[coolbareilly]

Got the new shoes for my Honda City V A/T.

I was running on stock Michelin rubber; which lasted for almost 70k kms. I decided to go for an up size to 195/60R15 and zeroed to Michelin 3ST and Michelin XM2. But the shop keeper confused me and some how managed to sell me Pirelli P1 and some die-cast valve body. The whole package for 4 tyres cost me Rs24k.
Initial experience ride seems to be firm, cornering is much better and braking has improved a lot. Looking for expert comments , I hope I made not too bad decision.

[kalyan_hyd]

Originally Posted by ecenandu

Ah, good to know that the ground clearance issue got sorted out using Autorunners. Any drawbacks of using the same.

The usage of my dad's City is sparse now. 2kms(Bad roads)/6days and 80 odd Km(highway) trip twice or thrice a month. In the 2 Km weekly route, the car used to scrape over two bumps, nothing bad but very irritating and has to go really slow at an angle.

Originally Posted by hserus

Either that or 185/65 R14 looks like - that's 2.23% though. As for me, underbelly - at the back of the car with a full load of passengers, when I take a hit. Sounded too solid / metallic to be mudflaps. Thanks!

Originally Posted by sudeepg

It's really a myth (IMO) that upsizing by an incorrect and higher size leads to better ground clearance. While someone on the forum did claim to have better ground clearance with 195/65, it's going to strain your car for sure. The problem with the city's Ground clearance is not its tyres, but rather the suspension. It's too soft and will sit down with a full load. Now consider that with a higher patch tyre, it's not good for the car in the long run.

The correct way to address the ground clearance issue is to change the suspensions to a bit stiffer ones. There are many cars with a similar ground clearance spec but do not scrape because they have firmer suspension setup. I've been researching this quite a bit and thought Koni FSD would be the best thing to go in for, but unfortunately, they do not have Konis for City. I confirmed this with the Methods Automotive sales team. The only option seems to be Teins Super Street or go in for a hack like using Autorunners placed on the rear coil springs. It surely has sorted out my ground clearance to about 95%.

Guys,

Its great to see that most of you solved the issues you were facing by one way or the other. I did resolve the GC issue on my 2009 ANHC. Just wanted to share the same with you and other prospective readers.

Honda themselves offer an upgrade to their suspension, the offer came-in at the expiry of the 4th year extended warranty and was first reported by Team-Bhp user Raghu who had an ANHC. I took the upgrade, while I do not recall the exact damages, I remember it having been close to INR 22k for the upgrade. Honda replaced all four suspensions. The result was a GC of 165 mm (a against the stock GC of 160) with a stiffer back suspension. I visited Bangalore and Mysore immediately after this upgrade with five people aboard and the boot almost full. Not sure if any of you have been around Bangalore but there are 72 speed breakers on the way to Mysore from there and some of them are pretty harsh and not once did we have the bottoming-out issue.

Its been 5.5 years since I took the ANHC and about 50k on the odo, the stock Michelin XM1 's definitely seem used up and the car deserves an upgrade now. I have finalized on getting 195/60 R 15 Michelins but am confused between getting either of XM2 or Primacy 3ST. Has any of you tried the online stores for purchasing tyres, if so, where did you get the replacement done locally.

[kalyan_hyd]

Originally Posted by hserus

Sort of OT but I don't see a different thread for it, and no point starting one given the wealth of information in this thread. Any suggestions for upsizing tires on a Honda Amaze 1.2 i-vtec? (S MT variant, no ABS).

The stock tires are 175/65 R 14 MRFs, nothing much to write home about. Done ~ 10K KM so I can use them for a good bit more, but the ground clearance still manages to scrape a few of the outside speedbreakers people keep installing around bangalore. I'd probably move to Michelin or Yoko - though I'm not really brand conscious or anything, ride quality is what I'm looking for.

Dear Sir,

I ran a basic check on this website: http://tyrestore.in/tyreupsizing.asp and found that 195/60 R 14 is a good replacement if you are looking at a better road grip and dynamics. Technically speaking, you can upgrade to 185/60 R 14 or 205/55 R 14. The idea is to check on the recommended upgrades, remembering a few points.
i. The overall decrease in circumference of the tyre would mean the GC might get effected a bit. Going by your post it does not look like you would be interested in that.
ii. Also, do check popular tyre sites like snapdeal.com or http://www.changemytyre.com/, etc for the most popularly available tyres within 1-2 sizes that you zero-in.
iii. If your car is still in warranty, depending on which city you are at, your respective Honda dealer might void suspension related warranty if you upgrade to a different tyre size.

I am myself not very brand conscious but on sound advice from fellow BHPians, went for the ANHC with stock Michelins and believe me having read and heard from many City owners, those were the best stock tyres. Michelins, though touted a bit soft, are the best noise-less tyres for Honda in India.

