Tyres /other things

Hi everyone,
First post here so be kind
Have owned my Freelander Sports for 2 1/2 years and in that time have just had one fault. The amber 'engine block symbol appearing at intermittent intervals and.. eventually... had the boost valve replaced. So far so good
Now looking at my first tyre replacements and I really am looking for as much advice as possible.
My tyre size is 235 50 18 101
The front tyres are Continental Contact 4 x 4 M & S. These are the ones that require replacing.
The rears are budget tyres - Fullrun hp199 - and I have to admit to not knowing very much about these. However they still have 5mm of tread. So thats only a loss of 3mm in 2 1/2 years which I found astonishing.
So these are obviously hard tyres but they are certainly very noisy !
Various people have advised that I ditch these rears (safety reasons/noise levels) and replace all 4 with like tyres (I am thinking either Contintental Contacts 4 x 4 or Pirelli Str).
I wouldnt ditch the rears as such as with their remaining tread I can probably sell on
Alternatively.. others have suggested ..put the budgets on the front and put the new on the rear. But I am not sure of any mismatch probs this might produce. I refer to this from another thread....
What is the importance of matched tyres on a Freelander?

Having unmatched tyre sizes on a Freelander 1 creates the same effect as a seized VCU, and can cause catastrophic damage to your drive train in just a few miles. A seized viscous coupling unit will put a strain all the way along the drive train, from the IRD / Transfer Box at the front (and even as far as the gearbox) through the VCU bearings, to the rear differential at the rear. If you continue to drive the Freelander with a seized VCU then you could cause irreparable damage to all these parts.
The crucial thing is to make sure you match tyre manufacturer, type and size on all four wheels of your Freelander (please note that even if you match the tyre type and size then there can be enough of a difference between the sizes from two different manufacturers to cause the VCU to seize – the tolerance level is only 5mm). If you really cannot afford to replace all four tyres at once then you may be able to get away with replacing just two from the same axle (i.e. the two rear tyres or the two front tyres – never replace just one tyre, and never replace one from the front and one from the rear), but make sure you get the same manufacturer, type and size as the ones that are remaining on the Freelander, and put the newest ones on the rear - but we really would recommend changing all four at the same time

Now I am unsure of what this 5mm tolerance refers to - can anyone shed any light on this ?
My head tells me to change all four ! The cheapest Continental 4 x 4 Contacts are £172 fitted/vat all in - and I really have had to trawl the net.

My wife is saying 'What !? £688 for 4 goddam tyres - are you crazy !? I am still trying to explain the technical/safety reasons to her - but her view is why dump 2 tyres (budget or not) when they still have 5mm of tread left.
Apologies for the length of my first post - but would welcome advise from all quarters here. I should add that my vehicle spends 80% on road 20% off road and I do very little mileage in it.
Of course there are other brands so would welcome opinions on what you would go for or indeed have on your freelander now.
Thanks
John

5mm tolerance refers to the difference in tread depth when comparing front to rear. 5mm tolerance is made up of guess work derived from peeps feeling of what they think is ok. We don’t actually know what the tolerance should be.

Pirelli Scorpion STR x5 fitted was £571 for me recently (size 215/65R16 98H)

If I were you I'd change all 5 tyres (spare is useless if it's not the same).

Same model/make/size is important. But that’s not the only factors involved which peeps need to think about. Same tyre pressure is paramount. Tyre tread pattern also has a dramatic effect. I will expand on this comment at a later date with proof.

Many thanks Hippo,
So with Pirelli Scorpion STR's in mind I have been getting some prices today.
ATS gave me £767.93 for 4 and then I came across blackcircles.com...
through their web site I am able to order 4 for £653.04 and fitted by local dealer all incl.
Seems a no brainer - unless I'm missing something here..
Cheers
John

ATS always expensive. Same as kwick fit
I swapped my alloys for smaller 16" alloys and my tyres were £75 a corner fitted for scorpions. Thats £350 cheaper than your best price for 18's. Depend how much you value your looks

Cheapest place i found was http://www.f1autocentres.co.uk/ and they have a price beat promise. I dont know if there is one around you though

Are you sure 235/50R18 is the correct size for your Freelander or is that whats on it at the moment?

