Not an XS11 Tires thread

[SiP]

My lad has been driving for nearly two years now and has outgrown his '93 Geo so was looking for a new car. So after weeks of looking and me assuring him that the right car was out there and not to worry as we had lots of time - we found an '02 Jetta VR6 manual. Just what he was after and pretty much what I wanted for him (although I might have preferred the 4cyl engine).
I gave it the work over to the best of my ability and experience and the only thing I noticed was the back tires were better than the front so needed a rotation. We bought the car and after a couple of attempts at doing it ourselves (i encourage him to do his own work) we couldn't get the wheels off, so he went to a garage - they popped the wheels off (they took a lot of persuading!) and put then straight back on and told us they wouldn't do it 'cos the tires were so badly damaged that wanted no responsibilty for touching them.
So feeling guilty I shopped around and got some good ones for deal and was there when they changed them - sure enough the inside wall of each tire had big nasty cracks in it and would've been real dangerous on the highway. My excuse is that you couldn't see until the wheels were off.
The old tires were a specific winter tyre - the only thing I can think is that driving a winter tyre all year round isn't good for it! Oh well - kids done well out of the old man again!
Moral: Get your head in there and have a good look!

[fredintoon]

Hi Si,
it's my understanding that running winter tires in warm weather will wear down their soft tread so fast you'd think they were bike tires but I doubt it would do the walls in. I'd say the tires being run under-inflated would be the most likely cause. Your post reminds me, NOW is the time to take off the Buick's allegedly "All Season" tires and install the other rims with the snow tires on them.

[webbcraft2150]

Hi Si,
the snow tires on them.

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Is that the kind of tire that came on the DeLoreans? cool:

[egsols]

Fred,

I ran agressive tread CTC snows on my old F150, year round. Was off road a lot and needed the agressive tread. Never had a problem with the side walls (LTs though) but like you said, they wear fast, I probably got about 40k kms out of a set.

[fredintoon]

The OTHER white powder

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Is that the kind of tire that came on the DeLoreans? cool:

Hi Webb,
cool, yes, but no, not the nose candy, the hexagonal water crystals that fall out of the sky.
Or, more properly, the tires with the sticky compound and aggressive tread that are made to drive on the stuff. I got my son to change out the Buick's summer tires & rims for the winter ones last night and was I right to do so. My wife drove off to work this morning with 1/2" of new snow on the roads and it ain't melting this time. And before everyone posts with accusations of child cruelty about poor Eric freezing his butt off changing tires at the icy kerbside in the dark while Dad sat inside watching TV, he did the changeover in my heated garage.

[wa407mpp]

What are snow tires? and what is a heated garage?

[planedick]

Winter tires

I came accross country once in a Ford station wagon in January, much snow and ice, but I had studded tires all around. No problem with snow and ice. When I got to CA a highway patrolman demanded I remove them at once. It seems the studded tires are illegal here as they tear up the pavement and white painted markings.