I want to specify the tyre brand

[Cyker]

There's no legal requirement for winter tyres here, so it's easier and cheaper for them to just fit summer tyres and leave it up to the customer.

In contrast, I'm told in some of the scandinavian countries it's not uncommon to get 8 rims with the car - 4 for summer tyres and 4 for winter!

 

[Roy124]

I once successfully got a dealer to fit a stainless steel exhaust.  He accepted the opportunity to pass the original exhaust as a new replacement exhaust later on. 

If your dealer routinely does tyre changes they it is conceivable that he could take your new ones into stock.  I would expect you would have to pay a premium for your new tyres, pay for the cost of changing, and pay a restocking charge. 

Alternatively you might be able to agree a deal with a tyre dealer, same thing regarding fees. 

Best option as mentioned upthread is sell your tyres on after you change them. 

[APS]

On 10/26/2022 at 4:38 PM, Cyker said:

In contrast, I'm told in some of the scandinavian countries it's not uncommon to get 8 rims with the car - 4 for summer tyres and 4 for winter!

Yes, in all the Nordic countries this is quite normal. The dealer often provide a set of steel rims for winter.

[anchorman]

On 10/25/2022 at 9:16 PM, SinglePointSafety said:

Anchorman, would be interested to know if your CC2s are XL spec and if the Lexus ones were non-XL

My son now owns the Golf Alltrack which was originally fitted (by me) with Michelin CC and recently replaced with CC2s: no difference at all in ride and noise, that's in 17-inch 55-section tyres. The tyre pressure recommended by VW is insanely high (to get better mpg) and the local tyre fitter recommended a more sensible lower pressure, which also improved the ride (made minimal difference to noise)

This is all it says on the receipt.  Don’t know if the photos give a clue;

4 x Michelin CrossClimate SUV 225/60 R18 W (104)

4 x Michelin CrossClimate 2 195/55 R16 V (87), 

 

[SinglePointSafety]

The 225/60 R18 tyres are almost certainly XL (based on the Black Circles web site) but that's a lovely sensible profile, ideal for the atrocious roads where I live

The other tyres.... 87-load with V speed rating, are shown as non-XL

[Cyker]

Yeah, in my experience, typically anything with a load rating 92+ is XL rated.

 

[TonyHSD]

Latest all season tyres XL or standard spec are still more rugged than typical summer touring tyres. Something very important that no one from the famous tyres channels on YouTube and any other media noticed or wished to talk about.
I found that after I had Goodyear vector’s  for two weeks and after I had done an extended research I made my mind., for me all season tyres are not good for my hybrid, perhaps for newer ones might be ok. If I ever need a tyres suitable for cold weather and snow I will buy dedicated winter tyres eu style, they are softer and way more comfortable than any all season tyres, has better grip in snow and ice too. 

[Roy124]

If you change your car every 2-3 years you maybe reluctant to splash out on a spare set of rubber.  However if you plan on replacing your car for the same make it might be worth buying a set of wheels and using them on successive cars.

I got a set of wheels and M&S wheels with studs and used them for 8 years on 4 SAABs.  I eventually sold them when the profile of the last car was much broader than the original.  Over 7 winters there was no appreciable wear.

[RobertR]

I also want to put all-season tires, Continental namely(from what I read in reviews), but some people are not happy with this swap, but no primary description why they are not happy, only lower mpg, but overpaying the fuel due to all-season tires lets say 5€ per months is nothing for me, still less money than swap tires two times a year, so mpg is not a concern for me.

But my central question is about comfort and noise in the cabim. Yaris cross is noisy car so quiet tires are a must-have for me, any recomendation? Snow conditions are rare here (only a couple of days a year), so show performance is not critical for me, only low noise and good wet performance in mild/summer conditions.

On some test the Continental all season are good in rolling performance and they are marked as comfort and silent, and there are some reviews with high rolling resistance together with noise. No exact test put 215/50 R18 in the test. And i don't want a smaller rims, I like big rims.

