[Kishen.padiyar]

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

Glad to see someone who isn't blind to the realities of simple physics

Talking about physics made me think of another scenario. The suspension of a car that runs on low profile tyres takes a beating due to lack of bump absorption ability of the tyre. Bump absorption ability refers to the flexing of the side wall to absorb the shocks caused due to bumps/potholes etc.

Flexing causes bending stress on the side wall - tensile on the outer face and compressive on the inner face. (The very reason why we should not run on under-inflated tyres). Repeated flex and unflex cycles leads to a fatigue loading on the side wall and thus more prone to a failure. The bending stress increases with increase in height of the sidewall.

So now it's a choice between a tyre that causes increased wear on suspension components (low profile) v/s a tyre that sees more fatigue (high profile).

Food for thought.

[IshaanIan]

Originally Posted by Kishen.padiyar

Talking about physics made me think of another scenario. The suspension of a car that runs on low profile tyres takes a beating due to lack of bump absorption ability of the tyre. Bump absorption ability refers to the flexing of the side wall to absorb the shocks caused due to bumps/potholes etc.

Low profile tyres definitely better in terms of handling and performance for the same reasons. BUT the pneumatically adaptive qualities of a higher profile tyre lended over by the increased vertical air space means that the tyre transmits less fatigue to suspension components. As long as tyre pressures are kept under check, there is no reason to believe that the tyres will be operating under any excessive fatigue. The thing about tyres is, that in a heavy car like the Hexa, roughly 30k kms later, you will need to replace the tyres anyway because of the loss of tread much before how fatigued the sidewalls are, come into question.

[VKumar]

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

The thing about tyres is, that in a heavy car like the Hexa, roughly 30k kms later, you will need to replace the tyres anyway because of the loss of tread much before how fatigued the sidewalls are, come into question.

Let me try to put my experience into play here. I drove a Hexa with slightly over 17k kms to the point where the odo was past 18,100 kms when I ended my trip. I have thoroughly absorbed every single tyre and the wear they have been through, in my opinion, these tyres aren't going anywhere at least before 50k kms, given the condition that driver is a sensible man. What I am not confident about, is the life of brake pads. They have to work really hard on Hexa.

2 pages back are the pics of the deflated tyre, can be referred to check the wear of tread.

[rkg]

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

The thing about tyres is, that in a heavy car like the Hexa, roughly 30k kms later, you will need to replace the tyres anyway because of the loss of tread much before how fatigued the sidewalls are, come into question.

Aria and Hexa are almost same, My ARIA OEM tyres ( Bridgestone duelers) completed 48K as on today in three years. I think tyres will last another 5-10K minimum.

[Kishen.padiyar]

Originally Posted by rkg

Aria and Hexa are almost same, My ARIA OEM tyres ( Bridgestone duelers) completed 48K as on today in three years. I think tyres will last another 5-10K minimum.

+1 to that. I replaced my Aria's tyres at 60K and the stock tyres had 3.5-4 mm tread depth left in them - meaning I could have pushed them till 65-70K.

[kaviprem]

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

The thing about tyres is, that in a heavy car like the Hexa, roughly 30k kms later, you will need to replace the tyres anyway because of the loss of tread much before how fatigued the sidewalls are, come into question.

No sir, not at all. I had the stock fit BS Dueller changed at 75K in my Safari 4X4 that weighs 2.75 Tonnes!
The SUV and Crossover tires are made to survive much better than the one's that come for sedan as far as I have seen.

However, Kudos to BS Dueller that is designed for Indian roads with thick sidewalls and treads. I am sure Michelin AT would give up in about 40-50K in Safari.

Prem.

[noopster]

Originally Posted by kaviprem

No sir, not at all. I had the stock fit BS Dueller changed at 75K in my Safari 4X4 that weighs 2.75 Tonnes!

Tyres should ideally not be used for more than 4 years/40,000 km, whichever comes earlier. I change mine at 30,000 in fact. Too much of a risk!

[kaviprem]

Originally Posted by noopster

Tyres should ideally not be used for more than 4 years/40,000 km, whichever comes earlier. I change mine at 30,000 in fact. Too much of a risk!

Wow! This is a news to me, hearing this for the first time!
If one had to change Safari/Storme tire every 30K Kms, then they spend ~1 Rupee a km for tire

Does this hold good for any tire for any car?

Prem.

[prakash_ajp]

Originally Posted by noopster

Tyres should ideally not be used for more than 4 years/40,000 km, whichever comes earlier. I change mine at 30,000 in fact. Too much of a risk!

We are already going off-topic. Anyway, that's what every tyre vendor says - that tyres need to be changed after 30K. But I haven't seen on any tyre company's website or product warranty page. All they say is just make sure you don't use it beyond the marked point. There's simply too many variables to really put a number in terms of longevity of a tyre.

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by noopster

Tyres should ideally not be used for more than 4 years/40,000 km, whichever comes earlier. I change mine at 30,000 in fact. Too much of a risk!

