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Any buying advice for quiet, durable tyres for motorway driving

S

ship69

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'08 i-DTEC EX man 5D
Hi

It turns out that I have a slow puncture so I may need to buy some new tyres ASAP.
Any advice on buying new tyres (for a Honda Accord - 7th Gen).

I shall mainly be using them on motorways.
My priorities are:

50% - Quiet !
20% - Long-lasting
10% - Cornering/grip in the wet
10% - Grip in the snow (must be at least REASONABLE in the snow...)
10% - Cost

With thanks

J

P.S. What's the best review site for tyres?
 
Have a good search John there are lots of threads on this already.Here is one to get you started.

http://typeaccord.co.uk/forum/topic/3481-i-hate-shopping-for-tyres/
 
brett said:
Have a good search John there are lots of threads on this already.Here is one to get you started.

http://typeaccord.co.uk/forum/topic/3481-i-hate-shopping-for-tyres/
Click to expand...

Yes, the trouble with that thread is that everyone has slightly different starting requirements... hence an intelligent debate isnt so straight forward.
And I seem to be rather up against the clock !

J

P.S. Also, any thoughts on this:
> "What's the best review site for tyres? "

??
 
This is though John, you are asking a cery subjective question,

Not only are different members cars set up differently (maps, suspension etc.) But every member has different driving styles and perceptions.

You will never get a reasoned debate on this subject.
 
problem is some of your conditions are mutually exclusive

e.g.

long lasting - requires harder compound
good grip in snow - requires high silica which means softer compound
quiet - generally mean not "blocky" tread which is bad in snow where you want blocky tread

quiet budget motorway tyres I've used Nankang NS2's for years and they are ace but they are rubbish in snow for which I have a set of Conti WinterContacts ( goiing on next weekend and will stay on till March)
 
> some of your conditions are mutually exclusive
Yes - which is precisely why I weighted my criteria ! (**)

The bad new is that according to my local dealer (Southam Tyres), the tyres which I inherited with the car - Michelin Primacy HP: 205/55 R16 91V - are already one of the best (Summer) tyres on the market - and he claims that they should already be pretty quiet.
If true this is a bit of a disaster for me, because I was definitely hoping that my Honda Accord would be much quieter than this ! :^/

J


P.S. ** By ****ogy, I also seek a wife who is (reasonably) physically attractive, (reasonably) intelligent/interested in ideas AND (extremely) kind/ethical/altruistic... Surely not actually impossible, but what can I say - I live in hope !
 
Impossible no....highly improbable, yes :D
 
I am toying with fitting a large sheet of rubber (Dynamat??) into the back of the car to cut down on noise (and protect the carpet).
Have any of you guys tried doing this?

J
 
Agree the Accord Tourer is far too noisy, especially on motorways.

Have not used this myself but Car Mechanics used something similar in a recent edition that they reported was excellent at reducing noise intrusion
http://www.automobiletrim.com/sound-proofing.html

Guess it will be time consuming to fit, or just turn up the radio
 
StuH said:
Changing tyres makes a MASSIVE difference is what I've found.
Click to expand...
Couldn't agree more. I have just put a set of winter tyres on allround and they have made a huge difference! The tyres are middle range but i am very pleased and the guy at the fitters said they are selling a lot more of them now. They are Nankang SV2s. Good price on mytyres.
 
luckypedro79 said:
Couldn't agree more. I have just put a set of winter tyres on allround and they have made a huge difference! The tyres are middle range but i am very pleased and the guy at the fitters said they are selling a lot more of them now. They are Nankang SV2s. Good price on mytyres.
Click to expand...

The Nankang SV2 - sounds like a promising winter tyre. Do you have any idea how quiet they are compared to Michelin HP Primacy tyres?

Btw, I've now done a certain amount of research on the review sites and I have to say it's AMAZING how inconsistent the tyre reviews seem to be. (Why? Corruption? Biased reviewers? Lack of science/objective measurements being applied?)