[Roy124]

On 10/23/2022 at 9:49 AM, SinglePointSafety said:

 

Note that some folk have reported that some all-season tyres are initially noisy but after a few 1000 miles have got much quieter. Not my experience but I don't disbelieve them

 

I would suggest that is brain-filter more than actual change in noise. 

[TonyHSD]

20 minutes ago, RobertR said:

I also want to put all-season tires, continental namely(from what I read in reviews), but some people are not happy with this swap, but no primary description why they are not happy, only lower mpg, but overpaying the fuel due to all-season tires lets say 5€ per months is nothing for me, still less money than swap tires two times a year, so mpg is not a concern for me.

But my central question is about comfort and noise in the cabim. Yaris cross is noisy car so quiet tires are a must-have for me, any recomendation? Snow conditions are rare here (only a couple of days a year), so show performance is not critical for me, only low noise and good wet performance in mild/summer conditions.

On some test the continental all season are good in rolling performance and they are marked as comfort and silent, and there are some reviews with high rolling resistance together with noise. No exact test put 215/50 R18 in the test. And i don't want a smaller rims, I like big rims.

I did an extensive research lately about all season tyres as I did put some of the best of these kind - Goodyear vector 4 season gen 3 , and I wasn’t very impressed, actually I was disappointed to discover something that no one ever talked about these type of tyres. All of the latest top brands all season tyres are more rugged than their summer or eu winter equivalent and although they are quiet or even quieter than the summer tyres they are harder over bumps, rocks, cracks and road imperfections creating less comfortable ride. They are soft and squishy rubber but their metal carcass are harder and side ribs (shoulders) are slightly stiffer, all that to be able to perform well in hot summers. These characteristics along with higher rolling resistance make all season tyres not the best choice for Toyota hybrids imo. If you live in mountain regions or in areas with bad roads, mud, sand, snow ice then they are better than typical summer tyres but not as good as typical winter tyres. Also all season tyres are suitable for temperatures down to -5C° and even at temperatures close to 7C° and below they loose comfort a lot, very similar to summer ones, perhaps only can offer little bit more grip in slippery conditions. I got rid of my all season tyres just after two weeks. Here more about that drama and the truth that I had learned. 👍

 

[GR Weasel]

Yeah personally I would stick with summer tyres, All Season comes at a cost, Comfort, Life Span , Performance  and it hasn't snowed for a year now where I live, and even if it did not sure i would want to chance it with all season tyres anyway as hybrids are automatic so not as much control over a manual on your revs. 

When it does snow for a few days of the year will just not go into work or take the train like I used to before.

[SinglePointSafety]

Thanks, some interesting posts on all-season tyres, but complaints about ride? Absolutely not my direct experience at all. Swapping from Michelin Primacy to CC+ (now superseded by CC2) and same size, there was no discernible deterioration in large-bump absorption (but the small-bump and road buzz were much muted). Also no difference, within statistical uncertainty, in fuel consumption, but all the advantages of road noise reduction and improved steering feel. It literally transformed the driving experience for the better, and some experimenting with tyre pressures improved things further

When I sold my last car, I'd garaged the original wheels and 50-section summer tyres and used 65-section higher-profile all-season tyres on smaller wheels for my ownership. Swapping the original wheels/tyres back for my last journey to the buyer, I realised what I'd been missing: a significantly noisier and harder ride. So on my Yaris Cross, that will be my strategy: buy some smaller wheels, fit higher-profile CC2s or GY Vec all-season

[SinglePointSafety]

Resurrecting this thread because my new Yaris Cross Excel is now in Grimsby (!) and thus I've been researching possible wheel/tyre changes. It will come with 18-inch wheels with 50-section tyres, not ideal for the local appalling roads (my council has long ago decided road repairs will no longer happen in my locality) and hence would prefer smaller wheels, higher-profile tyres, and will definitely opt for all-season tyres, based on very favourable direct personal experience of swapping from summer to all-season tyres, both same size on one car, and 19-inch to 17-inch on another

