XSeries-forum

hi all, just thought i would pass on some general tyre wear info..
3 years ago i bought a brand new pair of 255 50 19 michelin diamaris for my fronts.
they have now done 40,000 miles and just passed another mot!
the central groove is the worst, down to 2mm with the rest of the tread better at about 3mm, so still good for a few more miles yet.

the only problem i have to report is aquaplaning in torrential downpours on fast roads, when the steering can go awfully light! but this could be just down to the sheer width of the rubber and any other make might well do the same.
tyre noise is never apparent, grip is great both wet and dry. and even in last years snow and ice they managed without fuss.

i know there are cheaper alternatives out there, but i wonder how long they actually last and if they are actually a a false economy??

any other long term tyre reports out there?

I had two sets of Diamaris worn out in 53,000 miles. My interpretation of 'worn out' is 3mm at the centre though, a limit I inherited after working with Surrey Police and also it was the limit on our 115 vehicle fleet. Once I start to get aquaplaning (as you now are) then that's them off and new ones on.

At the time I first owned the car I was negotiating the multitude of roundabouts in Milton Keynes, and that is no good for tyre wear.

On the X5 I always changed them as a set. Along with a few items on the car, I consider tyres as safety critical and tend to stick to the ones approved/offered by the manufacturer - although I always buy them somewhere a lot cheaper. I think the full 19" set of Diamaris were £650 fitted and balanced.

We also had an age limit of 5 years on any trailer tyres. Car ones never lasted that long. Which reminds me, I need to get a new set for the Erde trailer I have in bits and stored in the dry - not used since 2001.

I had them as OEM fit on 19s my 3.0D which I sold at 48k having replaced them all-round at 43k with 3 or so mm at rear. Never had a problem.
Best price was Costco (20% off for 4), an offer they do twice a year.
Had them on the front when I bought 4.8iS but quite bad problems with tramlining so replaced with Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta which (for tramlining) are much better. Slightly softer rubber and have done 15k with no obvious wear but I think will struggle to get to 40k. They were 2/3 price so probably around the same cost eventually.

fenj66, what tyre pressures have you been running?

Always ran mine at 2 bar.

running 34 psi for first two years then decreased to 28 to try and counter the central groove getting lower than the rest of the tyre.
but that didnt work just reduced mpg, so now back up to 34 again and improved mpg!

They must have changed the compound of the rubber in recent years... I only got about 11,000 I think out of my set of 315/35/20 Diamaris at 32psi. My previous Diamaris got me over 30k at the same pressure!


Turks.