[Sid13]

Dear BHPians,

I am due for a tire change for my Polo Petrol Highline. Car is still on the original set of tires. The OEM which is Goodyear 185/60 R-15 has served me superbly for 53000+kms. And I had like only two puncture incidents till date. The tire shop guys says it would easily do another 3-5 K.

The only problem I have with the Goodyear since the beginning was more than average road noise and average wet road grip.

I want to stick with the original size while I am ready to experiment with the make. Priority is less road noise, more balanced wet and dry road grip. I believe while looking for these aspects I might have to compromise bit on tire life. Anything between 35-40K would be really nice.

Kindly share your suggestions please.

[sidpunjabi]

Originally Posted by Sid13

... The OEM which is Goodyear 185/60 R-15 has served me superbly ..... I want to stick with the original size while I am ready to experiment with the make.

I've been using Michelin's XM-2s for about 2 years now, which are of the same size that you mentioned.

Originally Posted by Sid13

while I am ready to experiment with the make. Priority is less road noise, more balanced wet and dry road grip.

Personally, I've never used Goodyear, but I have done some high speed cornering in the XM2s on both - wet and dry roads, and the tyres always kept the car planted.

On dry roads, these tyres are quiet across the speed band. If you're cruising on the highway at 80+kph during the monsoon and decide to roll down the window to enjoy the rain - you may hear tyre noise too. But otherwise they're pretty silent.

Originally Posted by Sid13

Anything between 35-40K would be really nice.

Going by the opinions on the forum, these would last well beyond the 35-40k kms mark. My set has only done 30k kms, but they're likely to go on for another 30-40k as well. Eventually, it all depends on the road conditions, driving style, running, etc.

[Sid13]

Originally Posted by sidpunjabi

I've been using Michelin's XM-2s for about 2 years now, which are of the same size that you mentioned.

Personally, I've never used Goodyear, but I have done some high speed cornering in the XM2s on both - wet and dry roads, and the tyres always kept the car planted.

On dry roads, these tyres are quiet across the speed band. If you're cruising on the highway at 80+kph during the monsoon and decide to roll down the window to enjoy the rain - you may hear tyre noise too. But otherwise they're pretty silent...

Thanks much for the detailed response. While I have heard good comments about xm2 about ride quality and grip, I have also heard its more prone to sidewall bulging and puncture prone compared to competitors. Have heard many people who used it saying the premium pricing is not justified as its more prone to failure in bad road conditions. In Kerala good and bad road is like 50:50 especially after the floods and with all the development construction, even in cities roads can be quite bad and potholed.

[redcruiser]

My MRF ZVTV has completed around 26k in the ODO of my polo and it is already 3 years old.
Tread depth still left can go for another 20k.
Is it advisable to change now?

I fell the urge to change but the unnecessary expense is putting me off. Need some sane advice.

[sidpunjabi]

Originally Posted by Sid13

Thanks much for the detailed response. While I have heard good comments about xm2 about ride quality and grip, I have also heard its more prone to sidewall bulging and puncture prone compared to competitors. Have heard many people who used it saying the premium pricing is not justified as its more prone to failure in bad road conditions.

I have heard about the soft side wall issue as well. Fortunately, I've never come across it, despite the tyres being subject to some intense (unintended) off-road driving just 3 weeks after installation.

IMO, tyre wear and tear depends on a lot of factors.

The initial set on my car were Apollo Accellers. Many have used this tyre for 50k+ kms and beyond. In my case, within 10k kms of urban driving - I had multiple instances of tyre puncture, and leaking valves.
After I switched to the XM2s, the only thing I do is fill air at regular intervals.

Originally Posted by Sid13

... even in cities roads can be quite bad and potholed.

In Mumbai - our roads become like this every year during the monsoon. The XM2s haven't given me an issue till date.

I believe Yokohoma's A-drive, Continental's Premium Contact 2 and MRF's ZVTV are also forum favourites. You should check them out as well.

Originally Posted by redcruiser

My MRF ZVTV has completed around 26k in the ODO of my polo and it is already 3 years old.
Tread depth still left can go for another 20k.
Is it advisable to change now?

I fell the urge to change but the unnecessary expense is putting me off. Need some sane advice.

