Tyre Size Query

[Will27]

Greetings people

 

I don't know much about cars or tyres, so am after some advice.

 

The tyres on my Ecosport are looking a bit shabby.

Just clicked on 100 000 kilometers.

 

Yesterday, it was having a 100 000 kilometers service at Ford.

They checked the tyres and said they needed replacing soon, if not now.

 

The car has Goodyear Triplemax 2's 205/60R16's on it.

They have a buy 3 get one free deal going and quoted the wife 9504 Baht for a set of 4 which sounded pretty reasonable.

 

On getting home, the wife gave me the quote and I noticed the quote was for Triplemax's 2's but a smaller size of 195/50R16.

 

Whats' the deal here?

Will these be OK or am I better of sticking with the same size that are already on it?

 

TIA.

[FriendlyFarang]

7 minutes ago, Will27 said:

Whats' the deal here?

Will these be OK or am I better of sticking with the same size that are already on it?

I guess they have some old stock of them and want to get rid of it.

Stick with the size the car came with, that's the optimum size according to the manufacturer. If you put a different size (205*0.6 = 123 vs 195*0.5=97.5, that's the height of the rubber) on it the speedometer will also be off.

[foreverlomsak]

I always stick to the sizes installed on the car by the manufacturer (in my case 265-70R16) and always stick to brand names I recognize first change stuck with Bridgestone later changed to Firestone as they were a  good bit cheaper. 10 months ago cost 4,000B per tire.

[Lacessit]

I'm amazed you got 100,000 km out of a set of tyres without killing yourself, although I may be guilty of assuming they were not changed at 50,000 km or whatever.

 

What's the life of yourself and your Mrs. worth? Tyres are the only thing keeping you in contact with the road:  wet, dry, or gravel.

 

Always go with the car manufacturer's recommendations. Saving money on different size tyres is dumb.

 

If you want to give you and yours an edge in surviving on Thai roads, buy Michelins.

 

 

 

 

[phetphet]

As FriendlyFarang said. They are probably getting rid of old stock.

Be careful of this. Even sitting on the shelf, the rubber hardens as it ages and becomes brittle.

 

I found out the 'hard' way. Pun intended.

 

I ordered some Goodyear tyres off of Lazada. Had them fitted at a local garage and he told me they were old and brittle.

A chunk of rubber came off as I sat watching him fit them.

 

I think you can look at a code on the tyre wall to see which year they were manufactured. These were two or three years old if I recall correctly.

[Will27]

8 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

I'm amazed you got 100,000 km out of a set of tyres without killing yourself, although I may be guilty of assuming they were not changed at 50,000 km or whatever.

 

What's the life of yourself and your Mrs. worth? Tyres are the only thing keeping you in contact with the road:  wet, dry, or gravel.

 

Always go with the car manufacturer's recommendations. Saving money on different size tyres is dumb.

 

If you want to give you and yours an edge in surviving on Thai roads, buy Michelins.

 

 

 

 

Thanks.

It it wasn't about money though.

 

When the wife showed me the quote last night, I assumed they would be for exactly the same ones

that were already on the car.

 

After having a look this morning, I realized they were smaller and wondered why they

would be quoting a smaller size.

 

Anyway, no harm done.

I'll just look for the same size ones that are already on there.

 

Thanks for the tip about Michelins.

already on the car.

[foreverlomsak]

16 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

I'm amazed you got 100,000 km out of a set of tyres without killing yourself

True, this Thailand though and no need to change them until the canvas shows all round.

In saying that I've changed mine at an average of 55,000-60,000, does depend a lot on your driving standard and the type of surface you regularly drive on.

[HauptmannUK]

100k km on a set of tyres is surprising.  Obviously tyres wear but they also degrade and harder with age and exposure to UV light.  Often tyres need replacing well before the tread is worn down because the rubber has hardened and/or started to crack.

Never economise on tyres. I would stick to a premium brand of the original size. You can check the manufacturing date. There will be a raised 'box' moulded into the sidewall with four digits inside. First two digits are week number and second two digits are the year. So 0521 = manufactured week 5 of 2021.  

[Woof999]

2 hours ago, Will27 said:

205/60R16

205 is the width of the tyre in millimetres.

60 is the "profile" of the tyre as a percentage of it's width. ie it's how tall the tyre walls are compared to the width. Yours are 60%, so the tyre wall should be 205*0.6 = 123mm tall.

R means they are radial tyres, like pretty much all car tyres have been for decades now unless you go very specialised or very cheap.

16 is the diameter of the wheel they are going on in inches. Interesting that tyres use both metric and imperial in their size descriptions.

[Lacessit]

1 hour ago, foreverlomsak said:

True, this Thailand though and no need to change them until the canvas shows all round.

In saying that I've changed mine at an average of 55,000-60,000, does depend a lot on your driving standard and the type of surface you regularly drive on.

I got 70,000 km out of my last set of Michelins on the Vios. They still were not down to the TWI's, but my mechanic said they had tread cracking so it was time to change. I do drive quite conservatively, 100 km/hr is my maximum. No harsh braking either.

 

There is not much difference between Michelins and other brands on dry roads, where they rise above the pack is when it's wet. Thailand does have its share of rainy days and slippery bitumen.

 

Car makers are actually schizophrenic when it comes to tyres, they very carefully specify the best match for the vehicle, then fit the car with the cheapest dreck tyre they can find when it rolls off the showroom floor. As for the bean counter who came up with the space saver tyre, he/she should have been strangled at birth. Dangerous.

