[Vipin Kumar]

Originally Posted by itzzme

102 km may read 100.

Thanks. This has been a worry for purists like me! It should be less different if I use 195/60/R14...

Vipin.

[itzzme]

Originally Posted by Vipin Kumar

Thanks. This has been a worry for purists like me! It should be less different if I use 195/60/R14...

Vipin.

101 may read 100.
choosing between 195/60 and 185/65 will depend on your preference of comfort mileage noise performance etc.

regards

[Vipin Kumar]

Update: I have just now got all the 4 tyres of my Fiesta replaced. Now it has Michelin Energy XM2. My Fiesta has run 30377 kilometers when it got the new tyres. The days of the stock MRF ZVK are over! However, after much research, query and survey, I decided to stick to the original size of 175-65-R14. I did not want the system of the car to be altered.

At Parveez Tyre Service in Qaiserbagh in Lucknow, they were selling me units of the batch 1813. I insisted on a fresher date of manufacturing, and then they showed me 2413. Still I had to push it further and they could get 3013, but only two pieces. They were about to put two of them and two from the 24 week's batch. I insisted that all the four should be of the same batch, and there came the result: they procured them from their godown!

All of them together, including alignment and balancing came to 20300/-. I could get only Rs. 200/- each for the MRFs, and altogether I paid Rs. 19500/-.

I drove only two kms, to my office from Qaiserbagh, and I could instantly feel the refinement! However, I am yet to take it on a longer ride.

Tomorrow, I am taking the vehicle to the workshop for programming, general check-up and inspection of the rear twist beam, as they have called it. Rest later.

Vipin.

[ZedMae]

An update on the tyre change in my Fiesta: The car is around 5.5 years old and has run 41.xxx kms. One of the existing MRFs got slightly damaged due to a hit by a biker. So decided to prepone my tyre change. Went with Apollo Acceleres on the next upsize (185/65).
Initial impressions: The ride became a tad smoother and the steering also got a little lighter. With the tyres around 100 kms old, I was quite keen to test its performance on the highway. Did a trip to Chennai from Bangalore and I felt the lighter steering has made the handling a little bit nervous. I have never experienced anxious moments taking fast corners with the older MRFs, but somehow that sure footedness is not there. Moreover, I feel the steering is asking for constant corrections during the corner.

Is this normal - if yes, what aspect of the new tyres could be causing this?
Softer sidewall?

cheers

[saket77]

Originally Posted by ZedMae

Is this normal - if yes, what aspect of the new tyres could be causing this?
Softer sidewall?

cheers

Softer sidewall can surely affect the way your car handles. Advise that you go for a wheel alignment & balancing after a tyre change, if not done already. Also, since you have changed the tire specs, in case the side profile is thicker than what you previously had, it will affect the handling negatively.
Also, double check tire air pressure preferable in morning with your own air pressure gauge. Uneven air pressure in different tires can also lead to the problems you jotted.

Regards,
Saket

[ZedMae]

Originally Posted by saket77

Softer sidewall can surely affect the way your car handles. ---- you jotted.

Regards,
Saket

Thanks Saket for your response. Yes, wheel balancing and alignment was done. Will check on the air pressure part.

cheers

[saket77]

Originally Posted by ZedMae

Thanks Saket for your response. Yes, wheel balancing and alignment was done. Will check on the air pressure part.

cheers

Also let me know if the newer tires have thicker side wall profile than earlier.

[ZedMae]

Originally Posted by saket77

Also let me know if the newer tires have thicker side wall profile than earlier.

By thickness, I assume that you are referring to the width/ height of the sidewall - yes, it is around 6-7 mm more. 175/65 stock upsized to 185/65.

cheers

[saket77]

Originally Posted by ZedMae

By thickness, I assume that you are referring to the width/ height of the sidewall - yes, it is around 6-7 mm more. 175/65 stock upsized to 185/65.

cheers

Increase in sidewall height will affect the handling negatively, but on the positive side, the ride will be smoother. Hence, it is possible that what you are feeling is due to change in the tire specs. However, just check the air pressure once.

[prguru]

Originally Posted by Aiel

I switched from my stock tyres to Michelin XM2 1885/65/R14s for my 2006 Ford Fiesta.
I have noticed an immediate difference in terms of ride comfort (mainly in the city) and a slight increase in ground clearance. There is also an improvement in road noise and braking performance on the highways.

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Guys

I'm re-posting my query again as my Fiesta is coming up for a tyre change in a couple of months, when the stock MRFs will hit 40 K kms and cross 6 years in age. I plan to go for Michelin Energy XM2s as I'm quite happy with those on my Figo.

