New Tyre Time

[SB1500]

Hello all, I've ordered four new Michelin Primacy 4 S1 tyres for my Avensis.  They were no longer showing on Kwik-Fit or BlackCircles (I wanted this model due to the A rating for both fuel and wet grip).  AutoDoc was the only site listing them for sale at £148 per tyre and "free delivery". They told me on the support chat that 'we no longer deliver tyres to the UK period', but the website still let me order them so I did that... oops.  He cited Brexit as the reason, so I asked "Can you ship to Northern Ireland given that we're still in the EU customs zone" (unfortunately). He said no, still not possible...  I'm hoping that potentially he's wrong and due to the legal mumbo-jumbo, it will ship to NI? 

Worst comes to worst, they'll cancel my order and refund it in the next week and I can afford to wait for that to happen. It still says processing presently...  I'll keep you all updated on the outcome. 

 I used the MPN number on the Michelin site based on my reg to ensure the correct fit / tyre size. Factory 17" alloys on my car so no issues there I hope. 

I couldn't decide between Primacy and Pilot Sport but since MPG has been one of the disappointing / realities of my Avensis I thought let's see how far the "A" rating goes. It also seems to be the correct category 'premium touring' tyres for this class of car, especially as it's not really sporty by design or market position from Toyota. I pretty much concluded Michelin due to the long lasting reputation and experience I've had with them. I spent a fortune on my car last year, on a lot of things I could have got away with not doing but am glad I did. This year, it's two services and these tyres. 

Anyone else here using Primacy's on their Avensis, how are they?  I'm hoping for a big improvement over my El Cheapo tyres fitted presently, though they haven't killed me so far so I think they've done their job. 

[Cyker]

Do you have any ATS Euromasters where you are?

They are still offering large discounts on Michelin rubber, definitely the cheapest I've seen on-line.

 

 

[FROSTYBALLS]

19 minutes ago, Cyker said:

Do you have any ATS Euromasters where you are?

They are still offering large discounts on Michelin rubber, definitely the cheapest I've seen on-line.

ATS Euromaster and Blackcircles are both owned by Michelin.

[SB1500]

18 minutes ago, Cyker said:

Do you have any ATS Euromasters where you are?

They are still offering large discounts on Michelin rubber, definitely the cheapest I've seen on-line.

 

 

Unfortunately not, I remember seeing this last September though. They had the Pilot Sport 5's at a great price, I was going to get them when I did my trip over there to Liverpool but a couple of local tyre shops told me mine would do a few more months back then so I didn't take it. They won't send to NI either, I emailed them and all but they still couldn't apparently. Some crappy company Modern Tyres bought their NI branches a long time ago, it's one of those places you call for a price and they just never get back to you.. "support local" mmm.  Thank you for the suggestion though, I wish we did have ATS Euromaster here.

[SB1500]

1 minute ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

ATS Euromaster and Blackcircles are both owned by Michelin.

I wish BlackCircles had more of the Michelin range.  They are an impressive company from a business standpoint to study, with the road trip guide / Michelin star restaurant thing and their efforts in marketing, not even surprised at that. I knew about Black Circles but didn't know they owned ATS 😮

[FROSTYBALLS]

See: https://www.michelin.co.uk/distribution#:~:text=ATS Euromaster is a distribution network owned by,tyre and vehicle repair services in the UK.

[TonyHSD]

Pilot sport are high performance tyres where primacy are touring ones. The later will have better comfort, lower rolling resistance aka more fuel efficient, and perhaps slight longer life, which will make them better choice for Avensis. Goodyear efficient grip performance 2 are even better than Michelin in this particular category., especially in terms of comfort, wet handling and longevity. 👍🛞

[avensis_2018]

Which tyres are the best one for the avensis ? I put 5 new tyres ,4 plus 1 spare of KLEBER.

I think they are very good tyres for this car. Highly recommend, but.... if there is something that will make huge differend i will be glad to hear.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Kleber are another Michelin brand .....

[avensis_2018]

Kleber are very good.

All the chainess ones are very bad.

[SB1500]

5 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

Pilot sport are high performance tyres where primacy are touring ones. The later will have better comfort, lower rolling resistance aka more fuel efficient, and perhaps slight longer life, which will make them better choice for Avensis. Goodyear efficient grip performance 2 are even better than Michelin in this particular category., especially in terms of comfort, wet handling and longevity. 👍🛞

I will go for the Goodyear Efficient Grip Performance 2 if for some reason, AutoDoc cancel my order as per their support agents info.   So far today though, it's moved from "System is processing your order" to "Warehouse is processing your order" with more progress on the bar.  Looking good so far... but as their receipt / acknowledgement says if it's not shipping by 2 days then it's a sign they haven't / aren't able to fulfil the order 

[2009joe]

i have these on my cat i find there good tyres i have them on my front and well i bought them when i bought my car and that was 2 years ago.good tyres not a bother with them 215/55R17

https://www.bridgestone.co.uk/car-tyres/summer-tyres-turanza

[Jim-p]

Sorry to jump on this thread but i put 4 new ones on this evening, e80 a tyre. Tbh, I don't know what they are but they're one notch up from bargain basement which was e75. 205/60 R16. Not sure if they're 55 or 60. Anyway, I was telling the guy that the front outside wear quickly, left in particular and the rear wear heavily on the inside. He was saying I could put 34 in them to wear more in the middle. Has anyone else tried this. I'm skeptical tbh, have always put the recommended 31 in. Rotation is important to get any decent life out of a set.