 

 

 

[Lacessit]

48 minutes ago, Woof999 said:

16 is the diameter of the wheel they are going on in inches. Interesting that tyres use both metric and imperial in their size descriptions.

That's for the Americans, if it was all metric it would confuse them.

[pgrahmm]

Keep the same size...It could throw your module/electronics off....They are calibrated for the correct tire size application.....It could also trigger the check engine/mil light as (for one) the speed-distance sensor would now be out of spec.....

 

It's possible the wrong tire size was a typo.....

[scorecard]

4 hours ago, Lacessit said:

I'm amazed you got 100,000 km out of a set of tyres without killing yourself, although I may be guilty of assuming they were not changed at 50,000 km or whatever.

 

What's the life of yourself and your Mrs. worth? Tyres are the only thing keeping you in contact with the road:  wet, dry, or gravel.

 

Always go with the car manufacturer's recommendations. Saving money on different size tyres is dumb.

 

If you want to give you and yours an edge in surviving on Thai roads, buy Michelins.

 

 

 

 

Seems to me knowledge about tyres is not that strong (Thai and farang).

 

A couple of years back my Thai son (knows nothing about cars) was convinced by a mechanic (who no doubt realised son was quite naive re cars/tyres) that all car tyres must be changed at 12 months regardless of usage. 

 

Took a while and several visits to different tyre shops to get son convinced the idea above was not correct.

[seedy]

Our CR-V stock 205/70R-15

Now running 215/55ZR-17

No issues. No check engine light, no burning crosses in the yard, no visits from the devil.

Have done 'Plus 1' at least on all my vehicles without an issue

This calculator will give you the percentage difference when changing any parameter.

https://tire-calc.com/comparison/215-55-r17-and-205-70-r15/

[Will27]

1 hour ago, pgrahmm said:

Keep the same size...It could throw your module/electronics off....They are calibrated for the correct tire size application.....It could also trigger the check engine/mil light as (for one) the speed-distance sensor would now be out of spec.....

 

It's possible the wrong tire size was a typo.....

Good call about it possibly being a typo.

 

I'll get the wife to give them a call.

[digbeth]

changing tyre at car dealership is asking to get ripped off, tyre shop will have newer stock for cheaper

 

so too getting your car serviced there after the warranty has ran out, but if you don't know any better, a rip-off garage might do worse

[JAS21]

Michelin Primacy, if they do them in your size, would be my first choice. They give a soft ride.

[Liverpool Lou]

8 hours ago, Lacessit said:

If you want to give you and yours an edge in surviving on Thai roads, buy Michelins.

What is so much better about Michelin tyres that will give him, or anyone else, "the edge in survival" over any of the other premium (or even not-so-premium) brands for normal driving?

[Lacessit]

3 hours ago, seedy said:

Our CR-V stock 205/70R-15

Now running 215/55ZR-17

No issues. No check engine light, no burning crosses in the yard, no visits from the devil.

Have done 'Plus 1' at least on all my vehicles without an issue

This calculator will give you the percentage difference when changing any parameter.

https://tire-calc.com/comparison/215-55-r17-and-205-70-r15/

Er - checked your fuel consumption?

[FriendlyFarang]

5 hours ago, seedy said:

Our CR-V stock 205/70R-15

Now running 215/55ZR-17

No issues. No check engine light, no burning crosses in the yard, no visits from the devil.

Have done 'Plus 1' at least on all my vehicles without an issue

This calculator will give you the percentage difference when changing any parameter.

https://tire-calc.com/comparison/215-55-r17-and-205-70-r15/

Because, as we can see in the calculator, the diameter of the tires didn't change.

But in case of OP, if changing the tires to the ones that the dealer suggested, the diameter would change.

[DavisH]

2 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Er - checked your fuel consumption?

Acceleration can also be affected. There is a 1/2 second difference between the honda civic rs hev with 18 inch wheels vs the el+ model with the 17". The rest of the car is basically the same (rs a little heavier but not by much). 

[Lacessit]

1 hour ago, DavisH said:

Acceleration can also be affected. There is a 1/2 second difference between the honda civic rs hev with 18 inch wheels vs the el+ model with the 17". The rest of the car is basically the same (rs a little heavier but not by much). 

Longer term, the other effects are on components such as steering and axles. A larger or heavier tyre could be expected to reduce service life by one or two years.

Having said that, a tyre with a bigger footprint would afford better grip.

[seedy]

10 hours ago, FriendlyFarang said:

Because, as we can see in the calculator, the diameter of the tires didn't change.

But in case of OP, if changing the tires to the ones that the dealer suggested, the diameter would change.

Are you saying that this will cause problems in the ECM, TCM, BCM, etc ?

Our D-Max has much wider and shorter tires than stock - no issues.

Teana - wider

 

[DavisH]

12 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Longer term, the other effects are on components such as steering and axles. A larger or heavier tyre could be expected to reduce service life by one or two years.

Having said that, a tyre with a bigger footprint would afford better grip.

I went to bigger tires on standard rims on our swift. They were pilot sport tires and had amazing grip in the wet over stock. I haven't experienced any negative effects on steering or suspension with that set up. The only extra money we have spent on that car in 10 years was the air cond evaporator. If going to bigger wheels, I'd look for lightweight ones if possible. I'm getting old so prefer my comfort from higher ratio tires.