Tyre trouble

Robin_Cox said:
Realistically that would be a pair of tyres as just getting one would presumably mean quite unbalanced tread depths across the axle. Agree with everything noted above about proximity to sidewall, probable quantity of sidewall damage due to running near-flat and large quantities of internal debris due to friction. Best of luck with the replacement.
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Don‘t know. I’ll check the tread depth but think there’s loads on the opposite wheel
 
dieselfan said:
@Malcyb - if you zoom max into you picture you will see that doble parallel crack-line I have drawn below.
That doble crack-line might be orbital... you can also see that you have transverse cracking.
The damage looks like 50/50 knife/glass, you also see that you have developed gracking in both end of the gash...
Visually - I agree with @audifan that the rubber look old and dry, if it has been driven a long drive at less than 10psi, yes that can be some of it.

All in all; this tire is on it'sway to collapse. Be safe and find another tire, please.... (never fun to through a tire with 6mm pattern, but....)

Cheers
dieselfan

View attachment 87975
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Just checked the date code. 3620 so pretty new. So I’d imagine that all that damage was caused by the fearful abuse it suffered yesterday.
 
Indeed unless it was previously run severely under inflated. Best to get a matching brand tyre to replace the damaged one. I would fit it on the front left of the car.
 
audifan said:
Indeed unless it was previously run severely under inflated. Best to get a matching brand tyre to replace the damaged one. I would fit it on the front left of the car.
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Interesting, why front left? As it happens that’s the one I’m replacing anyway
 
Well around here there are so many roundabouts and the weight of the engine the front left tyre in my experience always wears the quickest.
 
Right… I’m having a bit of trouble finding a replacement tyre. Unfortunately the car was fitted with a slightly obscure Chinese brand (Landsail) when I bought it. There’s so much wear left on the tyre left on the opposite side it would be a terrible waste of money to replace it too, so even though it’s not a great brand I’d rather replace like-for-like now and then replace in pairs with better ones when I need to. I haven’t yet been able to find any fitter that sells them (tried all the usual suspects), so looks like I’ll just have to buy the tyre and find somewhere that can fit it. Question is, will any of the national fitters fit a tyre you supply and what do they usually charge? Can’t find anything about this.
 
No reason why they would not fit a tyre you supply. Do expect to pay for old tyre disposal, new valve and balancing plus a fitting fee.
 
Is it LANDSAIL LS 588 you have fitted to you car?? In W modell this tyre is a XL (Ekstra Load) and not loadindex 84 and speed index V
You give away a lot of grip and get a lot more noise by using XL
 
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audifan said:
Well around here there are so many roundabouts and the weight of the engine the front left tyre in my experience always wears the quickest.
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Also roads are slightly cambered to the left to allow water to run off into drains, so although it is only a minor difference in tread depth between a new tyre (around 8mm of tread depth) positioned on the left and the used but good one on the right of the car probably with 6 or 7mm of tread remaining, the difference will 'help' even this out fractionally rather than increase this effect and cause possible slight pulling to the left. This is obviously speaking about our UK roads when driving on the left where as the opposite would apply in the majority of Europe driving on the right.

I think you might also struggle to find one of the big high Street chains to fit a tyre you buy as most will tell you that they can only fit a tyre they sell and supply as they don't know the history of the tyre you supply and therefore cannot guarantee it so can't fit it for insurance and safety reasons, in other words an excuse because they want to sell you a new tyre and make the money off it. Might be better to try and find an independent garage or maybe even a place that sells part worns to fit it for you? ?
 
You don't say which year Polo GTi you have but I've just now Googled the performance figures; 200 bhp, 0 to 60 6.7 sec and top speed 147 MPH.

I wouldn't entertain budget tyres for a car with those figures. Your choice but a set of Michelin Pilot Sport is what it really needs and it will drive so much better.
 
A2Z said:
Also roads are slightly cambered to the left to allow water to run off into drains, so although it is only a minor difference in tread depth between a new tyre (around 8mm of tread depth) positioned on the left and the used but good one on the right of the car probably with 6 or 7mm of tread remaining, the difference will 'help' even this out fractionally rather than increase this effect and cause possible slight pulling to the left. This is obviously speaking about our UK roads when driving on the left where as the opposite would apply in the majority of Europe driving on the right.

I think you might also struggle to find one of the big high Street chains to fit a tyre you buy as most will tell you that they can only fit a tyre they sell and supply as they don't know the history of the tyre you supply and therefore cannot guarantee it so can't fit it for insurance and safety reasons, in other words an excuse because they want to sell you a new tyre and make the money off it. Might be better to try and find an independent garage or maybe even a place that sells part worns to fit it for you? ?
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Yes your last suggestion seems like the most sensible one. Indeed our nearest independent garage says on its website “If you have a specific tyre manufacturer that you would like to use, we will be happy to use them on your vehicle” so I’ll see if they mean it. I’ll phone round on Monday.
 
audifan said:
This a good price?

Landsail Tyres / Car / Landsail LS588 Landsail LS 588 215/40 R17 87W XL TL Fuel Eff.: B Wet Grip: B NoiseClass: 1 Noise: 72dB Car Tyres - MPV Tyres - People Carrier Tyres - 17" R17" - 215/40/17, 215/40R17

Buy online cheap Landsail Tyres / Car / Landsail LS588 Landsail LS 588 215/40 R17 87W XL TL Fuel Eff.: B Wet Grip: B NoiseClass: 1 Noise: 72dB
www.camskill.co.uk www.camskill.co.uk
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It seems like a reasonable price, but more to the point, it was the only place I found that actually seems to stock them so this is where I was intending to buy from. Seem like a fairly reputable outfit.
 
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philward said:
You don't say which year Polo GTi you have but I've just now Googled the performance figures; 200 bhp, 0 to 60 6.7 sec and top speed 147 MPH.

I wouldn't entertain budget tyres for a car with those figures. Your choice but a set of Michelin Pilot Sport is what it really needs and it will drive so much better.
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Yes those figures are about right. However I never intend to exploit all that performance, I drive sensibly on public roads and don’t do track days. Most of the time I don‘t drive it much quicker than I do Gracie. You might ask why I bought it (though that would be going off topic), but my brief was for a small car that was an outstanding long distance cruiser, had great overtaking ability when I needed it and could be a bit of fun in the right conditions and it fulfils that brief really well.

With a free choice I wouldn’t fit Landsails. But actually they don’t get particularly terrible reviews and as think I said earlier I can’t afford to throw away a tyre that has so much tread left, I’m not made of money. And to my mind the car drives exceptionally well already, would it drive better with Michelin Pilot Sports on? Maybe. So it has to be a like-for-like swap and when the time comes to replace a pair on the same axle I’ll get something better. Hope you follow my logic.
 
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