Also, I do tracking once a year.

[SB1500]

Today's update... looking good so far. Went from "system processing" to "warehouse processing". Now I've got a tracking number from some strange German logistics firm which isn't live yet... but it looks very much like they're going to send them despite what the support agent said. God knows they've taken the money out of the account...! 

Question now is, where to have them fitted... Toyota garage where I'd feel better about things like alignment and balancing etc being done and like they'd not be desperate for a few £ and lie about it needing done...... or if I can get a hold of him, our area mobile Kwik-Fit guy, he was sound enough a couple of years ago with the DS3, sorta understood the whole don't chip the wheels thing...  and he talks as he's doing it, not secretive or bothered about a customer that wants to see it be done which I like! 

I can't wait to report back on how the Michelin's feel on the Avensis versus the el cheapo ones. They are currently Churchill RCB 009 so like E for fuel and C for wet grip. 71db for sound.  The Primacy 4 S1's are A for fuel, A for wet grip and A / 68db on sound. Doesn't sound like it'll make much of a difference - but who knows. Maybe the sound will be a less annoying frequency or something. 

I've also never replaced all four at once, but the rears have cracks and the fronts, well, they're not too bad really, if you look for them there's the signs of cracks starting. The cheap tyres I've found (Lassa and the likes) tend to be hard enough wearing with grip, but aquaplane really easy and don't give much feel, at least on the Panda's but they sort of understeered anyway in the way with the height / narrowness of the car. The pic was taken last June and shows the condition then...

Hoping these are somewhere in between the Pilot Sport 4's on the DS3 and the Cross Climate 2s on the DS3, one being phenomenally sporty and good at cornering / grip, the other which was very comfortable and smooth in a straight line, but noisy and relatively horrific / clumsy around roundabouts if pushed. 

I'm actually quite irrationally excited about something as mundane as... new tyres! lol 

[Morton54]

Short message.. I have used an insane amount of time searching for tires giving my Avensis the quietest ride. 

Result: Summer tires:  Falken ZE310 Ecorun 94V,  215/55R17.   (An incredible difference from the stock tires)

               Winter tires:  Goodyear 215/55R17 98T  Ultragrip Ice 2  

[TonyHSD]

On 1/12/2023 at 10:48 PM, SB1500 said:

Today's update... looking good so far. Went from "system processing" to "warehouse processing". Now I've got a tracking number from some strange German logistics firm which isn't live yet... but it looks very much like they're going to send them despite what the support agent said. God knows they've taken the money out of the account...! 

Question now is, where to have them fitted... Toyota garage where I'd feel better about things like alignment and balancing etc being done and like they'd not be desperate for a few £ and lie about it needing done...... or if I can get a hold of him, our area mobile Kwik-Fit guy, he was sound enough a couple of years ago with the DS3, sorta understood the whole don't chip the wheels thing...  and he talks as he's doing it, not secretive or bothered about a customer that wants to see it be done which I like! 

I can't wait to report back on how the Michelin's feel on the Avensis versus the el cheapo ones. They are currently Churchill RCB 009 so like E for fuel and C for wet grip. 71db for sound.  The Primacy 4 S1's are A for fuel, A for wet grip and A / 68db on sound. Doesn't sound like it'll make much of a difference - but who knows. Maybe the sound will be a less annoying frequency or something. 

I've also never replaced all four at once, but the rears have cracks and the fronts, well, they're not too bad really, if you look for them there's the signs of cracks starting. The cheap tyres I've found (Lassa and the likes) tend to be hard enough wearing with grip, but aquaplane really easy and don't give much feel, at least on the Panda's but they sort of understeered anyway in the way with the height / narrowness of the car. The pic was taken last June and shows the condition then...

Hoping these are somewhere in between the Pilot Sport 4's on the DS3 and the Cross Climate 2s on the DS3, one being phenomenally sporty and good at cornering / grip, the other which was very comfortable and smooth in a straight line, but noisy and relatively horrific / clumsy around roundabouts if pushed. 