What's interesting is that the 16-inch wheels (as supplied on the Icon trim) have an unusual tyre size of 205/65 R16 (on 6.5J width rims) which is basically a van tyre according to multiple websites of tyre retailers, hence there's very little choice of premium summer car tyres, and virtually no choice of all-season tyres. Why on earth did Toyota choose this size.....? (well, actually, because it's the same rolling radius as the 17-inch 215/55 or 18-inch 215/50 tyres on Design and Excel)

Asked Toyota about changing wheel size, they referred me to dealer (their default response), asked dealer if this would in any way invalidate the warranty, no response, prodded Toyota who prodded dealer, repeat 3 times, eventually got the usual badly-written reply from 'head tech' at dealer, but at least it was "yes, you can do this, but if the wheels cause damage because of bad fitting or wheel failure, we won't cover that" which is fair enough and what I expected

Changing tyre size from 205/65 R16 to eg 215/65 R16 (cheapest tyres) or 215/60 (slightly more expensive) gives all the choice I'd need and both sizes are well within the recommended +- 3% rolling radius change. But.... not the same spec as that fitted by Toyota, although perfectly legal. Not sure if I can bear to engage with dealer to ask about this slight change in tyre size....

Changing to 17-inch rims and 215/55 R17 tyres (on 7J rims), loads of choice, but wheels and tyres are significantly more expensive than 16-inch variant, although of course are identical in spec to the ones Toyota fits as standard, so no worries there

All would be declared to my insurance company if I choose to change wheels, and past experience is that LV= are fine with going to smaller wheels. Of the companies that supply rims, based on personal experience of on-line chats and email queries, and their very good prices, I'd recommend Performance Alloys https://www.performancealloys.com/ but check on availability and delivery time. PA is based in Northern Ireland and thus takes advantage of NI being in the EU single market, getting wheels from the EU manufacturers

Hope others here might find the above useful and obviously I'd very much welcome any comments

[flash22]

There are plenty of tyres in the 205/65R16 size https://www.blackcircles.com/tyres/205-65-16 £75 upwards, van rated just mean they have a higher load rating and thicker side walls

 

Think of the poor Aygo X owners, they have a grand total of 2 tyre choices

As for alloys, i have used rimstyle many times they have a lot of stock and carry some rare wheels

https://www.rimstyle.com/

 

[SinglePointSafety]

Thanks flash22, but the advice of my local tyre fitters is that the higher load rating and thicker side walls will give a much less compliant ride for something like the YC, which is hugely lighter than a van. Indeed, they said they'd pretty much refuse to fit these unless I insisted, because of this

And thanks - will look at rimstyle, see what their prices are like

But, good news, just had a convo with my insurance company, they have no problem with me fitting smaller wheels (of course not!) but - more importantly - with a small but legal variation in tyre size. So it will be 16-inch wheels and (probably) 215/65 tyres. They only get concerned about people fitting bigger wheels, for all of the obvious reasons

[SinglePointSafety]

To save people wasting their time, rimstyle currently don't list wheels for the yaris cross, only yaris (unless I'm missing something obvious). Another alternative is wheelbase, https://www.wheelbasealloys.com/ although they are expensive for some wheels cf Performance alloys

 

[Mojo1010]

For my better ride quality when I get the Yaris excel would cost north of £800. Swapping over the TPMS add extra, it's just not worth it. I could just one day go 215/45/17 to get a little more air. 

