Tyres

[Big Err]

I've never hear of, or experienced this magic grip loss at any tread depth.

The advertising seems to have worked on some.

Tread depth has nothing whatsoever to do with grip..........period.

It disperses water, should there be any to disperse.

As said before the ability to disperse water is directly linked to tyre performance. See attached -

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/autoe ... shock.html

[Mr Cholmondeley-Warner]

For what it's worth, I've been buying "mid range" tyres for a few years now, and typically their performance in the dry is indistinguishable from premium makes (subjectively), but in the wet tends to suffer. I find looking out of the window helps with this latter, though

I've had numerous sets of Falken, Kumho and Avon tyres in the last 10 years or so, and would rate them pretty much in that order, with the Avons in a rather poor third place, and the other two pretty much tied for 1st.

The reference to KwikFit own brand above was interesting - I wonder if these were Champiro? A friend ran a set of these on his Octavia for a while, including a punishing track day at Brunters some years ago, and had nothing but praise for them. I passengered and was impressed by the grip. Didn't get to drive, though.

Oh, and I hate Contis!

Oh, again, a friend with many many Nurburgring laps under his belt always swore by P-Zero Neros ... takes all sorts.

[Gareth]

Interestingly, I had been running around on tyres with less than 3mm tread depth and can't say I noticed any difference in wet weather handling or stopping distances, so the cynic in me wonders if it's just a marketing ploy to shift more tyres.

I suspect your perception depends of driving experience - an experienced driver works with whatever grip is available, whether it is adversely affected by tread depth or road conditions or a combination of both.

[Renny]

Oh, and I hate Contis!

Oh, again, a friend with many many Nurburgring laps under his belt always swore by P-Zero Neros ... takes all sorts.

Why do you not like Contis? I've got them (Sport Contact 2) on the Fabia and find them acceptable from grip and mileage. I just replaced one at 17K miles after it was banged off a kerb by SWMBO, 10,000 miles of its life had been on the front and it was still about 3-4mm.

Granted, in the wet I can spin the wheels in 1st, 2nd and 3rd if I'm heavy footed, but I try to avoid the TC cutting in. They even gripped not too bad in the snow last year which surprised me given the lack of sipes.

[ScoobyChris]

I guess it comes down to the grip/longevity compromise. My priority is grip in all conditions and if I can get 20k miles out of a set of tyres then that's a bonus. My biggest problem with the Conti's was that for the price I could buy two sets of grippier tyres (which only needed to last half as long as the Conti's).

If anyone's interested (and I'm sure no-one is!) my car now runs Falken FK452's which are far superior to the Conti's (SC1 and SC2) and Michelin Pilot Primacies that have been run on the car, and probably on a par with the Michelin Pilot Sports. Only 80 quid a corner too for 205/50/17 93W

Chris

[Mr Cholmondeley-Warner]

Why do you not like Contis? I've got them (Sport Contact 2) on the Fabia and find them acceptable from grip and mileage. I just replaced one at 17K miles after it was banged off a kerb by SWMBO, 10,000 miles of its life had been on the front and it was still about 3-4mm.

Dunno - combination of lack of grip and rapid wear, I seem to remember. Probably irrational - I remember hating Michelins in the 80s because of their stupidly hard compounds which meant they lasted forever but skated all over the place in the wet.

[TripleS]

Interestingly, I had been running around on tyres with less than 3mm tread depth and can't say I noticed any difference in wet weather handling or stopping distances, so the cynic in me wonders if it's just a marketing ploy to shift more tyres.

I suspect your perception depends of driving experience - an experienced driver works with whatever grip is available, whether it is adversely affected by tread depth or road conditions or a combination of both.

I think that's right. We develop a feel for what the car is happy to do - yes, I know, it's an odd way of referring to a piece of machinery - and we work within that quite naturally after a while. It's more difficult if we're driving various different cars during the course of a day, but the same principle applies.

With regard to tread depth, I have noticed that the greater depth on newish tyres does give more resistence to aquaplaning, compared with tyres that are getting down to 3 mm or less, but that's to be expected. OTOH, on roads that are wet but with no appreciable depth of water, I find that tread depth seems to make little difference to grip, so long we have a legal depth of tread.

Best wishes all,
Dave.