What year is your Freelander ie 2005?

Does anyone else have a Freelander sport with 18 inch wheels who could advise the tyre size they've got fitted as £165 per corner is £50 more per coner than what I paid for 215R65/16 98H fitted.

Hippo said:

Are you sure 235/50R18 is the correct size for your Freelander or is that whats on it at the moment?

What year is your Freelander ie 2005?

Does anyone else have a Freelander sport with 18 inch wheels who could advise the tyre size they've got fitted as £165 per corner is £50 more per coner than what I paid for 215R65/16 98H fitted.

Click to expand...

Hippo, yep - 235 50 R18 and 2005 reg.
It appears that if you have 18 inch wheels you pay the 'extra' price for them
But then they are good lookers (well I think so
I drive the sports version
As for Pirellis STR's - there was a tyre poll on this forum and they were the choice by far (just hope most of the pollsters weren't spammers !)
Cheers !
John
p.s. I am still hunting around for a better price - but doubt blackcircle will be beaten...

John, have a look at halfords. I got my pirellis from there, cheaper than black circles at the time. I've got 17s on mine but you might be lucky.

Dunc.

Main dealers can also give a good price on new tyres. Surprised me too.

Thanks everyone !
Dunc, Halfords quote following for my 18's
Bridgestone 23550R18 97H EL42FZ - £161.42

Pirelli 23550R18 97H SCORP STRM+S - £157.40

Pirelli 23550R18 97H SCOR ZERO - £171.29

Continental 23550R18 101H FR 4X4CONXL - £194.16

Back to the drawing board and.. to find reviews on them
For the moment the Pirellis STR's hold sway
Cheers again all

John

Dunc,
Thought I'd let you know that I did order the Pirelli 23550R18 97H SCORP STRM+S at £157.40 each. I paid with the plastic last night and booked it in for Wed. All done with a few clicks of the button. Technology at its finest eh.
However... when my wife got home from work before me this afternoon she found a telephone answering machine message from.. Halfords Autocentre.
Hey oop she thought.
She spoke to the manager there who informed her the internet price was inaccurate and that the actual price per tyre was £165 - so for 4 that was an extra £30.40.
Now my wife doesnt take prisoners so her reply was "No chance - you have to honour the price at the time - the price I paid my bit of plastic for". Manager said he would call her back (was he going to have a talk with someone else higher ? or just a walk around his office ?). Anyway he called back and said the 'original price' would be honoured.
So there you go - always fight your corner . (And my other half surely does - well done dear !
Cheers !
John

Glosterlad said:

Dunc,
Thought I'd let you know that I did order the Pirelli 23550R18 97H SCORP STRM+S at £157.40 each. I paid with the plastic last night and booked it in for Wed. All done with a few clicks of the button. Technology at its finest eh.
However... when my wife got home from work before me this afternoon she found a telephone answering machine message from.. Halfords Autocentre.
Hey oop she thought.
She spoke to the manager there who informed her the internet price was inaccurate and that the actual price per tyre was £165 - so for 4 that was an extra £30.40.
Now my wife doesnt take prisoners so her reply was "No chance - you have to honour the price at the time - the price I paid my bit of plastic for". Manager said he would call her back (was he going to have a talk with someone else higher ? or just a walk around his office ?). Anyway he called back and said the 'original price' would be honoured.
So there you go - always fight your corner . (And my other half surely does - well done dear !
Cheers !
John

Click to expand...

Good on her! We dunt call them Halfrauds for nothing!

Well my other half took my sports down to Halfrauds this morning for the pre-arranging fitting of 4 Pirelli STR's. Even then the mngr tried to seduce her into having wheel alignment for an extra £29 (this wasnt required as only recently serviced...).

