4 differet tyres

[Mr Cholmondeley-Warner]

A Wiltshire Police representative told us the other night a lifetime of 2-4 weeks was not unusual on some vehicles which are used around the clock.

[WhoseGeneration]

Goodyear ecosave

There's the problem, "Green" nuttery.

[Standard Dave]

I'd noticed a difference in Goodyear Eagle NCT5 and Goodyear ecosave on the cars we drive at work

Roughly how often are tyres replaced due to wear? I'd imagine the cars are worked quite hard and get though multiple sets a year. If so it seems to me it'd make sense if sets of normal, all season or winter tyres were fitted depending on the time of year.

Response cars in the city can do 30,000 miles a year on average, rural and dog section can be as high as 50,000 a year.
They probably get 2 or 3 sets a year especially as they are replaced at 3 or 4 mm due to the drop off in wet performance below that tread depth. The fleet management company deal with swapping them about and matching tread depths when tyres are replaced due to damage they have piles of part worn that have come off other cars in the fleet.
Tyres do also tend to pick up punctures and damage from driving on chevron sections crossing lanes etc due to driving on the debris that's not in the normal tyre marks of the vast majority of road users.

Some of the other vehicles are used much less often and have very low mileage figures even below those you'd expect of a private car (that's all part of fleet reviews and making better use of resources but there isn't that much else you can do with a CCTV van or mobile police station apart from park them up and use them for the design purpose).

[Silk]

Goodyear ecosave

There's the problem, "Green" nuttery.

If I could get a guaranteed 5% fuel saving by going for an eco tyre, I'd certainly be tempted. It could easily mean £30 a month or £360 a year saving in my case. I wouldn't be too bothered about absolute grip, although I might be put off if they were too compromised in the ride and noise department or the wear meant any saving in fuel was offset by the extra cost of tyres.

Saving the planet would be a bonus.

[WhoseGeneration]

Goodyear ecosave

There's the problem, "Green" nuttery.

If I could get a guaranteed 5% fuel saving by going for an eco tyre, I'd certainly be tempted. It could easily mean £30 a month or £360 a year saving in my case. I wouldn't be too bothered about absolute grip, although I might be put off if they were too compromised in the ride and noise department or the wear meant any saving in fuel was offset by the extra cost of tyres.

Saving the planet would be a bonus.

I was rather more concerned about Police vehicles, the drivers of which are required to be able to respond quickly to assist members of the public.

So, I'd prefer those drivers had the best equipment for the job, not slipsliding about having to do a spot of oppo to "save the planet".

[Silk]

Saving the planet would be a bonus.

I was rather more concerned about Police vehicles, the drivers of which are required to be able to respond quickly to assist members of the public.

So, I'd prefer those drivers had the best equipment for the job, not slipsliding about having to do a spot of oppo to "save the planet".

I suppose it would depend on the trade off. Do the Police routinely drive their vehicles in that marginal area between the grip of the most grippy tyres and those a bit less grippy but more fuel efficient? I find it a bit worrying if they do.

If it meant they had to drive at, say, 98MPH to an emergency instead of 100MPH, would anyone actually notice?

I can't believe, in practice, that the difference between the two types of tyre would mean in them being able to make safe uneventful progress with one type and "slipsiding about" with a different type. I'm sure the differences would be more subtle.

[WhoseGeneration]

Saving the planet would be a bonus.

I was rather more concerned about Police vehicles, the drivers of which are required to be able to respond quickly to assist members of the public.

So, I'd prefer those drivers had the best equipment for the job, not slipsliding about having to do a spot of oppo to "save the planet".

I suppose it would depend on the trade off. Do the Police routinely drive their vehicles in that marginal area between the grip of the most grippy tyres and those a bit less grippy but more fuel efficient? I find it a bit worrying if they do.

If it meant they had to drive at, say, 98MPH to an emergency instead of 100MPH, would anyone actually notice?

I can't believe, in practice, that the difference between the two types of tyre would mean in them being able to make safe uneventful progress with one type and "slipsiding about" with a different type. I'm sure the differences would be more subtle.

Nope, it's about having confidence in the provided equipment such that the primary purpose can be accomplished.
The primary purpose being?

[GJD]

If I could get a guaranteed 5% fuel saving by going for an eco tyre, I'd certainly be tempted. It could easily mean £30 a month or £360 a year saving in my case. I wouldn't be too bothered about absolute grip, although I might be put off if they were too compromised in the ride and noise department or the wear meant any saving in fuel was offset by the extra cost of tyres.

That bit I've emboldened is where the new tyre labelling system doesn't quite manage to do the job. You can make your trade-off on fuel consumption (rolling resistance) vs noise vs wet grip, but without an indication [*] of how long the tyres will last you can't properly factor in cost.

[*] Not sure how the tyre manufacturer could provide that indication. I guess they could run tyres through some sort of standardised test regime and measure wear, but apart from undoubtedly adding to the cost, I imagine something like that would be fraught with the same pitfalls as car manufacturers' CO2 and mpg figures.

[Gareth]

You can make your trade-off on fuel consumption (rolling resistance) vs noise vs wet grip, but without an indication of how long the tyres will last you can't properly factor in cost.

If you are comparing tyres from a single manufacturer you can use the UTQG treadwear rating to inform your choice. These are of no real use when comparing tyres from different manufacturers because the testing isn't standardised.

One example - I was pleased to find the Vredestein Quatrac 3 had a treadwear value of 400 compared with, I think, 200 for the Quatrac 2. This increased my confidence that there wouldn't be excessive wear during the warmer months, not least because I'd read that some people in the UK had already been using the Quatrac 2 throughout the year with good results.

[Kimosabe]

Mercedes C220 cdi (rwd) had 'Eco' tyres fitted from new as standard. Its the deal MB cut with the tyre maker for all their 'blue efficiency' cars; same as BMW with their awful runflats as standard. Due to their harder compound of my Eco tyres, I found them to be longer lasting but unreliable and slippery if the road was any more than damp though much of this has to do with the car itself and not just the tyres. My guess is that had I changed only the rear tyres on this RWD car, that they would have lead to complications due to the power from the rear pushing the front 'eco' tyres too hard. That is based upon moderate driving for comfort rather than 'progress'. I most certainly would not have wanted different tyres on each corner of that car! They're noisy too.

Landrover Freelander 2 4x4. 19" Continental Contact UHPs. Great tyres on everything but snow, ice, grass, sand etc. So when the weather changes to wet/dry or i'm going to drive on mostly good roads, I have those on my car. The rest of the time I have 17" General Grabber ATs as they stick to everything like glue. They also wear quite quickly which is why I treat them as a poor weather, 2 season tyre or when i'm driving to The Pyrenees, Wales or Croydon. The accepted wisdom on the Freelander forum is that it is unacceptable to mix tyres on an axle. There is much debate about internal and external noise too. I have found no difference between these two sets of tyres even though they carry different EU noise ratings. This seems to be a completely arbitrary standard as the data is produced by tyre makers and it is not policed, calibrated or standardised.

[gannet]

same as BMW with their awful runflats as standard.

Agreed the original bridgestone run flat tyres were horribly firm and crashy...

Changed mine to Michelin ZP and everything went back to normal - noticed the difference just driving off the lowered kerb of the tyre fitting place. weren't cheap mind

My point being there can be good versions, and tyres differ greatly across brands...