new tyres

[karnash]

Hi,
I have a MY05 liberty which has done 35000 k's and the tyres need replacement. I drive to work and on weekends I might drive to wollongong or central coast from sydney.
I want to replace the tyres. Can someone suggest which one's should I go for ?

Also, does replacing the wheels + tyres increase/void my insurance ???

I am not sure but someone told me to look for new wheels + tyres deals ??

please suggest. thank you

[smythie]

welcome karnash. You should post an intro in the Introductions section

Tyre availability depends a fair bit on the size you choose. If (and from your brief description of your lib) you are running the OEM 17"ers (at 215/45R17 you should have a fairly good range of quality tyres to choose from. A bit of a search through the name brand websites reveals that there is a wealth of options there for you including the top of the range tyres (unlike for us running 215/45R18's )

In the end, you tend to get what you pay for. If you are willing to spend upwards of $300 per tyre for some good insurance (keep in mind the OEM Bridgestones are probably one of the more expensive options - pretty good tyre though) I believe you will be better off. If you buy cheap you will be downgrading the ability of your car to corner and brake. Your tyre is afterall the only thing between your car and the road.

Insurance wise, it depends on the insurer I guess. I think if you made it known to them up front you might be able to arrange cover which takes that into account. You need to make sure that the load and speed ratings of your tyre exceed the OEM though

One last thing, the last thing you want to do is pay $$$$ for old tyres. Most of the tyre chains aren't stupid enough to do this (as the potential damage to their reputation would huge). However there is always the chance that someone will try to foist off old stock onto an unsuspecting customer. You, as the customer, can actually check the time when each tyre was manufactured. See halfway down this page for some instruction. When it comes to buying new tyres you really shouldn't be buying anything more than 2 or 3 years old because by the time you have worn them down they'll be another 3 or 4 years older and that is OLD for a tyre. Personally I would refuse to buy anything more than 1 year old.

When buying your tyres ask for the newest items available. Also, ask to have a look at the tyres before they fit them.

[karnash]

Hello Smythie,

Thank you very much for your quick reply and the information you gave me. You are very kind.

I will go to some tyre shops and get some info.
should I ask for 21/45 R17 or can I fit some others like 245/45 r17 ?

or should I go for some tyre + wheels package if that works cheaper ??

I know I agree you get what you pay for and quality has a cost.

[jdm rsk]

Hello Smythie,

Thank you very much for your quick reply and the information you gave me. You are very kind.

I will go to some tyre shops and get some info.
should I ask for 21/45 R17 or can I fit some others like 245/45 r17 ?

or should I go for some tyre + wheels package if that works cheaper ??

I know I agree you get what you pay for and quality has a cost.

245/45/17 i dont think so , maybe a 225/40/17

[Arith]

Well he could try 245/30-17, but I don't think there is such a size and it probably won't fit the width of the wheel.

Karnash, it's not just a matter of selecting the larger number for tires. You have to balance out the width of the wheel, overall diameter, etc.

[subyroo]

When buying your tyres ask for the newest items available. Also, ask to have a look at the tyres before they fit them.

Sometimes if they are "too new" the tyres are still a little "green" in other words the rubber is greasy feeling to the hands and will wear out really quick as well, so be careful or take a mate with you that knows something about tyres.

[loweart]

Welcome karnash,

Unless you're really after a fresh look for your Liberty I would suggest that you place your focus ( and money for that matter ) on getting the best new tyres you can afford on the existing factory wheels.

The reason why I've made this suggestion is twofold,

Firstly there's not a lot of wheels available in the aftermarket range that will fit the Liberty because of it's higher than normal +55 offset. If you don't get a wheel that is close to this offset ( =/> +45 ) you'll not only have issues such as incorrect tracking, but in some cases have a wheel that won't clear your brake calipers - OUCH ! If you are after something different, I have a set of 4 near new 17 inch GMAX Defiant wheels still available for sale -> http://forum.liberty.asn.au/viewtopic.php?t=4112

Secondly, if you decide on getting new aftermarket wheels that are larger in diameter than the factory ones you have now, say a set of 18 inch rims. The price of the rims and moreso, the price of tyres goes up considerable, not to mention the choice of tyre brands/models are even more limited when you go up to 18 inch tyres than the current 17 inch factory wheels. Also, by going up in wheel diameter size, the profile/ratio of the tyre will need to come down and the resultant ride will be firmer and some maybe considered to be "harsher".

