[condor]

Originally Posted by avi550m

Does it affect the FE and steering heaviness during parking speeds?

Go for it ! I still get the 10 kmpl in BLR city traffic ( with A/c). Steering is not heavy at any time. You will not regret this upsize.

[Tornado]

As per the study I did I felt that the upsize what I chose was suitable for the OE rim width.
The steering is light, with improved stability, ride comfort and braking. Though the car has covered more than 10k KM after the upgrade, I did not really check the change in mileage as it is driven mostly by my wife for short distances.

I have driven it from Kerala to Bangalore some time back but I don't remember exactly. I think it was around 17.5 to 18.5 KM per litre on highway with spirited driving.

If possible, buy only Michelin for smooth riding experience.
All the best!

Originally Posted by avi550m

Did you have to change the standard wheels to fit the 175/70 R13. I need to change the 5 year old tyres on my A-Star Automatic and am considering it.

Does it affect the FE and steering heaviness during parking speeds?

[avi550m]

I am going to change the 5 1/2 year old XM2s on my A-Star Automatic. After a bit of research I have decided to upsize the tyres to 175/70 R13s on the stock rims. The final shortlisted tyres are:

1. Yokohama Earth One: Rs. 3,850/-

2. Continental CC5: Rs. 4,050/-

3. Apollo Amazer 4G: Rs. 3,500/-

The spare tyre (also an XM2) has never been used, so I was wondering if it was ok to change the 4 tyres and leave the 155/80 R13 as a spare. The car would mostly be driven in Bangalore, and the longest trip might be an Airport pick-up.

Any idea which would be the best compromise tyre between these three. I want a stronger tyre than the XM2, but don't want to fully compromise on the ride.

[Mr_Bean]

Originally Posted by avi550m

-

The spare tyre (also an XM2) has never been used, so I was wondering if it was ok to change the 4 tyres and leave the 155/80 R13 as a spare. The car would mostly be driven in Bangalore, and the longest trip might be an Airport pick-up.

Any idea which would be the best compromise tyre between these three. I want a stronger tyre than the XM2, but don't want to fully compromise on the ride.

You should change your tyres ASAP.

My astar AT is 4.5 years & run 47k kms. Last weekend I upgraded to yoko earth 1 175/70 r13 on alloy wheels. Fyi, I had replaced the stock tyres to michelin xm2 155/80 r13 on the day of purchase.

My observation having used the Michelin XM2:
Pros:
1.) Nice ride quality.
2.) Good braking, stops without much drama on the highway.


Cons:
1.) Compound gets hard after 1 year, well this was the case with my tyres. This is not a pleasant experience on an already stiff car.
2.) Wet grip is average.

The yokos costed me 4200/- per tyre, paid 16800/- for the set, inclusive of WA, WB & fitment charges at Madhus. The michelin xm2 for the same spec cost 4800/- INR, not worth the extra premium IMO.

Considering your usage, You should go for yoko set of 4 and use the 5th tyre (XM2) as stepney.

Rgds,
Vinod

[vishnana]

Bumping into little old thread !
My A-Star auto is running with 175/70/r13 fr last 20k kms and it’s a Michelin one .. so kind of enjoying the extra grip and balanced ride / handling . I want to upgrade to 14 “ alloy or the swift steel wheels ( whose PCD matches with A-star ) with 175 or 185 profile or option 2 is to stay with 13” steel and only upgrade to 185 width !
Which is more Advisable? I had read a lot about 185 section scrapping or fouling . Does anybody have real hand experience or is it just a assumption ?

[slicvic]

Originally Posted by vishnana

Bumping into little old thread !

Which is more Advisable? I had read a lot about 185 section scrapping or fouling . Does anybody have real hand experience or is it just a assumption ?

My Experience with the 185 is there on the previous pages in this thread

Originally Posted by slicvic

I've been using Yokohama EOS 100's size 185/60-14. The car originally came shod with 155/80-13. I had changed to the mentioned tyre size within the first 100 Kms.