What I have heard from the Tyre shop guys is that rubber life is around 6 years from the date of manufacture, be it used or unused. So if you get a 6 month old tyre and use it, you would anyways end up using the tyre life by way of wear than degradation.

Nikhil may be able to help here.

[kaviprem]

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

What I have heard from the Tyre shop guys is that rubber life is around 6 years from the date of manufacture, be it used or unused. So if you get a 6 month old tyre and use it, you would anyways end up using the tyre life by way of wear than degradation.

Nikhil may be able to help here.

You are right. In my Safari, I changed in about 5+ years having 75K on ODO. I believe, my tires wouldn't have been more than 6-8 months old.
My Safari was brand new then. Jan 2010 manufactured.

Prem.

[noopster]

Originally Posted by kaviprem

Wow! This is a news to me, hearing this for the first time!
If one had to change Safari/Storme tire every 30K Kms, then they spend ~1 Rupee a km for tire

Does this hold good for any tire for any car?

Prem.

Am surprised at your reaction- am not saying anything new. We have a whole section dedicated to tyres. Check this.

Originally Posted by prakash_ajp

We are already going off-topic.

Agreed. Let's focus on the Hexa in this thread

[Anuruddhs]

My dealer in Noida just called me and told that Hexa price has been increased exactly how much they will get the message in a day. He was telling increase is around 15-20 k depending on variant.

[Rahul Rao]

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

The thing about tyres is, that in a heavy car like the Hexa, roughly 30k kms later, you will need to replace the tyres anyway because of the loss of tread much before how fatigued the sidewalls are, come into question.

A very wrong assumption. In my experience tyres with larger diameter tend to last much longer in spite of the weight of the vehicle. Secondly if your usage per day is high, tyres last more kilometers. In my 2008 Innova, at end of two years I was at 90,000 km, when I replaced OE tyres with 4mm or so tread on them as rainy days were near, and I had heavy usage planned.
My WagonR which is a beater car and never goes beyond city limits has done only 1.3 Lakhs in 13 years, and is on fourth set of tyres.

Rahul

[mostlynerd]

I spent this weekend visiting Fortune Cars, Thane and Concorde Motors in Andheri East, getting final quotes from these guys for the Hexa XTA.

Before I get into my findings and negotiations, I have to put a note in, regarding the sales people at Concorde. In my experience so far, the sales guys at the Andheri Concorde were the least informed that I have met thus far. All my questions in features were met by confusion and actually looking for the features on the showroom car. The guy attending me had not even driven the vehicle himself and kept telling me about the Tigor for some reason.

In fact the sales guy at Fortune had also not driven the Hexa himself, but he, and other sales people there, were very well informed about the vehicle, the pricing and the information on financing, insurance etc. Maybe because it was a Sunday, Concorde's best people were not there. I could not have a decent conversation with the guy about quality and accessories, because he did not know anything at all. Sorry, had to vent this out somewhere.

Back to the pricing and offers. I have offers from both and they aren’t much different.

From Fortune:
Ex: Showroom cost: 1745950
Insurance (0 Dep): 67225 (don’t remember the original cost but it was around 82500)
Reg: 227828
TCS @ 1%: 17459
Freebies: Rubber floor mats worth 2400 and the bumper corner protectors worth 750
Discount: Side steps – quoted that they cost 17500 and they will give them to me for 15500. I got the official accessory list from Concorde and there it is mentioned as 15500. So this is a point I would be bringing up with the Fortune guys
On Road: 2058452

From Concorde:
Concorde was not willing to put anything discounted down in writing. They told me that they would give me the verbally given deal / deals when we book the car. This was disappointing and a little odd.
Ex: Showroom cost: 1763078 (higher by 17138)
Insurance (0 Dep): 84101 original cost. They said that they would give me a discount of about 20000 on this.
Reg: 225801 (less by 2027)
TCS @ 1%: 17631 (higher by 172)
Freebies: Rubber floor mats worth 2400 and the bumper corner protectors worth 750
Discount: Side steps – quoted that they cost 15500 and they will give them to me for 10% less
On Road: 2090611
The figures given by Concorde seem a little off and I feel that the sales guy had made some mistake in the calculations or in the final figures given to me.

That is the long and short of it. For the group here I have some questions. I am trying to decide on whether I need to take up the AMC. The 2 year AMC will cost 24067. The questions I have is, what would be the typical cost I would incur per service and would the AMC would be less expensive than paying for the consumables at each service. Fortune cars told me that just the consumables at each free service (at 10000 km intervals) will cost about 10000 rupees every time. As per my current running I do a little over 1000 km per month. This would mean that in 2 year I would avail the free service only twice. This would make the AMC more expensive than out of pocket expenses.

The second question I have is on the extended warranty. Is this something that will be of use? Also, the extended warranty is mandatory to have if an AMC is taken as per Concorde.

I can make up my mind finally if I can be clear on the AMC and extended warranty and the typical maintenance costs expected.