New Shoes (Tyres) For Ford Fiesta Classic

[Pradeepkumarmr]

It's fine as long as used in emergency only. In fact all the new generation cars come with space saver, ie, smaller spare tire. For example ,BMW comes with 135 mm width tyre as donut while 225 mm is stock size.

Hi CRDi - Yes I am aware of these practices by few manufactures, because of this only I am thinking to continue to use the existing stock spare tyre as is atleast for some more time for the emergency needs.

Just FYI, earth one are made for India tires. I have XM2 on Figo and Earth 1 on Fiesta and honestly I didnt find noticeable difference in grip between two. Have driven earth1 flat out on some twisty wet roads and they held very well.

Thanks Akshay for the valuable feedback on Yoko Earth1. Could you please post a pic or exact model name of the Yoko Earth1 you have for your fiesta. :
I apologise for the completely , but can not resit myself.
Do you have Fiesta Classic or New Fiesta ? And is it Diesel or Petrol. Provide any link for your ownership review or upgrades done to your Fiesta, which you might have posted in the Forum. I loved to go through these

You can use it on emergency but still when you can, get a new tyre for spare. A cheapest one will do.

Srikanth - Point noted, I will explore this option as well. As I know, based on my analysis and suggestions I have recieved, I have shortlisted below set of tyres. Probably over this weekend will try to visit as many tyre shops as possible and put the updates if I have any here.
1. Michelin Energy XM2
2. Bridgestone TURANZA AR20
3. Yoko Earth 1

 

[akshay380]

.
Do you have Fiesta Classic or New Fiesta ? And is it Diesel or Petrol. Provide any link for your ownership review or upgrades done to your Fiesta, which you might have posted in the Forum. I loved to go through these .

Hi there , I have Fiesta 1.6 bought used. Here is my ownership thread.
http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/ownership-reviews/26374-my-black-panther-ford-fiesta-1-6-sxi-pre-owned.html

 

[Pradeepkumarmr]

Srikanth - Point noted, I will explore this option as well. As I know, based on my analysis and suggestions I have recieved, I have shortlisted below set of tyres. Probably over this weekend will try to visit as many tyre shops as possible and put the updates if I have any here.
1. Michelin Energy XM2
2. Bridgestone TURANZA AR20
3. Yoko Earth 1

Hi Srikanth,
I visited Tyre Parks in BTM and Jayanagar in Bangalore and they were clearly not interested in selling Yoko Earth 1 Tyres, they were pushing it out of list saying
these not made for India Tyres and some other vague reasons

Also they were really praising the below Tyres from Good Year, but I highly doubt these are good from the Noise reduction , Ride and Handling perspective.
I have never heard anyone buying these and praising the same.
1. Good Year Assurance Triple Max - 5 Years Unconditional Warranty

In the Bridgestone Tyres, they were suggesting to go for "Bridgestone B290" than "Bridgestone TURANZA AR20"

I really appreciate if you can provide suggestions on these.

 

[CRACING]

Hi Srikanth,
I visited Tyre Parks in BTM and Jayanagar in Bangalore and they were clearly not interested in selling Yoko Earth 1 Tyres, they were pushing it out of list saying
these not made for India Tyres and some other vague reasons

I think tyre park mainly deals with Apollo, Bridgestone & Michelin. Dealer in my city too didn't had Yoko tyres.

Another thing is, all dealers have stock of fast selling tyres and they don't keep special or superior tyres. For such, you need to request a lot, give booking amount and wait for a week. They will bring the tyres from main distributor.

Tyre park in my city didn't had stock of Michelin P3ST but lots of XM2. Dealer and distributor forced me to get XM3 many times but I was firm with my decision. Lastly they agreed and got me four P3ST tyres in a week. I didn't had option to check date of manufacture before but lucky they were just 3 months old.

May be you have to look for different dealers for Yoko.

Also they were really praising the below Tyres from Good Year, but I highly doubt these are good from the Noise reduction , Ride and Handling perspective.

Indeed. From your choices, I think only XM2 and Earth 1 has noise reduction. All others should have some noticeable noise.

I have never heard anyone buying these and praising the same.
1. Good Year Assurance Triple Max - 5 Years Unconditional Warranty

Yes but who knows how they care the warranty claims.

