upgrade to Tubeless tyres, so which option is better?
1) I continue with JK Ultima TTs up front and shod JK Ultima TLs (tubeless) at the rear??
OR
2) I continue with JK Ultima TTs up front and shod Michelins (tubeless) at the rear??

And will the JK TLs be cheaper than the Michelins?? And by how much??

Please help soon, as I need to get the job finalized and done by tomorrow.

Additional info (if required)
Car is 10 years old. Spare rim and one or 2 of the other rims are in good shape.
Car will be used mainly in a dusty little town, and do speeds of not more than 25-50km/h.

[rajeev k]

Originally Posted by josejoseph

A shop in Cochin had Good Year and Nexen brands of 155/70/R12 which were cheaper than Michelins.

I'm not sure about Nexen, but I've always heard bad reviews about Good Year .

If you ask me, don't compromise on the tires. From the safety prespective, they are the most important factor in a running car.

I saw Nexen 155/70/12 tubeless at Tyrex Cochin at Rs 1800. I, but purchased Michelin XM1+ for Rs 2500. The sales guy was showering prases on Nexen but somehow I did not hook.

[josejoseph]

Originally Posted by Arkin evoisrevo

Guys, I have a doubt that needs to be clarified ASAP!!!
My M800 has 2 JK Utlima Tubed Tyres, done nearly 500km up front , and two old MRF ZVTs at the rear. (all of size 145/70 RI2 need to change the rear tyres badly and the natural choice would be to just fit 2 more JK Ultima TTs. However, I want to upgrade to Tubeless tyres, so which option is better?
1) I continue with JK Ultima TTs up front and shod JK Ultima TLs (tubeless) at the rear??
OR
2) I continue with JK Ultima TTs up front and shod Michelins (tubeless) at the rear??

And will the JK TLs be cheaper than the Michelins?? And by how much??

Please help soon, as I need to get the job finalized and done by tomorrow.

Additional info (if required)
Car is 10 years old. Spare rim and one or 2 of the other rims are in good shape.
Car will be used mainly in a dusty little town, and do speeds of not more than 25-50km/h.

Arkin, it would be safe not to put tubeless tires on the 10 year old rims. You'll end up losing air quite often.

I'd say, if your front tires are 500 km old, why not swap them as well for all 4 new tires?

This is just my thought.

I have no idea about price of JK tires.

Thanks,
Jose.

[CrackedHead]

I'm need a pair of Michelin XM1+ for my 800 in 155/70/R12. Already have a pair doing duty for the last 6 months and need a second pair to have matching tyres. Problem is that I'm unable to find any tyres - nobody seems to have any stock of this size.

Looked in Hyderabad last week and at JC Road today - nothing. Need them ASAP.

[messershtig]

Hi All,

This is my first post here after joining. Pardon (and of course point out) any errors in posting.

A friend of mine is trying to get his 97 model Type 1 (right?) M-800 up and running after about an year of neglect (He bought a new Aveo 1.4 LT). The current tyres (145/70R12 MRF ZCC) are in pretty poor shape and he is looking to change the whole set. He looked at MRFs and was quoted 2550 per tyre for 145/70R12 ZVTS tyres. Can anyone tell us if this seems like a good price or if the shop is overcharging? Also suggestions for other brands are welcome. This will basically be his 2nd car, more of a city runabout so VFM tyres is what he's looking for.

[jatinpatel]

@messershtig

2550rs for MRF is way too much, for similar price you can get michellin or Bridgestone

tell him to get Bridgestone Turanza ER60 in 145/70R12 size (tubeless) with all four rims replaced rim price should be around 800-900rs
Turanza and Michellin XM1+ cost arond 2500rs or so.

if the running is very very low then he can also try out apollo those are also nice price difference would be 100-150rs per tire.

please dont go for MRF and JK
both are noisy and have very less grip and are of very hard rubber compound.