[DRIVE_ADDICT]

Originally Posted by vineet@bulbule

He is quoting 500/- extra for wheel alignment & balancing, but he will also be looking at my current set of tyres and may end up giving it for free in exchange for them!

Seems a nice quote. do cross verify the month/year of manufacture, its fine if it is less than 6 months old.

[vineet@bulbule]

Originally Posted by DRIVE_ADDICT

Seems a nice quote. do cross verify the month/year of manufacture, its fine if it is less than 6 months old.

You are right! I will keep an eye on the mfg date. Thanks again!

[batterylow]

Took the plunge and upsized my 2012 figo to 185/65 section Yokohama Earth 1.

The stock MRF's had already run 50K and the tread depth being hardly 1.8mm, it didn't make sense to run them in the monsoon.

My initial choice was the Michelin XM2's, however the shop keeper suggested Earth 1, citing excellent feedback from his customers. This, coupled with the fact that they were more than 2.5K cheaper for a set of 4 sealed the deal.

The date of manufacture is 2nd week of this year, ie within 6 months.

Paid 17500 for a set of 4 185/65 R14 Yokohama Earth 1's.

the XM's were retailing for 20000 for a set of 4.

Why not online:
I was apprehensive about the manufacturing date of the tyres bought online.
This coupled with the additional charges I will incur for fitting, balancing and alignment led me to a brick and mortar shop.

Initial experience:
The ride quality has greatly improved (which is expected considering the rock hard MRF's).

The car no longer scrapes moderate speed-breakers.

They are silent (so much that I muted the stereo to listen to the silence on the way back)!

There is a muffled thud every time I drop the wheel into a pot-hole, unlike the rattling earlier.

All my observations are vis-a-vis the MRF's I was running earlier.

Overall I am happy with the tyres and hope they last a decent distance.

Cheers,
BL

[gemithomas]

How would 185/70 fare on a Figo? Anyone with that upsize?

[Nikhilb2008]

Yikes!! That will be a big risk! 185/65-14 is the sweet spot.

[G V Krishna]

Hi All,

I'm in tricky situation. My Figo is nearing 40,000 KMs. It came with Apollo Acelere. I was happy with them....until @ ~30K.

Please allow me to describe this a bit: As Usual, on every working day I was driving my Figo on my daily route which consists of ORR (Hyderabad). Suddenly one morning, while I was cruising at 100 KMPH on ORR, there was a strange sound (thap thap ...) coming from the bottom of the car. It took me a minute to realize that something was wrong with the tyres. Meanwhile one cabbie honked at me showing the back of the car. Immediately I pulled to the side, only to find my Left Rear completely deflated . I was lucky that the car didn't lose control or behave abnormally even at 100 KMPH with a tire with no air. The alloy got damn hot! It took me some time to assess the situation. As I was getting delayed for office, I immediately changed the tire with the spare one and continued. After I reached my home in the night , I thought of the day's events and found that before 'near emergency' stopping on ORR, I guess some 10 KMs back I had hit a pot hole (just after Aramgarh - near a substation) at a nominal speed. This could have resulted in a crack and my continued driving extended it all way towards the sidewall & tread, which resulted in complete loss of air. My stupidity of not observing this resulted in the alloy damaging the tyre further. Finally when I claimed warranty with Apollo as it was only 18 months from Date of Manufacture, they profoundly refused citing sidewall damage. I neither had the time to deal with it nor the interest in 'Apollo' any more.

Now comes my another blunder. On the next weekend, I took the tyre to few proper Tyre dealers ranging from Apollo, Michelin, & MRF. All of them shooed me away for asking to repair that tyre. Then I reached a puncture guy who said I can use it as a spare, provided, he patches along with a tube. It seemed reasonable to me and spent Rs.600/- and got it fixed. The moment the air was filled, the sidewall bulged at 'many places'. I cursed myself. Now I went ahead like that for couple of weeks, with that wheel as a Spare. After retrospection I understood how stupid I'm. Do you all think that my stupidity ends there...absolutely no. I was in the market for a Chinese tyre as a spare. . Lessons not yet learnt . After searching through Google and t-bhp, I decided to take a chance and visited one of the Tyre shop. Luckily that guy was out of stock for my size and suggested to buy two tyres so that I can have one axle with new tyres, I liked this idea and bought one Apollo Acelere and put that on my Rear Right side. Now since then I have new tires on my rear axle and the old ones on the front axle. That's my configuration now.

