[humyum]

I have a zen to give me company along with my 800.The zen is a 2005 Jan model shod with MRF ZVTS.Totally hard and gripless rubber.
Now at 28 thousand and chillar km,the tyres are history,the floor wobbles at anythin above 80.
The car is under extended warranty,tyres are not covered in that i assume?
But 28 thousand km life for a tyre is sad.My original 800 nylon cross ply lasted more than 30 thousand and this was with all the pounding and high speed running and never even in the end of their lives did they ever wobble or give an uncomfortable ride
Secondly i have the 800 which is not much in use these days, and they have the same mrf zvts with 145/80/R12s which are around 17 thousand km run and i am planning to swap it with the zen.Is the rim offset/pcd of the zen and the 800 same ? as the 800 has 2 new rims in the front and the zen has 2 new rims in the front too.
So i dont mind giving the best rims and tyres to the zen and rest of it to the 800 ?
Please help me out in this.

[Technocrat]

From what I rmember the profile is different for M800 & Zen.

A few Qs for tire problem:

- Do you regularly do Wheel balancing & wheel rotation?

- Why are only Front two rims of Zen new?

- Did you get your front suspension checked?

[yzfrj]

Originally Posted by humyum

The car is under extended warranty,tyres are not covered in that i assume?
But 28 thousand km life for a tyre is sad

Secondly i have the 800 which is not much in use these days, and they have the same mrf zvts with 145/80/R12s which are around 17 thousand km run and i am planning to swap it with the zen.Is the rim offset/pcd of the zen and the 800 same ? as the 800 has 2 new rims in the front and the zen has 2 new rims in the front too.
So i dont mind giving the best rims and tyres to the zen and rest of it to the 800 ?
Please help me out in this.

My Zen had zvts as OE, it lasted for 28k, service center ppl said it will last for another 3k, but at that time rains and bad roads forced me to change the tyre.

But having said that it shouldn't have any uneven tyre ware. So first step get the suspension checked.

Zen and M800 has same PCD 114.3
So yes you can swap, Just keep in mind that 800 will have 145/70/12 and Zen has 145/80/12.
Just make sure you get it balanced and the fit best tyre's in the front.

IMO, 145 is a lil too skinny for zen can go in for 155/70/12 in case you change you mind.

[simply_sunny001]

My Zen came with MRF ZVTS 145/80/R12 and they lasted 45k with wheel alignment/balancing done at every 5k kms.

but i was never happy with these tyres,lot of noise,bad grip.

then changed to Bridgestone and can feel the difference.

I would also rate MRF lowest in my ratings and i dont think that i will buy them ever again.

[humyum]

Originally Posted by Technocrat

From what I rmember the profile is different for M800 & Zen.

A few Qs for tire problem:

- Do you regularly do Wheel balancing & wheel rotation?

- Why are only Front two rims of Zen new?

- Did you get your front suspension checked?

Yes the tyre profile of the zen is 80 and that of the 800 is 70 but i got 145/80/R12 in my 800 when i last changed them.So no sweat about the profile and sadly i got zvts for my 800 too two years back

Yes wheel balancing/alignment/rotating every 5 thousand km.

Front rims were only changed as there was a mild steering vibration even after getting the wheels balanced,and the rims had little bends here and there which were corrected too,but still the vibration persisted so din want to take any chances and hence new rims.Now with new rims and tyre rotated,the whole floor vibrates above 80 and it gets too much after 120 and becomes really unstable to drive.All these times the tyres were the root cause for everything.

Yes suspension was checked,the steering bush was weak and was gettin a thud thud sound and this was corrected too.

Originally Posted by yzfrj

My Zen had zvts as OE, it lasted for 28k, service center ppl said it will last for another 3k, but at that time rains and bad roads forced me to change the tyre.

But having said that it shouldn't have any uneven tyre ware. So first step get the suspension checked.

Zen and M800 has same PCD 114.3
So yes you can swap, Just keep in mind that 800 will have 145/70/12 and Zen has 145/80/12.
Just make sure you get it balanced and the fit best tyre's in the front.

IMO, 145 is a lil too skinny for zen can go in for 155/70/12 in case you change you mind.

There is no uneven wear on any of the tyres,No pulling just a little steering vibration and a lot of floor vibration.

Yes,145 is too skinny and will change that soon as i get enough dough for alloys and tyres at the same time.

Also i wanted to know that is 155/70/R13 the right upsize ? or should the profile at this size be only 65?

[yzfrj]

Originally Posted by humyum

Front rims were only changed as there was a mild steering vibration even after getting the wheels balanced,and the rims had little bends here and there which were corrected too,but still the vibration persisted so din want to take any chances and hence new rims.
All these times the tyres were the root cause for everything.


No pulling just a little steering vibration and a lot of floor vibration.

Also i wanted to know that is 155/70/R13 the right upsize ? or should the profile at this size be only 65?

Just curious how much weight did they(service ppl) put before telling the rim needs to be changed ?
Did they put another tyre on the same rim to rule of the possibility that it might be the tyre ?
Was there any visible damage on the rim ?

Are you sure the tyre in the cause ? if this has been verified no problem.
Just wondering if a bad tyre can make life this complicated.

From my exp an unbalanced tyre/rim combination can cause vibrations first seen around 60km/hr then a bit more amplified at 80km/hr, most times vibrations will be too much to push beyond this speed.