Are you seeing any depreciation in performance? Does the car seem to skid or not hold on to the road as well as it did before?

If tread depth is the only concern:
The minimum standard depth across 4-wheeler tyres is 1.6mm. If your tread depth is more than that, then you should be good as is.

To make things easier, most tyre manufacturers now incorporate a tyre wear / tread depth indicator into the tyre design. A simple visual check should be enough to answer your question. Check the one in your tyres. If the depth is more than the indicator then you should be good. Ensure to check the indicator in all 4 tyres before taking a call.

[Sid13]

Originally Posted by sidpunjabi

In Mumbai - our roads become like this every year during the monsoon. The XM2s haven't given me an issue till date.

I believe Yokohoma's A-drive, Continental's Premium Contact 2 and MRF's ZVTV are also forum favourites. You should check them out as well..

Thanks again for the kind response..yokos A drive doesn't come in 185/60 R15. Only tire yoko has in that specification is Earth 1. Which has more than 90% positive reviews as per my understanding. I find it difficult to justify Michelins price difference. But my opinion is purely based on hear say and reviews. I am more inclined to Yoko. Wont mind looking at mrf if it is a semi soft compound tire.

Also i may consider to upsize slightly in R15 itself if that wont affect warranty. I am in extended warranty period.

[sidpunjabi]

Originally Posted by Sid13

Also i may consider to upsize slightly in R15 itself if that wont affect warranty. I am in extended warranty period.

An excellent thing about t-bhp is its wide network. There's a good chance that you'll find many Polo-owning bhp-ians in Kochi who'll be happy to give you a more hands on experience. You can take a call accordingly then.

Tyres come under wear and tear so there's no warranty offered by VW. Tyre manufacturers do offer a warranty but it's nearly impossible to claim them in most cases.

Upsizing has its own sets of pros and cons. One of the main thumb rules is to keep the overall diameter of the new tyre within 2-3% of the OEM tyre diameter. Exceeding this will lead to a high speedometer error and incorrect ODO readings.

[Sid13]

Originally Posted by deetjohn

Oh! Don't put the 205 for the 1.2L petrol variant. That car will lose all its peppiness.

And please note, whatever that you might gain by an upsize will go away once the tread wears. But if you want 195/55 R15 so badly, go for it and bump up the air pressure by a bit, if loss in Ground Clearance is a big concern.

My suggestion will be 185/60 R15 all things considered.

I was thinking of upsizing to 195/55 R15 from my existing stock which is 185/60 R15 goodyear . This is for my Polo petrol highline 1.2. Do you think this upgrade has more cons than pros. I am not looking for comsetic enhancement here. I am looking at performance enhancement in terms of better ride comfort, braking, cornering and grip. The three cylinder 1.2 petrol polo is not that peppy. Would 195 make polo less responsive in terms of acceleration . Would the FE drop? Or would the 195/55 make things better that pros are too good to consider cons. Also, does 55 means harder ride and more prone to rim damage. Kindly help with your thoughts.

[Sid13]

Friends I have a fresh concern regarding tire upgrade.

Currently I am running the stock 185/60/15. The spare provided by VW is 175/70/14. This means VW find it okay to run short distances in medium speed using the different sized spare as fourth tire. The spare I have is till date unused.

As per the calculation given here https://www.blackcircles.com/general...ize-calculator

The overall size of stock tire is 23.74mm
Overall size of spare is 23.65mm
Overall size of upgrade, if done would be 23.44

Here the difference between stock and spare is 0.1. Whereas compared with upgrade it would be -0.2.

Would that be a problem if at all I have to run on the spare? I am not even sure if the calculation make sense. Please advice.

[Sid13]

Ditched the plan to upgrade by taking expert advice that 185/60/R15 is the perfect tire for 1.2 petrol. Any upgrade would result in loosing peppiness of the car, albeit to a slight extend. Changed to Yokohama BlueEarth (AE50). Although its too early to judge the performance the ride quality is definitely better compared to the stock goodyear as on the day I took delivery. I am sure AE50 has softer sidewalls and cushions the ride quite a bit compared to the stock Goodyear. Tire noise is also on the lower side. By comparing i could feel Blueearth has softer compound compared to Earth 1. I dont expect it to last as long as the stock Goodyears which gave me 53K.