Coming back to present, the tires on the front axle are reaching 40K KMs, and about to wear. I would like to change them. But, the rear ones are only 10K KMs old. I want to have all the tyres same.

So what is the best way out:
1. New Tires (Yoko Earth Drives) on rear axle and Acelere shifted to the front?
2. All 4 New tires (a bit costly)
3. Wait for another 10K so that Acelere completes 50K in front and 20K at rear, and then change all?
4. Any other way the gurus of T-Bhp suggest ...

Note: I'm looking to upsize to 185/65/14. Hence I want all tyres to be the same.

Mods, please let me know if this post is not OK here.

[CruzeLiner]

i've changed my stock tyres recently to Michelin energy XM2 with a 185/65/R14 profile. i think its the best thing i've done to my car, because the ride quality has become fantastic. I used to think that Figo's suspension was bad since i used to feel even the slightest undulation on the road and also tyre noise was bad with stock tyres. I had GoodYear GT3 as stock tyres and i think its one of the worst tyres in the market. Also with this slightly upgraded profile, bottom scraping has also reduced very much.. almost 90%. So i would strongly recommend XM2 for anyone who requires a good ride quality, better road grip and also reduced tyre noise. By the way, the steering wheel has also become very light now.. its a breeze to drive the car now.

[batterylow]

Originally Posted by G V Krishna

Hi All,

I'm in tricky situation. My Figo is nearing 40,000 KMs. It came with Apollo Acelere. I was happy with them....until @ ~30K. ....

So what is the best way out:
1. New Tires (Yoko Earth Drives) on rear axle and Acelere shifted to the front?
2. All 4 New tires (a bit costly)
3. Wait for another 10K so that Acelere completes 50K in front and 20K at rear, and then change all?
4. Any other way the gurus of T-Bhp suggest ...

Note: I'm looking to upsize to 185/65/14. Hence I want all tyres to be the same.

Mods, please let me know if this post is not OK here.

Hey there,

I was in the same predicament, 2 worn out tires and 2 new tires.

Buying 2 good tires to replace the 2 worn out tires is the cheapest option here, but that would mean that your 185 section dream is as good as dead (The next change will be at 80K only).

Ergo I opted to use one of the good tires as the spare, kept the other good one at home and changed all the 4 tires to new 185 section earth 1's.

I know its the expensive option but the improvement in ride quality and reduction in tire noise is worth the money spend.

[G V Krishna]

Thanks @Batterylow. Might have to go for all new. Maybe I would change at around 45K - 50K.

[KiloAlpha]

For all those looking to upsize - finally, there is the perfect size tyre in the market. The Honda Mobilio apparently is shod with 185/55R15 tyres, which is the perfectly suited upsize for the Figo.

[wildsdi5530]

@kiloalpha: 185/55R15 does sound very good. But where are you getting 15" rims? Alloys from the fiesta?
Most aftermarket alloys come with 8 holes. Is it going to make the wheel structurally weak? The extra 4 holes?
Are there any alloys in the market other than OEM with 108 Pcd?

[kingofmyworld]

I doubt if 185/55 r15 would be the right upsize for the figo. However the actual diameter is only going up by few mm. I would still prefer 195/55 r15 as it gives me more ground clearance and better grip levels though my speedo show an error with which i can live with! Lived 45,000 kms with that error and now its time for new shoes. 195/55 it is again.

Also, since there is still time for mobilio to be launched and manufactures set to launch a similar size tyre in their product line, im guessing its gonna take some time for our preferred companies to bring this size!

[Nikhilb2008]

For the Figo, 185/55-15 would result in perennial backaches! Too low profile for a stiff suspension.

[vinukm]

I have 2011 Ford Figo Titanium (TDCI). Out of a Rush changed my stock rims to Alloys six months back and have a bad experience. One of them has a bend and the other one cracked. I am thinking of getting back to the stock Steel Rims. How much can a set of 5 Rims cost if I get them from the dealer? Also please suggest if any alternate sources here in Bangalore.

[kingofmyworld]

Originally Posted by Nikhilb2008

For the Figo, 185/55-15 would result in perennial backaches! Too low profile for a stiff suspension.

I second that! 195/55 R15 should be a better bet though there is a speedo error. The benefits are worth it!