I'm actually quite irrationally excited about something as mundane as... new tyres! lol 

These tyres from the pictures are done. 
New tyres no matter make and model simply can’t last more than 3-4 years in uk because of the salt during winter. I had all my tyres replaced just because of cracks everywhere and not because been worn out like older days. I could easily do 100k miles from one set if no salt on the roads., but that’s what it is. For fitting any garage could do, and yes best to watch them what they are doing. 👍

[Jim-p]

4 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

These tyres from the pictures are done. 
New tyres no matter make and model simply can’t last more than 3-4 years in uk because of the salt during winter. I had all my tyres replaced just because of cracks everywhere and not because been worn out like older days. I could easily do 100k miles from one set if no salt on the roads., but that’s what it is. For fitting any garage could do, and yes best to watch them what they are doing. 👍

100k, wow, I got just under 50k km out of set and I thought I was doing well. We drive about 25k km a year so a set does about 2 years at best. People takes their tyres seriously on this thread and obviously spend more than what I do. But maybe better tyres are better value.

[Cyker]

Ignore Tony, he's some sort of road wizard, normal people can't get the kind of mileage out of their tyres he does! He must drive smoother than Jenson Button - I'm glad if I get more than 15k out of a set!  

(Mostly the fault of London... buuuuut also partly my fault   )

[TonyHSD]

True, the premium tyres in general are better value than the cheapest one. They last longer, perform muck better and withhold their properties almost until the very end, where the budget tyres are usually noisy, uncomfortable, dangerous in certain conditions like rain or cold and loose properties quickly with time. Some people run these all year around for many miles and been happy , I don’t. When the tyre sizes are odd and the replacement tyres cost crazy high prices I tend to buy mid rangers and some of these are as good as premium brands even better but at prices just slightly higher than budget ones. Tyres tricky indeed. For the longer life the formula is easy drive and motorway journeys, and of course pressure checks  🛞👌

[Jim-p]

Folks, anyone gotta rotation policy? My front wear on the outside and the back on the inside, so as soon as the get a nice bit worn I swap front straight to back. I've read in other places that people do x patterns and all sorts.

[TonyHSD]

28 minutes ago, Jim-p said:

Folks, anyone gotta rotation policy? My front wear on the outside and the back on the inside, so as soon as the get a nice bit worn I swap front straight to back. I've read in other places that people do x patterns and all sorts.

Hi, 

you can do X pattern but this depends on your tyres profile, if on the tyre wall says “outside “ you can do that but if it’s shows an arrow for direction then only can be swapped front to rear but keep same side of the car. If your tyres wear unevenly then best to do a wheel alignment and more often pressures checks.  Under inflated tyres tend to wear faster at outer edge where over inflated tyres wear faster on the middle. 
Regards 

[NeilAvensisT]

On 1/12/2023 at 11:10 PM, Morton54 said:

Short message.. I have used an insane amount of time searching for tires giving my Avensis the quietest ride. 

Result: Summer tires:  Falken ZE310 Ecorun 94V,  215/55R17.   (An incredible difference from the stock tires)

               Winter tires:  Goodyear 215/55R17 98T  Ultragrip Ice 2  

I have always used Falken tyres, reasonably priced, excellent quality and far, far better than the YinYang ditchfinders!

[SB1500]

Update on my tyres... they're still with German GLS courier saying that they are in transit to the final parcel centre... so a few days of that I suspect until it reaches Northern Ireland. Not sure when to expect them but thankfully no rush. 

Though, I'm surprised Toyota didn't say anything about the cracks. It passed the little health check they do when the gearbox oil was done. Though it was 3.5mm tread wear which was orange on their chart..  but of course that compound must be weak as it's a cheap brand. 

The brand is 'Churchill' (a real insult to the name in my estimation) and a quick search reveals no website, but sections on some tyre fitting garages websites talking about how they're apparently a 'premium budget tyre' which actually sounds like an oxymoron to me. 

The car was new in August 2018... four new (I'd love to know the brand name and model) tyres. These four budgets were put on at the same time, made in Week 25 of 2020 ... so the originals lasted two years and these lasted about two and a half. Estimating maybe around 25k miles per set give or take..  ex-lease so probably thrashed. 

Perhaps that's a reasonable time frame for the compound to have cracked up. These are rated like E for fuel and C for wet handling, and yet, I wouldn't say they're terrible-terrible. Though I will be a tad disappointed if these Primacy 4 S1's don't deliver a noticeable difference in handling / ride comfort to be honest. MPG improvements would be a bonus, but as advised on here before, I'm not holding my breath on that meaning too much in the real world. 

We have a lot of snow here this week randomly, makes me contemplate whether or not I should have opted for Cross Climate 2's but even for 4 weeks a year combined, it's probably not worth it. Now that I've bought summer tyres, I decided next year I'll buy a set of Toyota alloys - some nice new diamond cuts maybe - and get winter tyres on these factory alloys, some Michelin Alpin is it? and keep the summer tyres on the new ones.  Only issue is storage... might need to build or invest in a rack for the shed.  

[FROSTYBALLS]

Churchill are a UK importer of machine tools and tyres. The tyres are produced in China and Vietnam.

[SB1500]

1 hour ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

Churchill are a UK importer of machine tools and tyres. The tyres are produced in China and Vietnam.

I didn't know that, I couldn't find much on them brand wise or company wise. Interesting though!