Regards,
Kalyan

[sudeepg]

Originally Posted by kalyan_hyd

Guys,

Honda themselves offer an upgrade to their suspension, the offer came-in at the expiry of the 4th year extended warranty and was first reported by Team-Bhp user Raghu who had an ANHC. I took the upgrade, while I do not recall the exact damages, I remember it having been close to INR 22k for the upgrade. Honda replaced all four suspensions. The result was a GC of 165 mm (a against the stock GC of 160) with a stiffer back suspension. I visited Bangalore and Mysore immediately after this upgrade with five people aboard and the boot almost full. Not sure if any of you have been around Bangalore but there are 72 speed breakers on the way to Mysore from there and some of them are pretty harsh and not once did we have the bottoming-out issue.

....... Has any of you tried the online stores for purchasing tyres, if so, where did you get the replacement done locally.

Whoa! that is news to me. I've been asking the service advisors and none of them offered me the suspension upgrade, which I am most willing to do. I'll enquire again. BTW, which service center did you goto in Bangalore?

I frequently do outstation trips via mysore with just me, my wife and a 3 year old kid, but with a full boot mostly and I've never scraped except one or two places where the speed breakers are really nasty. My car never scraped in Tamil Nadu or Kerala either!!! This problem exists for me only in Bangalore.

I've just completed a tyre upgrade to Yokohama Earth 1, 195/60/R15 on stock alloys. I've put up a short review on the tyre upgrade thread for honda city. I looked up the prices on changemytyre.com but they were on the expensive side. Pitstop in bangalore quoted 5400 inclusive of alignment, Balancing, nitrogen top up besides change. I checked with another dealer in Kamannahalli and they offered me the tyres at 4500 per tyre (made in 3rd week of 2015) including all of the above work. I change 4 tyres and gave away the old tyres for 1000 bucks.

[hserus]

I may as well stick with the stock tyres but get bridgestone or michelin. I don't want to risk a void warranty on a near new car. Thanks for the tyre calculator pointers, all.

[sudeepg]

Originally Posted by kalyan_hyd

believe me having read and heard from many City owners, those were the best stock tyres. Michelins, though touted a bit soft, are the best noise-less tyres for Honda in India.

Agree, but they are pretty bad for rough road usage. They develop cuts in side walls easily. I liked Michelins but they don't work for me because I encounter bad roads during outstation trips. My MRFs served me well although they howl like crazy on the highway. My point is that each and everyone needs to make an informed choice when it comes to tyre upgrades depending on what their needs are. Earth 1 satisfies my needs for outstation trips, but I would most likely upgrade my i10 tyres to Michelins because it is strictly a city car. My friend who drives with a heavy foot in controlled areas always prefer the sports tyres. So yeah i think each individual needs to make the right choice when it comes to tyres.
BTW, the Earth 1 is not a noiseless tyre, but better compared to MRFs and I can easily dampen the sound by playing some music.

[kalyan_hyd]

Originally Posted by sudeepg

Whoa! that is news to me. I've been asking the service advisors and none of them offered me the suspension upgrade, which I am most willing to do. I'll enquire again. BTW, which service center did you goto in Bangalore?

I frequently do outstation trips via mysore with just me, my wife and a 3 year old kid, but with a full boot mostly and I've never scraped except one or two places where the speed breakers are really nasty. My car never scraped in Tamil Nadu or Kerala either!!! This problem exists for me only in Bangalore.

I've just completed a tyre upgrade to Yokohama Earth 1, 195/60/R15 on stock alloys. I've put up a short review on the tyre upgrade thread for honda city. I looked up the prices on changemytyre.com but they were on the expensive side. Pitstop in bangalore quoted 5400 inclusive of alignment, Balancing, nitrogen top up besides change. I checked with another dealer in Kamannahalli and they offered me the tyres at 4500 per tyre (made in 3rd week of 2015) including all of the above work. I change 4 tyres and gave away the old tyres for 1000 bucks.

Sudeep,

Looks like I confused you, I stay in Hyderabad and got the upgrade of suspension done at Pride Honda, one of the three Honda authorized service centers here. After the upgrade, I had to attend colleagues wedding at Mysore and hence the recollection that we did not scrape any bumps. Prior to the upgrade, each of my trips could be remembered based on how badly the under-body scrapped, etc.

Again, my car was from 2009 with the stock GC of 160 and soft rear suspension. Not sure if your car belonged to the 2008 - 2011 time-frame or later. In 2012 or end of 2011, Honda came out with a face-lift version where they had used the new suspension setting with 165 mm of GC and stiffer suspension at the rear. Your car might already be having that.

195/60 R15 is supposed to help the GC a bit further.

Thanks for the info on online tyre stores. We do have PitStop here, will check locally to see if I can get a better deal with the balancing/ alignment, etc thrown-in.