Originally Posted by slicvic

1. The tire scraping is probably because of the increased width, and not because of the change in overall diameter. It has been suggested to me, that the inner sides of the wheel arches can be tinkered with so that the scraping can be minimized, but since i drive alone for 80 percent of the time, i haven't got it done.

[sai_ace]

Been wanting to update here for some time. Upgraded my A-Star's tyre and rim. Moved from 13inch to 14inch rims. Being an old beater car I wasn't keen on alloys yet the standard 14inch rims from celerio were boring. And that is when I spotted the Renault Tribers 14inch 'alloyish' looking 5 spoke steel rims. Was actively looking for it and then found someone selling brand new unused rims on OLX.

Then came the hunt for tyres. I went for the same width as triber 165 which was a small bump up from 155 oe tyres. Anything beyond I thought was an overkill for a 67bhp car. The final size - 165/70 R14. Browsing through the tyremarket.com, I got a great deal on the Continental CC5 tyres. Have written about it here (Tyremarket.com Reviews? Buying tyres online) .

Armed with the tyre and rims I headed to Madhus for the fitting.






As usual a great experience at Madhus. The tyres were obviously super silent, compared to 5 year old MRF ZVTS. However I quickly ran into a problem - My rear tyres occasionally scraped. Somewhere I had screwed up. I knew that the overall diameter of the tyre wasn't that different from the previous set up. A quick check on the Wheel specs showed a few things.

Astar Rim : 100 PCD, 4.5J, 13", ET45
Triber Rim : 100 PCD, 4J, 14", ET 25

A quick read up on the concept of offsets taught me that the new wheel set up has ensured that the wheel doesn't go in as deep as previous set up, instead juts out a wee little bit. enough to touch the fender when loaded or when hitting a bump at a higher speed. This got me trying to figure out the solution. Finally thought I will go in for the Autocue Ground Clearance kit and buy myself some extra MM.





In this day of slammed cars and lowering springs, my humble beater was ready to take on SUVs. With the ground clearance kit installed between the rear spring and the body I dont scrape even with two adults at the rear. However for those familiar with the ORR underpass at JP nagar, I scraped with just two in front when I hit that underpass at around 60kph. But that was the only incident. I know my rear dampers/shocks are weak. Not sure that was the cause though.

Anyways here is the car with her new rims and tyres.





Here is a before and after.




Total Damage
Tyres - 11,800
Rims - 2,500
Installation -1,500
GC kit - 2,200

& a valuable lesson in Offsets.

[condor]

Originally Posted by sai_ace

Moved from 13inch to 14inch rims.

Damn - small things can make a big difference, isnt it.

You went for 14", 165/70.
I went with 14", 175/65.

You scraped the wheels at that under-pass ? Looks like you were coming from Sarakki side towards Delmia - and at some speed. There's two stupid points there right at the bottom.

And I have never had problems in the 5.5 years of using the upsized tyres. Even on that section.

But good pick on those Triber rims - they look neat.

[sai_ace]

Originally Posted by condor

Damn - small things can make a big difference, isnt it.

You went for 14", 165/70.
I went with 14", 175/65.

You scraped the wheels at that under-pass ? Looks like you were coming from Sarakki side towards Delmia - and at some speed. There's two stupid points there right at the bottom.

And I have never had problems in the 5.5 years of using the upsized tyres. Even on that section.

But good pick on those Triber rims - they look neat.

Thanks for the compliment on the rims!

Thr choice of tyre was limited by the rims. The stock 13" rims are actually 4.5J whereas the 14" Triber Rims are only 4J which meant 165 would be the best fit. 70 profile seemed good enough to provide some cushion as well.

Between your choice and mine, my tyre has bigger dia by around 3mm and compared to the stock size this one is larger by 8mm. Neither being any particular cause for worry. But the offset was the culprit.

And yes - that underpass is a pain, and I was coming from Sarakki side. I guessed it was 60KPH, might be more. I am now thinking since my dampers at the rear in their last legs, I might change it and give it another go.

[rajathv8]

Anyone selling or know anyone who is selling the below stock set of Astar zxi alloys?

Pic from cardheko.