On highway drives, tyre noise produced could be very troublesome (Interrupting enjoyment). Within city, I doubt we can notice the tyre noise because traffic sound would be more and we don't have good roads either.

In the Bridgestone Tyres, they were suggesting to go for "Bridgestone B290" than "Bridgestone TURANZA AR20"

Turanza is a aftermarket tyre and B series usually comes factory fitted on some cars.
Turanza is superior and expensive but B series costs less and fast moving tyre so that is why dealers suggest B series.

Don't go by the dealers, they really don't have much knowledge. They want to sell products that give more profits or they move the stocks first.

 

[Tornado]

@all, any reviews on Bridgestone ECOPIA?

Pl check Yoko earth 1 too. I have 185 on my Fiesta and paid 4100 for them. Good tires.

Which were your tyre before you went for Earth 1?
Are the yokohama earth 1 more fuel efficient than the earlier brand?
How is your experience while hard cornering in the Ghat sections as compared to earlier brand?

Thanks Akshay for the suggestion ].

How is the Road noise and are these more prone to punctures, am asking this as I have heard this from some friend Luckily with the stock MRF tyres, had only two punctures in the 48K KMs usage[]

There is nothing like puncture prone-ness in modern tyres, puncture prone - ness comes only after the tyres are near the end of the life rest is shear luck. I have read tyres suffering from puncture on day one of the purchase, it is shear bad luck.

Hello Pradeep,
Bridgestone tyres are good for rough roads and wet/dry conditions but noise would be little more then Michelin. AFAIK, Michelin tyres produce least noise compered to other tyres, next comes Yokohama.

Michelin and Yokohama tyres are soft so they are prone punctures hence you have to take care of them. Whereas MRF, Apollo, Goodyear tyres withstand rough usage but noise, grip, comfort may not be likable

Now a days, most of the tire (premium) brands come with different categories, mainly
1)Basic tyres (eg B series of Bridgestone, A drives of yokohama), they are mixture of everything and provide basic levels of comfort, handling & noise these compete with other basic Indian brands eg CEAT, GY, jk, MRF etc and sell here in India merely on brand value (foreign brand).

2) Comfort tyres, for more comfortable ride, kind of passenger friendly & have soft sidewalls and are silent also (eg. Turanza series of Bridgestone, C drives of yokohama, 3ST of Michelin)

3) Sport tyres for sporty handling of the car, kind of driver friendly & have hard side walls & are noisy also (eg, Potenza of Bridgestone, S drives of Yokohama, Sports series of Michelin.)

So it is not appropriate to label a particular brand as Noisy or silent or hard or soft, or comfy or sporty, Most of the brands provide various options/series with above mentioned features as per customers requirements.

Hello
I inquired in couple of Tyre shops in Bangalore and all of them did not recommend

2. Yokohama - More prone to Punctures as made of soft compound and not made for Indian Roads

Super stupid they are or they aren't getting enough commission to sell the earth 1.
Earth 1 comes with a tag line 'Designed for India, also while designing for India they have thickened the sidewall, it is definitely not soft rubber.

I have XM2 on Figo and Earth 1 on Fiesta and honestly I didnt find noticeable difference in grip between two. Have driven earth1 flat out on some twisty wet roads and they held very well.

I was searching for a TAI ger since long who has got experience of both XM2 & Earth1.

How much was the improvement in FE after you opted for XM2 & Earth1 on your cars as compared to previous brands?

Also, how do you compare hard cornering experience with both these types of tires?


@Pradeepkumar , You said that you don't want to spend much & want handling & driving pleasure to improve,
Xm2 or Earth1 are the choices for you, and Earth one is 400 Rs cheaper than XM2, so Earth one is clear choice as they would save you Rs 1600Rs in total.
But, better to wait for FE review from fellow TAI ger akshay380 so as to see if this Rs 1600 difference can be nullified on the basis of FE benefit offered by Michelin.

Michelin advertise XM2 as more fuel efficient than the competition & portray the 'Green X' markfor the same reason proudly

 

[CRACING]

Now a days, most of the tire (premium) brands come with different categories, mainly
1)Basic tyres (eg B series of Bridgestone, A drives of yokohama), they are mixture of everything and provide basic levels of comfort, handling & noise these compete with other basic Indian brands eg CEAT, GY, jk, MRF etc and sell here in India merely on brand value (foreign brand).