Regards,
Kalyan

[sudeepg]

Originally Posted by hserus

Either that or 185/65 R14 looks like - that's 2.23% though. As for me, underbelly - at the back of the car with a full load of passengers, when I take a hit. Sounded too solid / metallic to be mudflaps. Thanks!

Yup the metal sound like "thud" is the car's underbelly taking the hit.

Originally Posted by hserus

I may as well stick with the stock tyres but get bridgestone or michelin. I don't want to risk a void warranty on a near new car. Thanks for the tyre calculator pointers, all.

You won't void warranty with the next size upgrade as far as I know. Check with the service advisor, a really good one who isn't just hearing, but also listening to what you are saying. As long as you have a good rapport with your service advisor, things should be OK. Besides, mine and my best friend's experience with most warranty programs are not executed properly unless you (as the owner) are really watching the finer things and know what all are supposed to be covered under warranty. The service folks will usually pass on the bill to you if you aren't watching or asking questions. Read the fine print and you will see many things especially wear and tear items are not covered under warranty (understandable)

Originally Posted by kalyan_hyd

Sudeep,

Not sure if your car belonged to the 2008 - 2011 time-frame or later. In 2012 or end of 2011, Honda came out with a face-lift version where they had used the new suspension setting with 165 mm of GC and stiffer suspension at the rear. Your car might already be having that.

Mine is a Nov 2010 model with the old grille. See my handle picture. It's definitely running on old type suspensions.

[ecenandu]

Originally Posted by sudeepg

Question: Are you sure that it's the car's under belly that was taking the hit when crossing the dump or was it the front mud flaps that were taking the hit? After upsizing my tyres to 195/60/R15 the usual speed breaker where my mud flaps used to scrape no longer do. So it may "seem" like the wrong upsize made a difference.

Yup, the sound is more of a metallic tump, so can't be the mud flaps.

Anyway, we used to go this house often and always it used to bottom out. So much that last time, my mom parked the car outside. So I was happy to check whether it will bottom out this time. And it didn't. Don't know whether 195/60 would also do the trick.

https://youtu.be/v6KXRgyrbf4

Will try to get the speedo error the next time I hit the highway. Here we got plenty of speed cameras, so it will be good to know the speedo error. The stock speedo readings are over optimistic anyway.(Autocar reviews)

[sudeepg]

Originally Posted by ecenandu

Yup, the sound is more of a metallic tump, so can't be the mud flaps.

Yes, if its mettalic thud, then it is surely the underbody hit. It does look too close to the ground from the video. You seem to have gone to some lengths to shoot that.

Originally Posted by ecenandu

Don't know whether 195/60 would also do the trick.

Unlikely. It's a mere 2-3 mm increase. Someone on this forum said honda service can upgrade the suspension to the newer ones. So I am going to try and find out and if they will upgrade the suspension, I am going in for it.

[ecenandu]

Originally Posted by sudeepg

You seem to have gone to some lengths to shoot that.

Nah, got a GoPro, so it was a five minute job actually.

Could you measure the clearance of the exhaust pipe underneath the driver side door, I have marked that in red in the below picture.

[manishkapadia]

I recently upgraded my Honda City 2010 tyres to Michelin XM2 - 195/60/R15.
There was slight improvement in Ground Clearance , however the way the car behaves and the ride comfort is a Major improvement over the stock MRF. Oddly I have not found much drop in fuel efficiency . Recently did a Pune trip and it returned well over 15 KMPL with good amount of revving the engine on empty stretch of Expressway.

I was told that Yokohomas are better for Handling and Michelin is better for ride comfort. Yoko A drives were also cheaper than Michelin XM2.

[coolbareilly]

Originally Posted by coolbareilly

Got the new shoes for my Honda City V A/T.

I was running on stock Michelin rubber; which lasted for almost 70k kms. I decided to go for an up size to 195/60R15 and zeroed to Michelin 3ST and Michelin XM2. But the shop keeper confused me and some how managed to sell me Pirelli P1 and some die-cast valve body. The whole package for 4 tyres cost me Rs24k.
Initial experience ride seems to be firm, cornering is much better and braking has improved a lot. Looking for expert comments , I hope I made not too bad decision.

Yesterday I have noticed one more thing. The ride now seems to be bumpy. The shopkeeper inflated the tyres to 32psi with nitrogen. Should I reduce the tyre pressure to 31 or 30 psi.
I know I have already made decision, but still Looking for expert advice .

[hserus]

Yes. And by the same token, my 175x65R14 amaze stock tires are inflated to 29 - what would be the inflation pressure for my tires if I upsize to 195x60R14?

[kalyan_hyd]

Originally Posted by hserus

Yes. And by the same token, my 175x65R14 amaze stock tires are inflated to 29 - what would be the inflation pressure for my tires if I upsize to 195x60R14?

Please see this thread for more information on the right tyre pressure:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/tyre-a...-pressure.html