Hello from Brazil

What about changing tires to 215/65 instead of 205/65, is there any problems? Here in Brazil we have bad asfalt, and increase a little bit of rubber will help ride. Thanks in advance!

Caique

Will make your speedometer read slow and make the gearing higher. I would think that they would fit under the wings - but you would have to try.

Peter.N.

Hi John

You are right - it was a typo!

Cheers

Tony

I have ordered a pair of the Vredestein Sportracs for mine today. Not many dealers around here. The best price I got was £79 each fitted. I rang Tyre Services and was told "Vredesteins mate. Proper ditch finders they are, I wouldn't even put them on a rim!" He then tried to sell me an Excelera (?!) for 49 quid each. Obviously a quality tyre they are
Prick!

They have to order them in and will have them in Tuesday-Wednesday. How are yours going Citroenmad?

Hi demag,

I doubt you will be dissapointed with the sportrac3s, as soon as i fitted then the road noise was much reduced and the steering felt more direct.

Dry grip is very good, but its in the wet where i find they are superb. In lots of standing water they dont flinch, just keep going straight and true. Braking and cornering in the wet are both very secure with lots of grip.

My car has only done about 3000 miles with them on the front, but they are showing no signs of wear so far. They really improved the drive of the car (and grip!) from the old ditchfinders that were on there.

They won an award with Autoexress for the best tyre in the 195/65/15 range (my size) which is one reason i wanted to try them.

I paid £150 for a pair, fitted at my local tyre place. What size tyres does yours take?

205's on mine so I suppose the price is fairly similar.

Actually, i was suposed to write £115!

Still, i know 205s are quite a bit more, so not a bad price.

Strange but all the tyre outlets around here charge very similar prices! All the cheapo nasty tyres are about 40-50 quid. Get onto the well known makes and it's £80+ ie Michelin, Uniroyal, Goodyear, Pirelli etc. As everyone who has used Vredesteins raves about them I'm quite looking forward to having them fitted.

I usually get a good deal on tyres, although they do seem to be increasing at the moment.

Ive just bee searching around for tyre prices for a C5 im looking at, £135 each for Michelins and £95 each for Vredesteins, steep!

Yes i think they are very good, although ive not had many tyres on the Xm, as its done so few miles with us, but they are far better than before and it grips very well, they are especially reassuring in the wet.

Ive yet to try Uniroyals on any car, but they get good reviews.

I had a set of uniroyal rain tyres on one of the 2.0sei's, great grip, but I wore the fronts out in 9000 miles - going too hard in the corners most likely.

Michelin Pilot Primacy I found OK, but seems you can't get them in 205/60/15 these days, so I had the fronts replaced with Michelin E3's at quite a cost from goold old kr@pfck. Sure dry grip is ok, wet not so good, and as for stability, absolute..... cr@p!! very soft side walls. The V6 now has an uneasy wobble on some bends and turns that it never had before with primacy or Pirelli p6k's, and even in uneven roads pulling to a stop at slow speed.... very highly not recommended I'd say.

A premium name on the sidewall doesn't always equate to a good tyre, unfortunately, but at the time I needed the fronts replaced quickly, not that they we're too close to the limit, but with winter fast approaching (Nov) and me departing to Geneva, and very little to to sort it, I wanted to be sure the GF would be ok should grip become the problem as the roads get slippery.

I did think to switch them to the rear and have the primacys on the front as they are fairly new, but I've been in the tail-first scenario a few times in the XM, is manageable, but for someone who's not driven it much before (twice) I figure not a good idea, and I can see it happening to me again given the poorer grip from these E3's!!

I tend to find the general Mich as a brand are rubbish once they get below 3-4mm, esp compared to p6k's (and I include the primacys here too), and the energy brand generally always so from new, but that's probably partly down to the speed I go into corners etc

regards
Dave

Just goes to show what effect different driving styles have. I always use cheapie tyres and get 30k+ from the fronts and the rears seem to last forever

quite, Peter. Most of the team I work with in London won't get in the car if I'm driving, just from seeing or hearing about the way I drive into the car park!! It's not so much that I drive like a total loon, but I get in there a lot quicker than almost anyone else since I don't have to worry about the bumps etc and then of course, the V6 growling at 3-5K revs makes them leap out of the way even if I'm nowhere near them

Of course the long chat I had with the police motorcyclist a few months back right outside the office gates must have helped the reputation no end too

I have two Michelin E3As on another car, i find them quite good really. Although they are on the back of that. Some cars, the Xm being one, does have a tendancy to step out at the back, so a good set of tyres is advisable.

I was in the tyre place getting a puncture repaired yesterday, a polo came in, which looked to have all of its original michelin tyres even though it was an 02 reg car.

They were being changed because they had worn very oddly, the tyres had distored leaving totally bald patches in some areas and lots of tread in others. Ive had some Firestone tyres do this to me, but i would have expected more from michelin.

One thing i rarely do, is have a full set of the same tyres on a car at one time. I replace them in pairs, but i generally try a different brand every time i need tyres. Ive not just stuck with one brand. Although i do generally go for the top names.

I find Continentals to be among the best tyres, the premium contacts are pretty unbeatable, even in the very heavy rain, cornering grip is superb. They do have a very weak sidewall and squeel when pushing on, but they grip and grip! Soon wear out though

I'm running Michelin Alpin Premacy tyres on my XM at the minute for the French winter, I find them to have excellent grip. The summer tyres are normal Michelin Premacy, and I'm not a fan at all, wet weather grip is poor. I have normal Michelin Energies on the other XM and have had them on the Xantia for years, and find them to be a good hard wearing tyre, and quite grippy in the wet. I haven't tried other brands, as I am happy with the Michelins. I always buy full sets of tyres, I like to get even wear out of them and swop them front to back, I don't like to have mismatched tyres on the car, and I hate the thought of having to bin rear tyres with excellent thread because they are too old and start to crack. My G reg XM had its orignal factory fit Michelins on the back and had to be binned becase the side walls were perishing.