2) Comfort tyres, for more comfortable ride, kind of passenger friendly & have soft sidewalls and are silent also (eg. Turanza series of Bridgestone, C drives of yokohama, 3ST of Michelin)

3) Sport tyres for sporty handling of the car, kind of driver friendly & have hard side walls & are noisy also (eg, Potenza of Bridgestone, S drives of Yokohama, Sports series of Michelin.)

So it is not appropriate to label a particular brand as Noisy or silent or hard or soft, or comfy or sporty, Most of the brands provide various options/series with above mentioned features as per customers requirements.

Hello Tornado Ji,

You have quoted my post which was a part of continued discussion with Pradeep. If my post looks like I labeled a particular brand as noisy, silent, hard, soft, comfy, sporty then I'm sorry but I didn't meant to. The brands I have mentioned was in-regards to respective models I suggested to Pradeep in my previous post(s).

TURANZA AR20 -> Bridgestone
Energy XM2 -> Michelin
Earth 1 -> Yoko

XM2 and Earth 1 tyres have soft side walls and soft compound so we have to take care of them. TURANZA AR20 has rugged sidewall and slightly soft compound so it can withstand rough usage.

This is what I have understood and mentioned brand name instead of model, my bad but I believe Pradeep has understood it.

By the way, I have noticed that you are researching about tyres these days and you are much concerned about FE. As per my research (and experience with XM1, 3ST), I believe FE loss or gain happens with tyre upsize rather then tyre brand or model. Even if it does, the difference would be +/- 1 km/l only. Also car owners won't test two new tyres of different brand/model (same size) on same vehicle on same time on same road. Please don't take seriously about Michelin advertising XM2 as fuel efficient tyre. Choose whichever you believe is good.

Thanks...
Best Regards

 

[akshay380]

@tornado, absolutely sorry but I don't bother about FE much. Figo used to give me 13-14 and Fiesta also gives me the same. I have pushed Earth 1 to their absolute limit 4-5 times and they broke grip after squealing. Same corner with XM2 held grip fractionally more but only slightly. Have blasted through water puddles at 120kmph+ and earth1 didn't move one bit. Properly happy with these tires. They will go on to Figo when I upsized to 15" rims.

 

[Tornado]

@ CARRACING, Good clarification, got your points.

I am also stuck between, Earth1 & XM2, FE is not going to be a deciding factor but just wanted to know if increase in FE as claimed by Michelin can nullify their extra cost as compared to the Earth1.

Decision making factors are infact 1) hard cornering experience, 2) initial pick up during first 2 gears.

 

[CRACING]

@ CARRACING, Good clarification, got your points.

I am also stuck between, Earth1 & XM2, FE is not going to be a deciding factor but just wanted to know if increase in FE as claimed by Michelin can nullify their extra cost as compared to the Earth1.

Decision making factors are infact 1) hard cornering experience, 2) initial pick up during first 2 gears.

My car had XM1 for 7 years and ran upto 50k without any major issues, just some punctures. I could have pushed to 10k more but tyres had plenty cracks and chipping so had to change recently.

They had decent grip on dry/wet roads, least noisy and smooth ride quality. However, these do have chipping problem if used roughly and may develop cracks if left unused or under direct sunlight. That is why I say everywhere, extra care should be taken with Michelin tyres.

If you drive on rough roads then I suggest to look for different options then Michelin. I don't have personal experience with Earth 1 but I believe its construction is somewhat similar to XM2 so I don't think there will be much difference between both. Of course, XM1 had cracks and chipping problem but may be XM2 has improved now.

As of price difference, I guess Earth 1 is made in India and XM2 is imported, hence the extra cost.

BTW; you are looking for 185/60 R15 right? Then why don't you choice TURANZA ER300 which is available in that size? Or you are looking for silent tyres?

 

[Pradeepkumarmr]

@Pradeepkumar, You said that you don't want to spend much & want handling & driving pleasure to improve,
Xm2 or Earth1 are the choices for you, and Earth one is 400 Rs cheaper than XM2, so Earth one is clear choice as they would save you Rs 1600Rs in total.
But, better to wait for FE review from fellow TAI ger akshay380 so as to see if this Rs 1600 difference can be nullified on the basis of FE benefit offered by Michelin.

