Continental Tyres

[Dod101]

Is it my driving or something? I have done a mere 12,500 miles in my Q5 and now the front tyres are needing to be replaced. Although it is a quattro, the drive is through the front wheels only unless required to be four wheel drive, ie in snow or heavy rain so I can expect them to wear more quickly than the rear ones but even so that does not seem many miles. The current tyres came new with the car, Continentals.

Some time back there was a recommendation to go for Michelin Cross Climate tyres, Does that still stand?

Dod

[redsturgeon]

Sounds really low miles. I'd expect 20,000 at least and I often get up to 30,000 on most cars I drive.

John

[Urbandreamer]

Is it my driving or something? I have done a mere 12,500 miles in my Q5 and now the front tyres are needing to be replaced. Although it is a quattro, the drive is through the front wheels only unless required to be four wheel drive, ie in snow or heavy rain so I can expect them to wear more quickly than the rear ones but even so that does not seem many miles. The current tyres came new with the car, Continentals.

Some time back there was a recommendation to go for Michelin Cross Climate tyres, Does that still stand?

Dod

I recommend getting the wheel alignment checked and that you look at the ware pattern. It's true that different tyres ware at different rates and I knew someone who wanted tyres that eroded fast*, the fact that it's unexpected should raise questions.

*Sticky tyres ware fast. He wanted something that would allow him to take corners fast on the rally car.

[Dod101]

Sounds really low miles. I'd expect 20,000 at least and I often get up to 30,000 on most cars I drive.

John

Indeed, thanks. I have been used to getting about 20,000. My driving style has not I am sure changed so I will get the alignment checked.

Dod

[Dod101]

Is it my driving or something? I have done a mere 12,500 miles in my Q5 and now the front tyres are needing to be replaced. Although it is a quattro, the drive is through the front wheels only unless required to be four wheel drive, ie in snow or heavy rain so I can expect them to wear more quickly than the rear ones but even so that does not seem many miles. The current tyres came new with the car, Continentals.

Some time back there was a recommendation to go for Michelin Cross Climate tyres, Does that still stand?

Dod

I recommend getting the wheel alignment checked and that you look at the ware pattern. It's true that different tyres ware at different rates and I knew someone who wanted tyres that eroded fast*, the fact that it's unexpected should raise questions.

*Sticky tyres ware fast. He wanted something that would allow him to take corners fast on the rally car.

They are big, fat (and expensive!) tyres but the pattern of wear is pretty even across both front tyres. As I have just said to redsturgeon, on my previous Q5, I was getting about 20,000 miles out of them. They were permanent quattro if that makes any difference. They are almost down to the indicators now and so must be replaced. I will see about it tomorrow, but apart from checking the alignment does anyone have a rec for replacements? I am not going for Continentals again but I am not a particularly fast driver, ie I stick to the speed limits and am not in any sense a boy racer.

Dod

[redsturgeon]

Michelins generally seem to last longer.

John

[Dod101]

Michelins generally seem to last longer.

John

I have just checked on some forums and they all say that the Continental Sport Contact that I have is hopeless for wear on the Q5 and they go at about 10/11,000 miles, so it is not just me! The Michelin Latitude Sports seems to have a good following. How do these short life tyre manufacturers survive? I suppose that selling a new car no one really checks the tyre make so the manufacturer gets away with a cheapie tyre.

These Boards are helpful even if only for me to talk to myself (and get some feed back of course!)

Thanks for all your comments.

Dod

[Urbandreamer]

How do these short life tyre manufacturers survive? I suppose that selling a new car no one really checks the tyre make so the manufacturer gets away with a cheapie tyre.

Dod

See my previous post. IF you want to drive fast and be confident about not spinning off at corners then you need sticky tyres that grip, and leave part behind. That's why some buy them. Now I do feel that I should also point out that they do enable you to stop as well. Again, less of an issue if you drive carefully.

I drive a car that plods, so it's less likely that the car will get away from me.

[staffordian]

Michelins generally seem to last longer.

John

I have just checked on some forums and they all say that the Continental Sport Contact that I have is hopeless for wear on the Q5 and they go at about 10/11,000 miles, so it is not just me! The Michelin Latitude Sports seems to have a good following. How do these short life tyre manufacturers survive? I suppose that selling a new car no one really checks the tyre make so the manufacturer gets away with a cheapie tyre.

These Boards are helpful even if only for me to talk to myself (and get some feed back of course!)

Thanks for all your comments.

Dod

I suspect most good quality tyres tend towards either grippiness or longevity, and one would hope (given their short life) that Continental tyres are grippier, ie softer and perhaps Audi see their cars as needing "sporty" tyres. But having said that, any average driver would be hard pressed to tell any difference in handling between the top makes, so I too would opt for one with a longer life.

On the subject of Cross Climates, I have toyed with the idea of them in the past, but living in the Midlands, and being retired, the odds against me having to go out in snow or ice are probably greater than the odds of me winning the lottery (and I don’t buy tickets ) so I've not considered the higher price worth while. If I did need to drive even a few times a year in such conditions, based on what I've read of them, I'd go for them.

[pje16]

I have continental sport on my BMW almost 12,000 miles and still fine

[ReformedCharacter]

Some time back there was a recommendation to go for Michelin Cross Climate tyres, Does that still stand?

Dod

I had Michelin Cross Climates fitted to my wife's car. She's been very pleased with them and they seem to wear well. Perhaps a good choice, given where you live.

