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Jez 405

Jez 405

Active member
Fellow Frogger
Joined
Jun 3, 2001
Messages
540
Location
Melbourne
The dealer I bought my 405S from fitted Firestones (front) and Toyos (rear)
The rear Toyos are due for replacement, but I'd prefer to change all four. I've been itching to get some nice grippy rubber since the car was bought in January, and considering the Peugeot specified 14 inch Michelins. Would these be the one to get, or are there better tyres out there? Ideally it should grip very well in the wet (I've spun the Pug doing a U-turn more than once...), and I don't particularly car about road noise (engine drowns out the tyres anyway).

Thanks heaps
JEZ
 
There is only one choice - Michellin. The tyre maketh the car!
 
I drive French cars all day every day and people look at me strange when I say I can tell if a French car is not wearing Michellins before I'm out of first gear.
You wouldn't put recaps on a Ferrari, why would you put anything else on a Peugeot?

Having said all that, my wifes MI16 was fitted with a new brand called Simex, they were on it when we got it and I'm trying to where them out but I must say I'm impressed with there wet whether grip, I've tried hard and I havn't unstuck them, there cheap to.
Cheers,
David.
 
Can't speak for Pugs, but I have had such a bad run with Michelins I will never put them on any of my cars again.
On the BX they would aquaplane in the wet, noisy in the dry, did not get much of a wear rate, didn't hang on as a good tyre should, just generally a crappy tyre. On the CX I had one shread on me when driving back from Sydney & this morning have had a second one showing the symptoms of doing the same.
With both BX's I've owned I have gone up to Falken directionals with spectacular results.
The reason I shied off Michelins in the first place was that like appliances, you never seem to know where they are made until you see them in the flesh & if the dealer does not have them in stock, he doesn't take it real well when you tell him that if you want tyres made in Thailand you'll buy some for $95 not $195 and whilst Brazil may make a good cup of coffee, I do have reservations on their tyres. Every Falken I have seen has been Japanese.
Whilst I have never yet heard a bad report from anyone who has had Falkens on their car, I have heard a couple from the "I once knew someone" type of complaints which don't carry any weight as neither they or you know the circumstances.
It could be that my kind of driving conditions are different to most as I live in a country area, but what excuse can you have for 2 tyres getting air bubbles under the tread apart from dodgy manufacture?
frown.gif


Alan S
 
Hi Guys, im running Falken Ziex tyres on my AX, and they seem to be pretty good, they have good handling in the wet and dry, seem to last quite well, and arent too noisy

just my 2 c
 
Jez,

I am not really impressed by my mich mxv
but to be fair they are old technology
After doing my homework and i settle on some wheels i will be putting on brigestone S02's

Murat
 
do you realise there are Japanese made michelin's and also cheaper Korean? made ones.
Robert Cherry, a member of the PCCV brought up the topic in the club mag a few months ago, it related to the differences between the two versions.
 
Murat,

How do these later Bridgestones go with wear & the one that used to be a problem on CX's - Tramlining; now there's a thrill when you're not expecting it at a bit of speed in traffic
eek.gif


Alan S
 
This comes as a surprise to me that Michy's aren't all that!
I had some serious aqua-planing probs on the 205, very scary stuff when you are motoring at 100k's. These were Michy's....
Come to think of it I only once recall having any other brand, cheapy one, can't remember the name, but they fit on the GS rims & were 165's.
I know bridgestone aren't bad but aren't they noisey...or does it depend on the variant?
 
I'm very happy with my latest Michelins (196/65 14" MXF Club made in China). They grip well in the wet (I haven't had them slide much, if at all) and I've done over 40,000km and 2 of them still have plenty of meat left. I recently rotated them and made the mistake of not making sure I didn't swap the drive tyres side to side when I moved them to the front. The result is bad tramlining, but this will soon be fixed because these 2 tyres are close to their wear markers. Incidently the MXF Club has been superceded by the Vivacy. From what I've heard (and from my parent's experience) the Vivacy's wear really quickly in anything less than 195 width (there are apparently a couple of different compounds depending on the tyre size - weird huh!). Since I will be getting 195's, hopefully they will wear as well as my MXF's (they advertise them as lasting longer than the MXF - so we'll see). The earlier Chinese MXF's I had weren't bad, but they weren't particually good in the wet either. The MXF Club was a big improvement over the old MXF.

I've had Falken's before (185/70 14"), and was very unimpressed that they wore out within 30,000km, and they didn't grip as well as the Michelin's either, but that was 7 years ago, and there's been alot of tyre development since then, so I'd say the latest Falkens would be alot better.

Apparently the latest $125 Pirelli 205/60 15" are really good. A friend of mine just put a set of these on his immaculate 504. He said he was amazed at the fact that he couldn't get them to lock on a very wet road during a panic stop.

Some of the $120-$140 Bridgestones are supposedly quite good too. Of course there are $200 tyres that are alot grippier, but most wear out in less than 30,000km and that would mean I'd have an $800 bill every year which I don't fancy, especially since I find it very difficult to loose grip with my $135 Michelins.

Dave
 
AlanS,

I have been reading a lot of tyre tests in various mags from abroad
Bridgestone S02 always come out in the top spot
I take these tests seriously only because the are tested blind
The above tyres came out on top in the wet and the dry thats why i chimed in to let jez know that these tyres must be on his short list
I know the latest mich pilot sx must be good but they are rare and i have not heard much about them apart from porche turbo and other exotics are using them
My friend uses the s02 on his vt clubsport and he swears buy them
I will give them a go once the pug hits the road
I am also looking into some Falken azinis for some of the after hour battles i attend after hours in around some vacant industrial areas these tyres are the only road legal race tyres that seem to last for a season of on and off use
The frontwheel drive worriors tell me to watch for sharp objects otherwise they are great for traction.
The s02 were not the best in ware department but were well placed i think.

Murat
 
I've found Michelins to be very tough tyres generally. Owning a 504, I tend to drive over the top of alot of scenery (this is a side effect of driving a tough car with high ground clearance). Pot holes, gutters, rocks, etc are all taken in stride by my 504 and the Michelins. It's great for quick U turns in narrow streets (no need for 3 point turns), when you're in a hurry. It's an awesome car on the dirt tracks (supposedly 4X4 only) in the Blue Mountains. I hate the bad handling of 4 wheel drives and I can't stand the low skirts of alot of cars, so the 504 is ideal. No wonder they are so popular in Africa and Argentina.

Dave
 
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