When I bought my K12 Sport+ a few months ago it came with a set of tyres with a good tread depth less than half worn on the back but the front tyres were getting nearer the wear limit indicators. A bit more of an inspection showed that the front nearside one had been clouted on the inside wall and had a nasty cut in it. I managed to pick up a, less than half worn Bridgestone E300, to replace it and when I got my full size matching spare wheel that had a quite good tyre on it so that replaced the other front wheel, the most worn, but still legal tyre becoming the spare.
The original tyres on the car where all INF-040, so I still had two 'good' ones on the back. Over the last few months I have put 3 or 4 thousand miles on the car and was a 'little disappointed' at the level of road noise and harshness of the suspension, which I just put down to 'Sports' suspension and low profile tyres (185-50-16) but also the skittishness of the back of the car and the degree of understeer it exhibited in the wet, to the degree that I had a couple of 'brown trouser moments' when the back end just let go on roundabouts.
In expectation of some colder weather in the not too distant future and possibly some snow I started to look around for a spare set of wheels to fit winter tyres to (the car that the Micra replaced was a Citroen ZX diesel which had spent the last couple of winters with 14" Saxo VTR alloys shod with Nokian W3 winter tyres on it) .
I soon gave up on the idea of spare wheels when I realised that I'd be lucky to get another set of matching 16" alloys for less than about £300, plus the cost of the winter tyres
. (the Saxo alloys only cost me about £100, with the part worn Nokians already on them).
'Plan B' now came into play and I decided that a set of 'all season' tyres was the answer. The only ones really being advertised in the UK were Michelin Cross Climate, and having had Michelin Alpine tyres on my earlier Saab I thought that this was the way to go.
How wrong can you be, bloody Michelin don't make Cross Climates in 185-50-16 so back to square one.
I looked around and was very fortunate to find perhaps the last set of Vredestein Quatrac 5 , in the country, in the correct size, from Camskill, at a more than reasonable price of £59.95 each
I bought these a couple of weeks ago and finally had them fitted on Friday.
To say that they have transformed the car is an understatement! The road noise has vanished, the harshness over imperfections in the road has gone and the car just feels so much more stable and planted now.
Anyone want a cheap pair of half worn 185-50-16 Chinese ditch finders?
The original tyres on the car where all INF-040, so I still had two 'good' ones on the back. Over the last few months I have put 3 or 4 thousand miles on the car and was a 'little disappointed' at the level of road noise and harshness of the suspension, which I just put down to 'Sports' suspension and low profile tyres (185-50-16) but also the skittishness of the back of the car and the degree of understeer it exhibited in the wet, to the degree that I had a couple of 'brown trouser moments' when the back end just let go on roundabouts.
In expectation of some colder weather in the not too distant future and possibly some snow I started to look around for a spare set of wheels to fit winter tyres to (the car that the Micra replaced was a Citroen ZX diesel which had spent the last couple of winters with 14" Saxo VTR alloys shod with Nokian W3 winter tyres on it) .
I soon gave up on the idea of spare wheels when I realised that I'd be lucky to get another set of matching 16" alloys for less than about £300, plus the cost of the winter tyres
. (the Saxo alloys only cost me about £100, with the part worn Nokians already on them).'Plan B' now came into play and I decided that a set of 'all season' tyres was the answer. The only ones really being advertised in the UK were Michelin Cross Climate, and having had Michelin Alpine tyres on my earlier Saab I thought that this was the way to go.
How wrong can you be, bloody Michelin don't make Cross Climates in 185-50-16 so back to square one.
I looked around and was very fortunate to find perhaps the last set of Vredestein Quatrac 5 , in the country, in the correct size, from Camskill, at a more than reasonable price of £59.95 each
I bought these a couple of weeks ago and finally had them fitted on Friday.
To say that they have transformed the car is an understatement! The road noise has vanished, the harshness over imperfections in the road has gone and the car just feels so much more stable and planted now.
Anyone want a cheap pair of half worn 185-50-16 Chinese ditch finders?
