Need 4 new tyres for my Gransport!

JonW

JonW

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Felonious Crud

Felonious Crud

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JonW said:
Super helpful thanks Adam. I’ve got the Continental Premium Contact 6 on my Mini Cooper, and so far have been very happy with those, so maybe I’ll stick with that. Will have a proper read of the survey when I’m not pretending to do some work in the office!
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As I'm working at home I was able to read it in relative peace.

Question for you all: how important is it to fit manufacturer approved tyres? Clearly, tyre compounds improve all the time and tyres recommended xx years ago are now relatively crarp. Do insurance companies really get twitchy if a car is running the 'wrong' tyres?
 
hashluck

hashluck

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Felonious Crud said:
As I'm working at home I was able to read it in relative peace.

Question for you all: how important is it to fit manufacturer approved tyres? Clearly, tyre compounds improve all the time and tyres recommended xx years ago are now relatively crarp. Do insurance companies really get twitchy if a car is running the 'wrong' tyres?
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I was advised to inform my insurance company when I took off the dreaded run-flats on a BMW and put on normal better tyres. They just wanted to be sure they were same size and correct speed rating etc and that I had purchased a full-size spare (or had some other means of repair as they also had a recovery service as part of the insurance).

When I sold my Vantage to an Aston dealer it had nearly new Michelins on rather than the awful Bridgestone 'AO' Aston Approved RE080s - the dealer acknowledged the Michelins were vastly superior but said they would have to replace them with Bridgestones to meet with the conditions of the Aston Timeless Approved Used Scheme blah blah
 
Felonious Crud

Felonious Crud

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hashluck said:
I was advised to inform my insurance company when I took off the dreaded run-flats on a BMW and put on normal better tyres. They just wanted to be sure they were same size and correct speed rating etc and that I had purchased a full-size spare (or had some other means of repair as they also had a recovery service as part of the insurance).

When I sold my Vantage to an Aston dealer it had nearly new Michelins on rather than the awful Bridgestone 'AO' Aston Approved RE080s - the dealer acknowledged the Michelins were vastly superior but said they would have to replace them with Bridgestones to meet with the conditions of the Aston Timeless Approved Used Scheme blah blah
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There's another bit of world-class nonsense (albeit off-topic) - Aston won't sell a car with any mods compared to how it left the factory. Power upgrade? Remove it. De-cat? Re-cat it. AMi iii upgrade? Surely not! etc.

Anyhow, thanks for the tip on the insurance - I'll let them know and they'll doubtless charge me a £20 admin fee.
 
RichardS

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Felonious Crud said:
There's another bit of world-class nonsense (albeit off-topic) - Aston won't sell a car with any mods compared to how it left the factory. Power upgrade? Remove it. De-cat? Re-cat it. AMi iii upgrade? Surely not! etc.

Anyhow, thanks for the tip on the insurance - I'll let them know and they'll doubtless charge me a £20 admin fee.
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I don't think insurers consider fitting a different brand of tyre to be a modification.
 
Felonious Crud

Felonious Crud

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RichardS said:
I don't think insurers consider fitting a different brand of tyre to be a modification.
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They certainly shouldn't, not in a sane world, but I read one comment on PH that after a crash the insurance company complained that the car had non-original fitment tyres, later sorted out when the tyre manufacturer confirmed that they are happy with those tyres being used on that car. Seemed bloody odd to me, hence why I raised it. I'd assume that as long as size, load and speed rating are all good then it should be perfectly ok.
 
RichardS

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Felonious Crud said:
They certainly shouldn't, not in a sane world, but I read one comment on PH that after a crash the insurance company complained that the car had non-original fitment tyres, later sorted out when the tyre manufacturer confirmed that they are happy with those tyres being used on that car. Seemed bloody odd to me, hence why I raised it. I'd assume that as long as size, load and speed rating are all good then it should be perfectly ok.
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Blimey. No wonder the insurance industry has such a bad reputation. Better make sure you only ever top up the engine with the manufacturer-approved brand of oil. ;-)

I think the only justifiable concern from an insurance perspective would be if you fitted tyres that were of the wrong spec and inferior to original. Otherwise no one would be able to fit different brands.
 
Delmonte

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On the subject of tyres...
My FD Larini wheels are identical size to Gransport. If I’m right, it appears GS standard tyres are 35 profile front, 30 profile rear.
Meanwhile, for my wheels, which I’ve never yet shod, Larini recommend same size tyres as GS, except higher profile, of 40 front, 35 rear.
I suppose the higher profiles will give a slightly less bone crushing ride? Other than that, any thoughts on which profile size I should get?
 
mjheathcote

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Delmonte said:
On the subject of tyres...
My FD Larini wheels are identical size to Gransport. If I’m right, it appears GS standard tyres are 35 profile front, 30 profile rear.
Meanwhile, for my wheels, which I’ve never yet shod, Larini recommend same size tyres as GS, except higher profile, of 40 front, 35 rear.
I suppose the higher profiles will give a slightly less bone crushing ride? Other than that, any thoughts on which profile size I should get?
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Actually, your FD wheels aren't identical in size. The standard fronts are 8" wide and the rears are 9.5" wide. FD increase both by half an inch to 8.5" and 10".
As a result they recommend that 245 instead of 235 can be used on the front, and 275 instead of 265 on the rear.
The above applies for both 18" or 19" wheels.
Regarding aspect ratios you need to stick to the OEM, being 35/30 for 19" wheels and 40/35 for the 18" wheels.
:)
 
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