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After hearing on the news this morning that snow is due to arrive on Wednesday, I decided that I really ought to check my tyres as we all know that x350s are not the market-leader in snow capability!

Well, the rears are on 1.6mm & 1.8mm. The fronts are on 3mm each but unfortunately the shock bushes that had worn earlier seemed to be the reason that the inner shoulders (or should I say, the inner 1/3 of the tyre!) had worn to zero.

So, it's four new tyres required. With the recent improvements in non-premium brand tyres, I have decided to try something other than the Pirellis or Continentals that I've previously fitted. I did toy with the idea of winter tyres but decided that I couldn't stomach the cost of a set of tyres and wheels now and then a new set of regular tyres in March.

I'd read some good reviews on the Kumho KU39 but I was put off by the noise rating of 74-76 decibels (depends which website you believe). In the end I've now ordered the Hankook Ventus V12 Evo K110. ( Has anyone tried them?) In 235/50 R18 101Y, I've got them for £145 each from Black Circle. They will be fitted by my preferred tyre fitter who has a nitrogen stuffer, balances from the inside and only uses a hand torque wrench for tightening. I had good experience of Hankooks on my Mini and they are now original fitment on some cars. And they also have the best combined rating of B for economy, B for wet driving and 70db for noise. A better rating overall than the Pirellis and the Continentals! Mind you, I do wonder if the rating system is really that accurate? Any thoughts?

I thought it was interesting that many of the non-premium brand tyres are not quite so cheap when you get to the larger sizes of tyres, such as those fitted to Jaguars. In the smaller sizes, some brands (not the really cheap ones) are not much more than 25% of the price of Pirellis, but for our cars, it's more like 65%-75% of the price.

So, they will be fitted on Wednesday, even though I suspect the car will still be undrivable if the snow is bad!

However, despite the good price, I bet that I won't get the 40,000 miles out of them that I've had out of the Continental Sport Contacts that they are replacing!

Paul

Paul ...forget Nitrogen filling, TV test found no difference or improvement compared with air. Save some more money.
I will be interested in how they feel though.

and the tyre pressure rose drematically when ' hot ' compared with air , which is 75% Nitrogen anyway ,

the only real benefit of Nitrogen over air is that is more predictable as a non mixed gas , and is only really usefull in racing .

as above

save the money , buy better rubber....

BB

Interesting comments about the nitrogen. I thought that it was less prone to pressure change as well as leakage which was it was widely used in racing. If the tyre pressure changes "dramatically" wouldn't that preclude its use by racing teams?

It doesn't cost me anything to have them filled with nitrogen. My fitter has a nitrogen stuffer so all tyres are filled with nitrogen as part of the fitting process. Interestingly he has lots of bikers coming to him before track days for balancing and nitrogen filling. I think I will do some reading up on the subject just for my own benefit.

Anyway, tyres were fitted this morning and despite my concerns, fitter said he was quite happy to do Black Circles fitting. I've also decided to do some more research on tyre label ratings as the fitter told me that the ratings are defined by the manufacturer rather than an independent body. That sounds rather counter-productive, doesn't it? The fitters said that some of the ratings on the very cheap chinese tyres are laughably over-optimistic.

Anyway, I can now confirm that the Hankooks are good for at least 14 miles, as that's all I've done today! However, what is clear is that the new Hankooks, before gum removal, are quieter than worn-out Continentals!

Here's to the next 39,986 miles!

Paul

I think the test was done on 5th gear and they found that nitrogen actually was inferior to air on some counts but Alzheimer's prevents me remembering the detail.
You are correct about the self labeling of the noise levels etc on tyres, in that is is done by the makers. Some will be honest and some won't . The noise level measured test by the way is external noise though I suppose it bears some relationship to noise in the car.
I have four new Pirellis ready to fit to my car which I got cheap so I hope they are ok when I get around to fitting them.

personally , i am running Vredestine tyres, and am more than happy with them , though they were not ' cheap ' and on a par with other top brands

as for the nitrogen , fist you have to remove all the ' air ' then replace 100% with nitrogen for the desired effect ,

with regard to the racing and temperatures, the nitrogen produced a higher pressure at temperature, but was stable when it got there, we are talking tripple anything a road car will experience , and racing tyres on the most part are designed for this range of temps

pays your money ( or not in ptjs1 case ) and takes your choice, lol

BB