PS: The BlueEarths I got are made in Japan.

[GeeTee TSI]

I am in a peculiar spot with my 2014 Polo GT TSI with 46546 km on the odometer

In the last few highway drives especially after my shift to Bangalore this year, I have been experiencing a wobble especially from around 80 km/hr on smooth stretches. PPS motors VW service Bangalore North actually did a great job in identifying the root cause (after multiple test rides and wheel swaps) - 2 bent rims with FR wheel having a major one and the RR wheel, a milder bend. You can see the major bend here thanks to PPS motors for capturing it here

I had replaced all 4 tyres last June (2018) to Continental MC5 and wheel balancing back then did not show up anything. Nor did my last service at VW service Navi Mumbai in August 2018 (where again balancing was performed).

As a temporary fix for now, FR and RL alloys were swapped with both bent wheels now at the rear. While the wobble perception is much lesser from the driver's seat, I cannot but think about the unresolved issue behind me (literally). Budgetary quote from VW was 19500/- per alloy and I will need to shell out twice that.

While I await their final offer and availability, I am faced with some conflicting thoughts

• Should I even explore alloy wheel repair (if there is such a thing in the first place)?
• Should I buy brand new alloys for my 4.5 year old (but still utterly enjoyable) GT?
• Should I look out for used alloys from online classifieds and can they be relied upon especially from highway manners and performance?
• Lastly, any bhpians looking to upgrade stock alloys who would be interested in selling their 15" estrada alloys?

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by GeeTee TSI

While I await their final offer and availability, I am faced with some conflicting thoughts

• Should I even explore alloy wheel repair (if there is such a thing in the first place)?
• Should I buy brand new alloys for my 4.5 year old (but still utterly enjoyable) GT?
• Should I look out for used alloys from online classifieds and can they be relied upon especially from highway manners and performance?
• Lastly, any bhpians looking to upgrade stock alloys who would be interested in selling their 15" estrada alloys?

Do not bother with repair. Ditch the old wheels and look for used ones on the Classifieds. There are dime-a-dozen on OLX and even our Classifieds, the last time I'd checked.

Seeing that you have changed your tyres in 2018, it makes no sense to change the tyres again, should you wish to consider the option of upsizing the wheel.

Your other option would be to go aftermarket. For 15", there are quite a few options available. I'd suggest you get a set from a reputed brand.

[cpabhijit]

I have a 2013 GT TSI with 54k kms on the odo. Still on stock apollo accelere tires. Due for a change and i'm just not able to decide whether to stick with stock size or go for 205/55 R15. While there are mixed opinions, I'm majorly concerned about affecting the acceleration in any way. I'd like it to drive the peppy way it does now. Silence is a must!!!

Any suggestions/advice, please?

[GeeTee TSI]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

Do not bother with repair. Ditch the old wheels and look for used ones on the Classifieds.

Thanks and did just that. M2M Car care in Koramangala has used OE alloys of many models/vintage, owing to upgrades by owners (quite a collection of aftermarket wheels too). They quoted 32k for a set of 4 Polo alloys (apparently 2016 model year and the same 15" Estrada design) but they were understanding enough to sell two since I needed only two

Leaving behind my two old OE alloys, I got a set of new (used) alloys for 10k net, inclusive of installation and balancing. Can see the extent of bend on my old wheel by the number of weights stuck on in a futile attempt to balance it earlier.


A point to note however is that the Sensairy valve stem could not be salvaged from the old wheel (the sensor was unscrewed). I have ordered a set of replacement valve stems since the rubber sleeve only goes in one way, not possible to remove it.

[YashGT]

Hi Team,

I'm taking delivery of my Polo GT Tsi next week and I am planning to change the tires as soon as taking delivery of the car. A tire dealer has agreed to buy back the stock tires for a good price if it's brand new.

I'm confused about whether to stick with 195/55/R16 and go for better quality tires like Yoko Blu earth or Conti or should I upsize to 205/55/R16. I asked the tire dealer about 205/50/R16 but he insisted on either sticking with the stock size or go with 205/55/R16.

What are the pros and cons? My priorities would be stability in Highspeed, good grip around corners. Would this compromise the ride quality?

Regards,
Yash.