The only other tyre that seems to do fairly consistently well seem to be the Continental Winter Contact TS 830P - albeit somewhat more expensive. (In fact on mytyres.co.uk, for four tyres I make it a full £500.40 vs £264.80 for the Nankangs. Yikes. I hope they last twice as long too!)
But again do any of you have any idea how *quiet* they are compared to Michelin HP Primacy tyres? The reviews seem a bit hazy on the noise thing.

Cheers

J
 
I couldn't say how quiet compared to the Michelins but what I can say is how much quieter they are compared to the 4 Bridgestones I had on before. Thing is, they were very worn down but these Nankangs have really impressed me. I bought them specifically because I wrote off a mondeo ST last year in the snow so wanted winter tyres this year as an extra safety net.
There are a few guys on here with the tyres and I am sure I remember reading that someone had them on last year and was blown away by how good they were in the snow. Trouble is, reading too many reviews can be a bad thing. Buy them, you won't be disappointed.
 
I have the conti TS830's on mine ( fitted back on for second season last weekend mainly due to my fronts getting marginal). They are very quiet, comfy and grippy. I'm sold.

Its worth a quote from KwikFit as hey have an offer on of 25% off. They had this last year when I bought mine and I paid ~ 350 quid fitted ( 205/55/16s)
 
entwisi said:
and I paid ~ 350 quid fitted ( 205/55/16s)
Click to expand...
350 quid would certainly be a bargain.
The cheapest price I could find was also at KwikFit... but it was 108.60 each ==> i.e £434.40 !

J
 
entwisi said:
was that before or after discount? They are running 25% off at the mo
Click to expand...
Yes - that was *after* the discount.

Well, for better or worse I have now gone for it and I have now lashed out £434 (Yikes!) for four new Continental Winter Contact TS830 tyres...

The good news is they are *amazingly* quiet - Halleluja !!
Certainly way, WAY better than the Michelin HP Primacy tyres that my dealer claimed to already be a nice quiet top of the range tyre. (Although it did occur to me that in the hot weather of summer, the Michelins might become a lot quieter being as their rubber will be softer in the warm weather, yes?).

The bad news is that so far the MPG was terrible (although I concede that it's still too early to say, really).

Can anyone tell me the correct tyre pressures though??

Kwik-Fit insisted in putting what they claim was 32 (PSI??) into all 4 tyres - whereas on the drivers door I'm sure it says that the rear tyres should be less.
Tyre pressures are quite a complicated subject...
- Are Winter tyres supposed to be the same pressure as summer ones?
- And are you supposed to measure the tyre pressure when the tyres are stone cold?? (e.g. less than 10 deg C in the Winter)

Cheers

J
 
ship69 said:
Yes - that was *after* the discount.

Well, for better or worse I have now gone for it and I have now lashed out £434 (Yikes!) for four new Continental Winter Contact TS830 tyres...

The good news is they are *amazingly* quiet - Halleluja !!
Certainly way, WAY better than the Michelin HP Primacy tyres that my dealer claimed to already be a nice quiet top of the range tyre. (Although it did occur to me that in the hot weather of summer, the Michelins might become a lot quieter being as their rubber will be softer in the warm weather, yes?).

The bad news is that so far the MPG was terrible (although I concede that it's still too early to say, really).

Can anyone tell me the correct tyre pressures though??

Kwik-Fit insisted in putting what they claim was 32 (PSI??) into all 4 tyres - whereas on the drivers door I'm sure it says that the rear tyres should be less.
Tyre pressures are quite a complicated subject...
- Are Winter tyres supposed to be the same pressure as summer ones?
- And are you supposed to measure the tyre pressure when the tyres are stone cold?? (e.g. less than 10 deg C in the Winter)

Cheers

J
Click to expand...
Not sure if the pressures should be the same for winter and summer tyres, but tyre pressures should always be measured when the tyres are cold as when the tyres are warm the air inside expands and the pressures raise giving a false reading.
 
measure when cold and the same as summer tyres is what I've always been told.

I'll check mine when I get chance for you. Economy wise I see no real difference between my summers and winters although by definition you are likely to be running more electrical kit now than in summer ( headlights, air con, heated rear windows/mirrors, heated seats, etc ) so that may make a small difference.

its is daft how they are quiet given teh very blocky nature of the tread though isn;t it! :D
 
> its is daft how they are quiet given teh very blocky nature of the tread though isn;t it! :D

Yes, to me it certainly seems VERY strange to have winter tyres (designed in part for snow) to be more quiet than summer tyres.