Hi all - Apologize for the late update, I could not update the thread as I was extremely busy professionally and personally. How ever I am now done with the new Tyre Purchase last weekend and below is the details of the same.

After inquiring with many Tyre shops for Yoko Earth 1, finally I was able to get them from one of the Tyre park outlets in Jaya nagar, Bangalore. Point to note here is that most of them were not interested in selling Yoko and instead were pushing me to buy other Tires like Bridgestone, Apollo, Falken , Good Year.

I paid 4,300 Rs per Tire and bought totally 4 tires and Wheel alignment and Balancing was offered as free service and I had to pay for the weights of the tires and got 400 Rs for my old set of tires. Also I bought 4 new set of Valves.

New Tire Price = 4,300 * 4 = 17,200 Rs
Balancing Weights = 300 Rs
4 New Valves - Cherry Company make = 800 Rs
Cash Back for my Tires = 400 Rs

So Total damaged to Pocket was 17,900 Rs

Review of New Tires:-

I have not driven much with the new Yoko E1 Tires, But I have observed that these tires just glide over the bad roads of Bangalore , I can definitely feel very much improvement in ride quality compared to older MRF.

I will update the feedback / review after a long drive, which is due this weekend.

I Finally want to thank everyone who helped me with my purchase especially CRACING - Srikanth , akshay380 , CRDi and vdm295.

I have a below query with respect to Tire Pressure for new Tires, any existing users of 185/65/14 Yoko E1 Tires, let me know how much should I be filling the Air :

Earlier with the stock MRF 175/65/14 I used to fill 32 at Front and 36 at back, where as now the Tyre Park folks have put 33 with Nitrogen for all the new 185/65/14 Tires.

 

[Tornado]

Congo on new earth 1,
The Earth1 yokohama vs MRF experience you are talking about, is it a comparison of new earth 1 vs MRF when they were new too?


Can you please, mention the Treadwear, Traction, Temperature ratings mentioned on the sidewall of the tires?
Also, do mention the 'E' ratings.

 

[Pradeepkumarmr]

Congo on new earth 1,
The Earth1 yokohama vs MRF experience you are talking about, is it a comparison of new earth 1 vs MRF when they were new too?

Thanks Tornado

I do not remember how the MRF behaved when they were new, as I was not that much aware of these things and I was completely lost in the new car
The comparison I mentioned was when MRF were used for around 20K ( I started observing these things more seriously after 20K mileage ) and when they were replaced around 48K with new Yoko E1.

Can you please, mention the Treadwear, Traction, Temperature ratings mentioned on the sidewall of the tires?
Also, do mention the 'E' ratings.

I do not have these information handy now, let me try to get a pic of the Tires and post it here so that you can get the details you want. Give me couple of days to take a good pic and post it here.

 

[Tornado]

These ratings (TTT, & E) were not marked when I checked 185 /60R15 yokohama earth 1, so I am interested in knowing if they are marked on your size tyres.

If you do not find them, do post the tread & sidewall ply composition.

 

[Pradeepkumarmr]

These ratings (TTT, & E) were not marked when I checked 185 /60R15 yokohama earth 1, so I am interested in knowing if they are marked on your size tyres.

If you do not find them, do post the tread & sidewall ply composition.

Hi Tornado - Please find the attached pics, let me know if you are looking for something else I will try to get more pics based on that I apologize for the quality of pics as they were taken from my mobile

 

[Pradeepkumarmr]

Hi all - I need help with this. After buying new Yoko Earth 1 Tires and alignment and balancing done at Cherry Shop where I bought the tires, I am facing this issue

When ever I press the break paddle when I am at speed of 110-120 KMPH for emergency breaking, I see that the steering wheel wobbles or Vibrates

This was not there with old MRF tires which had run for 48K KMs, new tires have only run around 600-700 KMs. I had replaced my break shoes and brake pads around 38K KMs may be a year back, now my car has a mileage of 48K KMs.

I am surprised as I do not see car moving side ways when I do not hold steering above 80 KMPH , I assume Wheel alignment is correct with this. Can I assume all is fine with Wheel balancing or this is the culprit here

Please let me know if this new issue is because of issues with the wheel alignment or balancing :

If required I can post the Wheel alignment report here for further details.