RC

[monabri]

You've had a Q5 before if I recall and so you "have experience" of tyre wear on a Q5 and were thus expecting a higher mileage before them wearing.

I also seem to recall that you mentioning that you purchased the car newly new (please excuse if I remember incorrectly)....perhaps the previous owner was heavier footed? Was it a demo model (?) and maybe the people trying it out were heavy footed.

[monabri]

Ah, there's the link.

viewtopic.php?p=432229#p432229

[Dod101]

Michelins generally seem to last longer.

John

I have just checked on some forums and they all say that the Continental Sport Contact that I have is hopeless for wear on the Q5 and they go at about 10/11,000 miles, so it is not just me! The Michelin Latitude Sports seems to have a good following. How do these short life tyre manufacturers survive? I suppose that selling a new car no one really checks the tyre make so the manufacturer gets away with a cheapie tyre.

These Boards are helpful even if only for me to talk to myself (and get some feed back of course!)

Thanks for all your comments.

Dod

I suspect most good quality tyres tend towards either grippiness or longevity, and one would hope (given their short life) that Continental tyres are grippier, ie softer and perhaps Audi see their cars as needing "sporty" tyres. But having said that, any average driver would be hard pressed to tell any difference in handling between the top makes, so I too would opt for one with a longer life.

On the subject of Cross Climates, I have toyed with the idea of them in the past, but living in the Midlands, and being retired, the odds against me having to go out in snow or ice are probably greater than the odds of me winning the lottery (and I don’t buy tickets ) so I've not considered the higher price worth while. If I did need to drive even a few times a year in such conditions, based on what I've read of them, I'd go for them.

Thanks. I must say that during their limited life, I found my tyres to be entirely secure on the road, but I expect that anyway> Am I being unreasonable?

So mine have had grippiness? Not sure that I could tell the difference.

Dod

[9873210]

Don't tyres have treadwear ratings on the sidewall? Go have a look.

Some tyres have pretensions to racing and can be expected to wear quickly. The rating helps tell which these are.

[kiloran]

My current car and previous car (Mercedes B-Class) both had Continental fitted as standard. I normally got around 15-16k miles on the front tyres until I felt the tread depth was getting low (probably 20k if I went to the legal minimum) but I always felt that they were not very grippy after around 5k. I tend to drive quite sedately but I found that pulling out of a junction on wet roads, I often got wheel spin. I was also uncomfortable about them in snow, so I moved to Michelin Cross-Climates a few years ago, which seem more grippy and no worse for wear. I also felt the Continentals were quite noisy, the Cross-Climates don't seem as bad.

With this car and the previous one, I've also had 4 punctures over the past 10 years. With previous cars I had fewer punctures over 40 years of driving.

--kiloran

[ten0rman]

Can't comment about Continental tyres, but have been running Cross Climates now for a few years.

Car: Avensis 1.8 petrol estate used for occasional caravan towing. Last change front: 29500, present mileage 24K. Rear: 43K, present mileage 42K. So rears probably ready for changing, but fronts not yet. Very happy with them. NB, these are tyre life readings, not what the car has done.

Got local tyre dealer to have a look last Feb - he thought that the rear tracking might be out and recommended going to man who does all our servicing anyway. Car was due for a 110K service anyway, so had it checked, and it was slightly out - now corrected.

FWIW, I changed to Michelin from Pirelli about 15 years ago. A Ford Focus I had was originally on Couriers (Bridgestone?). Tyre life abysmal. Changed to Michelin, life improved but still v.poor compared with car before & car after so conclude Focus was faulty. Present car had Bridgestone when new, changed eventually to Michelin with no discernable difference in tyre life, so again conclude that Focus was duff.

HTH,

ten0rman

[GrahamPlatt]

I’ve got some Yokohama “all weather” tyres on the van. They were expensive, but will be about 8 years old now and ~80,000 miles. Tread’s still fine & deep, although at the last regular service some three months ago the mechanic mentioned some surface “crackling” on the sidewalls and advised they should be replaced before the next MOT. It’s the Sam Vimes "Boots" theory of socioeconomic unfairness.

[pje16]

I’ve got some Yokohama “all weather” tyres on the van. They were expensive

There ARE cheap/budget tyres, but if you can afford to buy premium ranges you are better off as the longevity and quality, the latter being more important, then you are safer
My motto is don't skimp on tyres and brakes

[bungeejumper]

Strange, different tyres seem to suit different cars. My Mk1 diesel Focus went best on Pirellis, which seemed to suit its heavy front end, but it was almost undriveable on Avons, which just didn't grip at all. (The only tyres I've ever returned to the dealer, because they were frightening me. )

My Passat estate got 40K plus from Dunlop SP Sports at the front, whereas everybody else said they were good for only 15K. And my Toyota seems to have lost its tendency for front wheel spin on take-off since I switched to Michelin Primacy 4s. (I think the Cross Climates would be a better choice for Scotland, TBH.)

But Continentals? I've always thought of them as medium to budget, not premium. We really didn't like them on my wife's Polo - they were noisy, and the grip wasn't as good as the usual Michelins. Mind you, ISTR that Continental did go through an iffy patch with a few batches of bad rubber that was too hard. Maybe we just had some of those?

Continental are sold under a bewildering variety of other brand names, including Uniroyal, Barum, Viking and Semperit. Continental Michelin (sorry!) own the Kleber and BF Goodrich brands. And Bridgestone owns Firestone, of course. This British website has a stab at sorting out who's who: https://tyres.rezulteo.co.uk/expert-adv ... ich-group#

BJ