Looking closely though I think part of the secret to their very quietness are the very fine cuts/indentations in the rubber. I am thinking that these cuts would help absorb the noise, rather than transmit it straight through the rubber (and on in all directions).
But there must be some reason for NOT having them in summer tyres. I suppose for one thing they will increase the rolling resistance of the tyre - and thus decrease the MPG.

Talking of MPG what I still find quite remarkable is how much difference it makes if I put the car into neutal the moment my TomTom says to leave the motorway in 800 yards.
Over a 30 mile stretch just doing this once seems to be able to increase the MPG by about 1.5 MPG !

And 1.5 MPG over a year (25,000 miles) for me I calculate is about £86 in diesel just by this simple action.

J
 
The cuts you mention are called "sipes".... its these that flex open/shut as the tyre deforms at the bottom due to the weight of the car that "grab" the snow to give the extra grip.

IIRC its technically illegal to freewheel like you mention :D Something about not being technically in control of the car.
 
Freewheeling is illegal due to lack of control and actually uses more fuel than just coasting in gear with no throttle.
 
Dan Robinson said:
Freewheeling is illegal due to lack of control and actually uses more fuel than just coasting in gear with no throttle.
Click to expand...

> Freewheeling is illegal due to lack of control
a) What do they mean? In ability to suddenly accerate?
B) Driving 71 MPH in a 70 MPH speed motorway is illegal, but more than half the cars on the road do it.
c) I do not feel in any way out of control - sometime you need apply common sense rather than the letter of the law
d) If it was damaging my car in any way then that's different (!).

> and actually uses more fuel than just coasting in gear with no throttle.
I suppose that there may be some situations where this is true, howver it would depend on what speed and what gears are being used.
Frankly if you are in any way using the engine to brake with then surely MPG wise you would be better off in neutral.

J
 
Will leave it to our police members to comment on the ins and outs of legalities...but driving van at the moment...

In neutral at 40; fuel flow is 0.2 gal/hour. Switch to 4th (2k revs) ...fuel flow is 0.7gals at 28% engine load. Foot off the throttle is 0 gals. On a flatish road.
 
Dan Robinson said:
Freewheeling is illegal due to lack of control and actually uses more fuel than just coasting in gear with no throttle.
Click to expand...

> Freewheeling is illegal due to lack of control
a) What do they mean? In ability to suddenly accerate?
B) Driving 71 MPH in a 70 MPH speed motorway is illegal, but more than half the cars on the road do it.
c) I do not feel in any way out of control - sometime you need apply common sense rather than the letter of the law
d) If it was damaging my car in any way then that's different (!).

> and actually uses more fuel than just coasting in gear with no throttle.
I suppose that there may be some situations where this is true, however it would depend on what speed and what gears are being used.
Frankly if you are in any way using the engine to brake with then surely MPG wise you would be better off in neutral.

J
 
ship69 said:
> Freewheeling is illegal due to lack of control...
a. What do they mean "lack of control" - inability to suddenly accerate?
b. Driving 71 MPH in a 70 MPH speed motorway is illegal, but (way) more than half the cars on the road do it.
c. I do not feel in any way out of control - sometimes you need apply common sense rather than the letter of the law.
d. If it was damaging my car in any way then that would be different.

> ...and actually uses more fuel than just coasting in gear with no throttle.
I suppose that there may be some situations where this is true, however clearly it would depend on what speed and what gears are being used.
Frankly if you are in any way using the engine to brake with then surely overall-MPG-wise, you would be better off in neutral.

J
Click to expand...
 
Legalities of freewheeling aside, I've heard this in gear with no throttle uses no fuel argument as well but it also means you are applying engine braking thus losing momentum. try this

on a ( pref deserted ) flat road, accelerate to 50, put it in fifth and take your feet off the pedals, time how long before you are doing 30. then try it again but this time put the clutch in to disconnect the engine from the wheels, I bet a pound to a penny that the second option takes a heck of a lot longer to lose its momentum......
 
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