Harry shamed me yesterday by doing extremely manly car work in the freezing cold so today I had to make amends. This morning a quick trip to somewhere near Oxford to pick up some winter tyres.
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For lunch we had sausages.
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Then on to fitting the tyres. Fun fun. The Clubman came with four different makes of tyre, one with OK tread but the other three pretty low. This is meant to be a cheap project car so £500+ for a set of nice Michelins is out of the question and even Falken / Toyo which are my usual favourites come to over £300. These are Ovation (who?) so definitely bottom end but they're in good condition with 6-7mm of tread all over and at £90 for the set I'm happy to take a punt. I always like to try things myself before dismissing them. They really can't be worse than what was on there.
First wheel was the nsf, fitted with a very poorly Aptamy tyre. Despite being the newest on the car (2021 date code) it was almost worn out and managed to look ancient. I had a real struggle to break the bead and even then I couldn't push it down into the well of the wheel. It's a runflat. Runflats manage to run while flat by having VERY stiff sidewalls. Very very in this case. And to make matters worse, my wheels are real 2-piece split rims, and to accommodate the joint the well is narrower, much further in than usual. Long story short: I ended up cutting it off. Took ages and used up three (!) cutting discs on the angle grinder. The thickest part of the sidewall is a full 20mm thick. That's why they ruin the ride quality so badly.
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Next up was the osf, this one was the best of the bunch, a Michelin Primacy that still has some usable tread. Breaking the bead on this was an absolute doddle. If the Aptamy was stiff like an antique army boot, this was supple like a silk slipper. I didn't cut it open to compare but I'd guess the sidewalls are around 5mm thick on this one. 20 mins in total, and only because the new tyres are a bit tricky to get on because of the narrow well.
By that point it was getting cold so I gave up. I'll do the rears tomorrow probably. A quick test drive informs me the new tyres are a lot quieter than the old ones. Good. Absolute testing will have to be another time. If they're quiet & comfy and shrug off the cold weather that's good enough for me.
