H or V tyres?

Heather

Heather

Member
I'm just about to sort out two new front tyres.
The two on the front are 185 50 16 H and the two rear tyres are 185 50 16 V

Does this matter at all or should I have the same speed rating on all wheels?

Thanks
 
From memory there is only 20 mph difference between the H and V rated tyres (h being rated at 130 ) (v at 150 ) as long as the tyre rating is higher than the manufacturers recommend you’re fine I can’t personally see any problem if you car is H rated tyres and you have a higher rated on the rear that’s okay as long as they are paired front and back ..if you had a lower rated tyre than recommended your insurance would be invalid should you have an accident ..any excuse for an insurance to pay out ..
 
andrewparkeruk said:
The original specs were T/H
https://wiki.a2-freun.de/wiki/index.php/Leichtmetallfelgen

Andrew
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Thanks everyone, and thank you Andrew for sending the link. Not sure how I ended up with V's on the back then!
I've used the Kwik Fit mobile fitting service the last few times and been very pleased with their service. They only seem to have the H's available on their on line ordering service for the Continental tyres, hence the mixture of H/V.
As my rear tyres are still OK I've gone for The Continental V's for the front with a different company to keep it all uniform.
I seem to get through no end of front tyres and Formula One Auto Centres are throwing in a free front wheel alignment check, so hopefully if things aren't quite straight they can sort this too!
 
damadgeruk said:
Worth noting tyre manufacturers recommend new tyres are fitted to the rear of the vehicle. https://www.google.com/search?q=fit...ndroid-xiaomi&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8
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I've seen the "avoid oversteer at all costs" argument for putting new tyres on the back, but my preference is the "80% of braking is done by the front wheels" argument for putting them on the front. I need extreme braking more often than extreme cornering (must be something to do with my age)
 
Merlin3046 said:
I've seen the "avoid oversteer at all costs" argument for putting new tyres on the back, but my preference is the "80% of braking is done by the front wheels" argument for putting them on the front. I need extreme braking more often than extreme cornering (must be something to do with my age)
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There are other arguments which also favour adding new tyres to the rear axle. RoSPA refers to this article
http://btmauk.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Replacing-car-tyres-important-information.pdf
 
Merlin3046 said:
I've seen the "avoid oversteer at all costs" argument for putting new tyres on the back, but my preference is the "80% of braking is done by the front wheels" argument for putting them on the front. I need extreme braking more often than extreme cornering (must be something to do with my age)
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I believe the logic is to reduce the risk for the majority of us in emergency situations, it's not about letting us drive faster. Much as I love oversteer, when the sh1t hits the fan I'd like to know my car will be responsive. I run winter tyres for a similar reason (and wear my seat belt even though I've yet to need it). :)
 
damadgeruk said:
I believe the logic is to reduce the risk for the majority of us in emergency situations, it's not about letting us drive faster. Much as I love oversteer, when the sh1t hits the fan I'd like to know my car will be responsive. I run winter tyres for a similar reason (and wear my seat belt even though I've yet to need it). :)
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Oh you would love a mk3 single cab hilux with nowt in the back in inclement conditions I’ve had them forever you can have new tyres on but I’ve lost count of the times the back has tried to overtake the front ?? very entertaining..or drive any early 911 same story ?
 
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greywolfhound said:
Oh you would love a mk3 single cab hilux with nowt in the back in inclement conditions I’ve had them forever you can have new tyres on but I’ve lost count of the times the back has tried to overtake the front ?? very entertaining..or drive any early 911 same story ?
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My only RWD cars were a Fiat X1/9 and a '72 Triumph Vittesse, neither of which had enough power to drift at any speed though still allowed some fun.
 
SnubNose said:
Hi Heather

I had the same quandary at the end of last year, I went for good quality “H” (130mph) tyres in place of cheap “V” rated.

Link to : New Continentals 185 50 16

Good luck.
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Two new Continental tyres now on the front and alignment was checked and found to be out quite a way.
So they have done the re alignment, but on driving off it seems to pull more to the left, with a steering wheel that is off centre too.
The technician reckons I have about 2-3 months of wear left on my rear tyres for the mileage that I do, so might as well get that done sooner than later reading the links as regard to oversteer.
 
Heather said:
Two new Continental tyres now on the front and alignment was checked and found to be out quite a way.
So they have done the re alignment, but on driving off it seems to pull more to the left, with a steering wheel that is off centre too.
The technician reckons I have about 2-3 months of wear left on my rear tyres for the mileage that I do, so might as well get that done sooner than later reading the links as regard to oversteer.
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Heather, do you know what equipment they did your wheel alignment with? If it was with lasers and mirrors mounted on your wheels, they will effectively have aligned the front wheels with respect to the rear wheels, which are assumed to be in the correct alignment. However, this is assumption is not guaranteed to be true. If (either or both of) the rear wheels are out of alignment (which could be age/mileage-related wear or through damage), the fronts will now also be out, and this sounds rather like what you describe. If this is the case, unfortunately there's no way they can rectify it as they can only adjust to what it tells them is correct, even if it's wrong. Worse, it will be shortening the life of your expensive new front tyres due to uneven wear.

Ever since this happened to me on a car 10 years ago, I've been using places that offer alignment using a computerised system such as a Hunter or John Bean (there are others). Typically with this method, flags are mounted on your wheels, which are marked like a checkerboard of black and white triangles. The flags are scanned by an optical system at the head of the bay, and the wheels that can be adjusted are each aligned with respect to the centreline of the car, independently of each other. This is the only reliable way to get it tracking straight and the steering wheel centred, given that there is no (or very little) alignment adjustment possible on the rear or these cars once they go out of line.

In your place I'd find a decent tyre shop (not Kwik-Fit) with one of these systems and have this done along with the new rear tyres, sooner rather than later. Unfortunately it will probably cost more than you've already paid, but it really is worth doing now that you're in this situation.
 
Heather said:
The technician reckons I have about 2-3 months of wear left on my rear tyres for the mileage that I do, so might as well get that done sooner than later reading the links as regard to oversteer.
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If the technician was suggesting that your rear tyres would be hitting the legal tread limit after 2-3 months then you should most certainly be replacing them asap. Running tyres down to the bare minimum is never a good idea, least of all in winter when you need the grip.
 
steve_c said:
If the technician was suggesting that your rear tyres would be hitting the legal tread limit after 2-3 months then you should most certainly be replacing them asap. Running tyres down to the bare minimum is never a good idea, least of all in winter when you need the grip.
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The two front tyres were on the MOT advisory, but I had noticed that they were ready for replacing. So I'm surprised that they didn't mention the tread on the back two. Used ETS many years ago and have never been back. They were particularly unhelpful in sorting out the wheel balancing vibration after the tyre fitting. Thanks Proghound for that information. In the nearly 16 years that I've had my A2 I've been hit from behind three times now, so that could have something to do with it!!! Looks like my little motor is going to cost me a pretty penny this month :-(
 
16 years heather wow ..is the any member other on here had their a2 as long or longer ...we have had them for getting on 15 years ..but not the same ones ...we had 3 tdi s before our present 2 ?..
 
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