I have a choice of the below:-

1. Stock 175/65/14s
2. 185/65/14s that have a diameter variance of 2.1 % and a speed variance of 2.18 % (too fast)
3. 185/60/14s that have a diameter variance of -0.94 % and a speed variance of 0.95 % (too slow)
4. 195/60/14s that have a diameter variance of 1.11 % and a speed variance of 1.10 % (too fast)

I'd opted for item 2 on my Figo and have been very happy with the slightly increased G.C., despite the 2% odo and FE error. But as my Fiesta is a petrol one, FE decrease could be a cause of concern, though not major.

Thanks.

Guys,
My fiesta is up for tyre change and I went through the whole thread. My only doubt is if I upgrade to 185/65/14s how will the G.C be increased since only width is changing from 175 to 185 and the rest remains the same (/65/14) . Body is scrapping the humps like mad and even a little bit of increase in G.C will be a big boon . Please help .

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by prguru

Guys,
My fiesta is up for tyre change and I went through the whole thread. My only doubt is if I upgrade to 185/65/14s how will the G.C be increased since only width is changing from 175 to 185 and the rest remains the same (/65/14) . Body is scrapping the humps like mad and even a little bit of increase in G.C will be a big boon . Please help .

65 is the aspect ratio.
So your overall height will increase due to the any increase in the first figure.

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by prguru

Guys,
My fiesta is up for tyre change and I went through the whole thread. My only doubt is if I upgrade to 185/65/14s how will the G.C be increased since only width is changing from 175 to 185 and the rest remains the same (/65/14) . Body is scrapping the humps like mad and even a little bit of increase in G.C will be a big boon . Please help .

As 65% of 185 mm will be more than 65% of 175 mm, the height will increase by that much.

Go for it. I'm quite happy with my decision.

[prguru]

Originally Posted by mayankk

65 is the aspect ratio.
So your overall height will increase due to the any increase in the first figure.

Originally Posted by vnabhi

As 65% of 185 mm will be more than 65% of 175 mm, the height will increase by that much.

Go for it. I'm quite happy with my decision.

Thanks for the reply guys .

Will there be any drop in the mileage vnabhi ? This is my major concern .Hope there is no scrapping of the wheels to the body when you turn .

Got an other confusion here, the spare tire is unused, so should I retain the spare and go for the other 3 or 4 175s or can I sell the spare and go for 5 185 s ? How much can I expect for the unused 175?

[RaguHolla]

Originally Posted by prguru

Thanks for the reply guys .

Will there be any drop in the mileage vnabhi ? This is my major concern .Hope there is no scrapping of the wheels to the body when you turn .

Got an other confusion here, the spare tire is unused, so should I retain the spare and go for the other 3 or 4 175s or can I sell the spare and go for 5 185 s ? How much can I expect for the unused 175?

There will be drop in milleage, because you have more contact area (185 vs 175) now! Amount of drop is depends on traffic situation. I saw mileage drop 0.5 kmpl when moved from 175/65/14 to 195/60/14.

Strange that you never used it! You could have roated the tires at every wheel balancing time (roughly every 5K kms). That way in a life time of tires all tires have almost used same distance.

As far as spare is concerned, tire age with time. Even when they are not used, they become hard might poise risk in breaking. Then again this your call. what to be safe, change the tire. Or else use the tire only as spare. I doubt selling spare tire will fetch you more money that other used tires. May be some 500 more. I might be wrong here! I am just speculating because of tires age.

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by prguru

Will there be any drop in the mileage vnabhi ? This is my major concern .Hope there is no scrapping of the wheels to the body when you turn .

In my case, I could not spot any decrease in F.E. I checked my F.E. sheet that I maintain meticulously, and there seems to be no drop. I was anticipating a drop of 2%, but that is tough to spot. For example, if I got 11.5 as the average, I can only infer that I'd have got around 11.8 if I had not upsized. But those figures in decimals hardly make a difference.

Originally Posted by RaguHolla

You could have roated the tires at every wheel balancing time (roughly every 5K kms). That way in a life time of tires all tires have almost used same distance.

Agreed, but I rotate my tyres every 10K kms. And Ford A.S.S. did not carry out a 5-wheel rotation when the car was new, as they were lazy to remove the tyre from the steel rim and mount it on the alloy. On my insistence, they did it the second time.

Since then, I've been doing only a 4-wheel rotation. I have retained the best stock tyre as the stepney, and will use it only for very few kms when needed. Meantime, I'll get the punctured tyre repaired a.s.a.p., whenever there is a puncture.