The guys previous to me have already covered the importance of maintaining the correct ride height of the tyre ( overall rolling diameter of the tyre ) and as you can see, it's not as simple as slapping on a tyre of the size you prefer.

I recently purchased a set of Pirelli Dragons in the 215/45/17 for $205 each which I'm really happy with. I have also previously used the Yokohama S drives @ $255 each and the Goodyear F1 @ $325 each.
I have also previously used Michelin Pilot Preceda tyres which have fantastic grip, but their pricing have gone through the roof in the last year or so which makes them harder to justify.

Anyways, hope this information is helpful to you in making a decision.

Cheers,
Lok

[karnash]

Firstly, thanks to you all wonderful people for your time and reply to my post on new tyres. Many thanks that helped me a lot.

I have couple of more questions on tyres:

I have noticed that there are some metal things on my tyres and different tyres have different number of metals. Pls see pic attached. Can someone pls advise what are they for and what do they signify ?????

Secondly, I changed my spare tyre for one that was very old and noticed that there is a red and yellow dot on the spare ??? Does that red and yellow signify anything ??????
[img]E:\Images\200903\200903A0\01032009353.jpg[/img]

[karnash]

Hi,
I also want to know if we have datadot on the tyres for protection ???

also is that datadot linked to the VIN or the engine number ???

[Arith]

That picture didn't make it. You'll need a site like Photobucket to host your pictures as you can only use URL's to post pics. You can't upload any pics directly to the forum unfortunately.

But here is an excerpt from the Wheel & Tire Bible which is a great resource of information (found at http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible.html)

--------------------

Coloured dots and stripes - whats that all about?

When you're looking for new tyres, you'll often see some coloured dots on the tyre sidewall, and bands of colour in the tread. These are all here for a reason, but it's more for the tyre fitter than for your benefit.

The dots on the sidewall typically denote unformity and weight. It's impossible to manufacture a tyre which is perfectly balanced and perfectly manufactured in the belts. As a result, all tyres have a point on the tread which is lighter than the rest of the tyre - a thin spot if you like. It's fractional - you'd never notice it unless you used tyre manufacturing equipment to find it, but its there. When the tyre is manufactured, this point is found and a coloured dot is put on the sidewall of the tyre corresponding to the light spot. Typically this is a yellow dot (although some manufacturers use different colours just to confuse us) and is known as the weight mark. Typically the yellow dot should end up aligned to the valve stem on your wheel and tyre combo. This is because you can help minimize the amount of weight needed to balance the tyre and wheel combo by mounting the tire so that its light point is matched up with the wheel's heavy balance point. Every wheel has a valve stem which cannot be moved so that is considered to be the heavy balance point for the wheel. (Trivia side note : wheels also have light and heavy spots. Typically the lightest spot on the wheel is found during manufacture and the heavier valve stem is then located diametrically opposite that light spot to help balance the wheel out).

As well as not being able to manufacture perfectly weighted tyres, it's also nearly impossible to make a tyre which is perfectly circular. By perfectly circular, I mean down to some nauseating number of decimal places. Again, you'd be hard pushed to actually be able to tell that a tyre wasn't round without specialist equipment. Every tyre has a high and a low spot, the difference of which is called radial runout. Using sophisticated computer analysis, tyre manufacturers spin each tyre and look for the 'wobble' in the tyre at certain RPMs. It's all about harmonic frequency (you know - the frequency at which something vibrates, like the Tacoma Narrows bridge collapse). Where the first harmonic curve from the tyre wobble hits its high point, that's where the tyre's high spot is. Manufacturers typically mark this point with a red dot on the tyre sidewall, although again, some tyres have no marks, and others use different colours. This is called the uniformity mark. Correspondingly, most wheel rims are also not 100% circular, and will have a notch or a dimple stamped into the wheel rim somewhere indicating their low point. It makes sense then, that the high point of the tyre should be matched with the low point of the wheel rim to balance out the radial runout.