Floor vibration ?
I don't know worn bushes ? bent lower arms ?
I'm guessing here, never faced it so I don't really know.
Uneven ware is (in most cases) due to poor alignment and/or suspension problem.

70 profile will have a variation of -2.79% (compared to the OE)
you will need a 75 profile tyre for the "right" size.

I was using 155/70/12 and all the tyre dealers informed that 75 profile is not available. I did not face any issues with 70, err.. ride is a bit hard compared to 80 profile.

Now its running on 165/65/13, which is 1.49% compared to OE.
Recommended variation (from various sites is +/- 2.5%)

[BMW-X5]

Mee too hate MRF zvts, not just because it was too noicy.It is peformance on wet reads are really poor, car used skid on the wet roads if I break anything above 60. I have changed the stock MRF Zvts on my WagonR after 12K kmts. to Michelin XM1s.

[im_srini]

Originally Posted by yzfrj

Zen and M800 has same PCD 114.3

Are you sure, isn't it 4 X PCD 100 ?

Edit: My bad, it is 4 X PCD 114.3 for the Zen & the M800 !?! It's 4 X PCD 100 for the Alto, Wagon-R...

[amtak]

Guys, the best option to upgrade would be 145/80/R12 Michelin XM+. I had MRF ZVTS on my car and they lasted for about 35,000 kms. Had gone in to purchase Bridgestione (Turanza?) but ended up buying Michelin. Absolute worth the money. Amazing road grip on wet surface (asymmetrical tyre tread design), low road noise and great comfort.

Try it! Just my 2 cents as I have already completed 3k on these tires.

[ghostrider]

MRF really does make the most abysmal tyres. An older and much loved Esteem of mine came with MRF Zigma CCs as OE rubber. I have never, ever had a worse set of tyres on a car Ive owned.

They were unbelievably loud and had a completely retarded tread pattern that offered no grip and only seemed to want to pick up pebbles between the treads, leading to that infuriating ticktickticktickticktick noise from the offending tyre when driving.

At 30,000 Km the tyres still had another 3,000 - 5,000 km of life in them (thanks to minimal running in the city, frequent balancing and alignment, always using the right pressure), but I couldn't take it anymore and upgraded to Bridgestone B350s (the 'donuts').

I'd never, ever buy MRF tyres again.

[humyum]

Originally Posted by yzfrj

Just curious how much weight did they(service ppl) put before telling the rim needs to be changed ?
Did they put another tyre on the same rim to rule of the possibility that it might be the tyre ?
Was there any visible damage on the rim ?

Are you sure the tyre in the cause ? if this has been verified no problem.
Just wondering if a bad tyre can make life this complicated.

From my exp an unbalanced tyre/rim combination can cause vibrations first seen around 60km/hr then a bit more amplified at 80km/hr, most times vibrations will be too much to push beyond this speed.

Floor vibration ?
I don't know worn bushes ? bent lower arms ?
I'm guessing here, never faced it so I don't really know.
Uneven ware is (in most cases) due to poor alignment and/or suspension problem.

70 profile will have a variation of -2.79% (compared to the OE)
you will need a 75 profile tyre for the "right" size.

I was using 155/70/12 and all the tyre dealers informed that 75 profile is not available. I did not face any issues with 70, err.. ride is a bit hard compared to 80 profile.

Now its running on 165/65/13, which is 1.49% compared to OE.
Recommended variation (from various sites is +/- 2.5%)

The terminology used was 'rim out hai' and i could see that when he put it on the balancing machine, it was rotating in an ovalish way.They checked this by removin the tyre from the rim and only rotating the rim on the balancing machine.
After 2 new rims, the tyres could have been the only culprit as rest 2 rims were in okay condition.
Update on this:
I changed the 800s 145/80/R12s in the zen today, absolutely no vibration anywhere.Ripped it till 150 and rock steady it was.Also the 800 had 2 new rims in the front, so put that in the zen and the ok ok rims pf the zen in the 800 along with the zens tyres.
A funny thing that happened was,One of the new rims that i had got from the authorised maruti showroom was pronounced as 'jump maar raha hai' by the balancing guy.
He said these days the chances of gettin perfect rims are very bleak.Hard to believe though even when i get it from an authorised showroom.
Anyway i guess alls well in paradise for now.MRFS and steel rims going out of the car at the first opportunity.

[sukiwa]

@ amtak:

Guys, the best option to upgrade would be 145/80/R12 Michelin XM+.

I guess you were referring to Michelin Energy XM1+. Do we get these in 12" size? I thought these were available in 14" & above only.

[cyclops]

Originally Posted by sukiwa

@ amtak:

I guess you were referring to Michelin Energy XM1+. Do we get these in 12" size? I thought these were available in 14" & above only.

xm1+ is available12" energy i guess 14" and above

[hrag]

These MRF tyres of the 18th century have been on my car since the 64000 km mark (MRF ZVTS in front) and the 74000 km mark (MRF ZTX at the rear). Previously I had JK Tornado from the 16th century which lasted the km mentioned in the previous sentence. All of these are on the stock steel rims of the 14th century Indica. As of yesterday, the 18th century tyres were still looking brand new.

How frequently did you gentlemen follow the archaic practice of checking tyre pressure when cold?

[iraghava]

XM1+ has just been launched in 145/70 R12 & 155/70 R12. Prices are cheaper than Bridgestone.