 

[SinglePointSafety]

Mojo, take your point: a set of wheels and tyres will indeed be approx £1K but....if you need new tyres in the ownership time of the car, for the YC the 16-inch are > £50 cheaper (each) than 18-inch, offsetting the cost. And when I changed wheels/tyres on my previous car, after refitting the originals when the car was sold, I also sold the after-market alloys and tyres for a good price. And one final consideration: if you wreck a Toyota wheel, it will cost you ~£400. Wreck an after-market one, it's ~£100.....(where I live, the roads are so bad, this isn't an unlikely occurrence)

And if, like me, you want/need all-season tyres (eg trips planned to places where it's obligatory to have winter-rated tyres) the 'scrap value' of the summer tyres is ~£10 each, based on some phone calls to tyre places that sell used tyres

[TonyHSD]

1 hour ago, SinglePointSafety said:

Mojo, take your point: a set of wheels and tyres will indeed be approx £1K but....if you need new tyres in the ownership time of the car, for the YC the 16-inch are > £50 cheaper (each) than 18-inch, offsetting the cost. And when I changed wheels/tyres on my previous car, after refitting the originals when the car was sold, I also sold the after-market alloys and tyres for a good price. And one final consideration: if you wreck a Toyota wheel, it will cost you ~£400. Wreck an after-market one, it's ~£100.....(where I live, the roads are so bad, this isn't an unlikely occurrence)

And if, like me, you want/need all-season tyres (eg trips planned to places where it's obligatory to have winter-rated tyres) the 'scrap value' of the summer tyres is ~£10 each, based on some phone calls to tyre places that sell used tyres

You can just  buy all seasons you like on your original 18” wheels. No insurance trouble, no warranty issues and no drama. If you go back to smaller wheels only fit standard sizes as per the lower trim options, any other difference it will change car driving dynamics and speed reading, and it will look odd. On Yaris cross 18” wheels and tyres set are not too bad 50 is a good side wall percentage, 45 and below are ten one who can cause wheel damage and harsher drive. 

[RobertR]

215/55 is a more common size, wondering what happens if I put this size on YX. It's slightly longer in diameter, but other than the tacho will be a little off, no major problem should occur. But not sure what will tell hybrid car settings for this change. Wheel arches are big enough to fit little bigger tires.

[anchorman]

Neighbour put Continental all seasons on hers the day it was delivered.   I’m amazed how quiet and compliant they are - a lot quieter than my Yaris which I’ve just put Michelin CC2 on.   So much so that I’ve just bought a set for the Cross while they are on offer.  

[SinglePointSafety]

RobertR, 215/55 is indeed an approved tyre size, for the 17-inch wheels. If you deviate from the so-called 'approved' tyre size, that's totally fine, as long as the diameter is within certain change limit, recommended < +- 3% and - of course - you notify your insurance company. There are many web sites which do the comparison for you, such as https://www.willtheyfit.com/ but the bottom line is: don't deviate too much from the 'standard' size, so that it's fine to go from 205/65 to 215/65 or 215/60 but not more extreme changes

TonyHSD, thanks: the above should answer some of your points regarding tyre size changes: my various posts above already answers the others as to why I might do this wheel size change

[SinglePointSafety]

Anchorman, thanks hugely, that's very useful info - was debating which all-season tyres to go for, lots of choice in 215/65 R16, have been looking at the tyre review channels on YouTube, especially https://www.youtube.com/@tyrereviews/videos

The Hankook tyres come out well especially for their price, but as with all of these reviews, the order of merit does seem to (a) shift between the various review sites and (b) shift when going from one size to another, and I need to decide which factor is most important to me (which is ride comfort and noise)

[anchorman]

8 minutes ago, SinglePointSafety said:

Anchorman, thanks hugely, that's very useful info - was debating which all-season tyres to go for, lots of choice in 215/65 R16, have been looking at the tyre review channels on YouTube, especially https://www.youtube.com/@tyrereviews/videos

The Hankook tyres come out well especially for their price, but as with all of these reviews, the order of merit does seem to (a) shift between the various review sites and (b) shift when going from one size to another, and I need to decide which factor is most important to me (which is ride comfort and noise)

I paid £561 all in for the Contis.   Are you sure it’s worth changing tyre size?   I know what you mean about pot holes etc because I live in the Peak District where it’s all poor condition lanes but I’ve never damaged a wheel.  The ride in that Cross is smoother than the Yaris I’m running until my Cross comes.   If you find yourself up here my neighbour will let you ride in the Cross.