Now, I wasnt planning to pick up the motor till later in the afternoon but for some reason I still had 'bad vibes so managed to get away from work at midday to check out the fitting progress. I turned up to see the vehicle outside in a different parking bay to where my wife said she had parked it so thought.. great they've done the work !
But before I went into the office I first checked they had put the old rears in the boot (they had - things looking up... !)
I then checked the new tyres and lo and behold they werent STR's but Zeros. Immediately I thought they were ripping me off with inferior tyres and waded into the mngr demanding the STR's for which I had paid for. He tried to fob me off but I stuck to my guns. An hour later I got a call saying they had managed to get 4 from 'somewhere' 50 miles away.
I called up my other half again and relayed this story and she checked out the Zeros on the Halfords web site. It turned out that the Zeros are priced at £14 more a tyre than the STR's - so have I got egg on my face now. Should I have taken the Zeros ? I do see that Tyre reviews, tests and ratings | the online tyre guide advertise these as a high performance summer tyre - and I really went for the Scorpions as they are rated in snow (amongst other things). The mngr at Halfords did not explain why he didnt call me 'before' fitting the zeros though and nor did he say they were a superior tyre. So this is why I felt suspicious at the time. Anyway I will be going down to them shortly to pick up the motor as the STR's have now been fitted - with or without egg on my face :-O.
Cheers !
John
p.s. Have checked other sites - and they have the Zeros (not Assimetrico) at 'cheaper' than the STR's. I am definately none the wiser now....

I wouldn't consider the Zeros to be a 'superior' tyre at all.

They are just a different tyre for a totally different purpose - namely a high performance summer tyre suitable for use in temperatures above 7degrees C.

So I would imagine they would be unsuitable for your purposes.

The STRs are a touring, road biased, 'all-season' tyre, so will be fine for the coming winter.

The Zeros in winter would be rockhard, give a bumpy ride, wear more and have a much longer braking distance than the STRs.

Forget any price difference - that's irrelevent. You have the most suitable tyres - unless you wanted to have 2 sets - Winter & Summer.

It just shows how cr*p Halfrauds are fitting summer tyres without telling you, when winter is right upon us.

It's not an 'Egg on Face' situation at all.

Singvogel.

Many thanks Singvogel and I concur with all you say - and... I now feel so much better for sticking to my guns
Cheers !
John

Yep you did the right thing . You're much better off with a reputable independent tyre sales place, they usually have the same prices just to stay in business but best of all they don't treat you like a cretin!

Will.

Glosterlad said:

Dunc,
Thought I'd let you know that I did order the Pirelli 23550R18 97H SCORP STRM+S at £157.40 each. I paid with the plastic last night and booked it in for Wed. All done with a few clicks of the button. Technology at its finest eh.
However... when my wife got home from work before me this afternoon she found a telephone answering machine message from.. Halfords Autocentre.
Hey oop she thought.
She spoke to the manager there who informed her the internet price was inaccurate and that the actual price per tyre was £165 - so for 4 that was an extra £30.40.
Now my wife doesnt take prisoners so her reply was "No chance - you have to honour the price at the time - the price I paid my bit of plastic for". Manager said he would call her back (was he going to have a talk with someone else higher ? or just a walk around his office ?). Anyway he called back and said the 'original price' would be honoured.
So there you go - always fight your corner . (And my other half surely does - well done dear !
Cheers !
John

Click to expand...

The manager wasn't happy when I got mine done cos they were a lot cheaper on the internet than in the autocentre. Didn't try charge me more though, sounds like they were trying it on.

No don’t do it. Keep the zero’s


























Betterer to keep the STR’s like me though.

A lot of outlets who fit tyres etc are on a bonus scheme. If they have to cancel your order or make a negative transaction to clear it, then reorder something else etc then they loose out financially. I watched someone getting main dealer brake parts fitted as the monkey didn’t want to cancel the transaction due to loosing out himself. Chap only paid for normal parts when requesting main dealer parts are fitted. Not at halfords though.