Alhmabra Tyres

[popeye2755]

Can anyone tell me if the only type of tyre that can be fitted to my Alhambra are the following:

 

Bridgestone 205/55R16C

 

According to National tyres and ATS, only Bridgestone do this tyre, no-one else. I've just been quoted 10 days delivery because no-one has any in stock!

 

Cheers

 

Alhambra SX TDI, 04, 130bhp

[Velcrohead]

I have no doubts they are the most expensive as well.

I would have thought any 205/55 16 would be OK, but they have to be reinforced.

Depending what day of the week it is.

Mine takes 215/55 16's and as long as the tyres are reinforced, the cheapest go on mine, I'm not a brand name person.

[popeye2755]

Thanks for the reply. Apparently it's the "c" that causes the problem, because this indicates a "commercial" (van) type tyre. The cars a lease car, and the lease company are very picky about which tyres can be fitted, due to cost.

[Buncers]

I think National Tyres and ATS are having you on. Have a look at this site

http://ssl.delti.com/mytires/start.html

 

Put in you car make and model and see the choices available.

 

I've just replaced all the tyres on my Gal and as said before they need to be reinforced that's all.

 

One other piece of advice - ask the local Seat dealer.

[Topbloke]

you do not have to replace them with c type tyres , the hand book should tell you what options you can use , this argument has raged on this forum many times try a search !

[dave_m]

I use WANLI Budget reinforced tyres on my galaxy 215/55/16 they are less than

[Guest BIGLOX]

Definately agree with "Buncers".www.mytyres.co.uk is worth a look. I got a pair of reinforced "Falken" 215/55/16 for

[Guest ajaycad]

Another factor to consider......if you fit non reinforced tyres and have a prang............yep youv'e guessed, your insurance will refuse to pay out. Not worth the risk in my eyes.

[popeye2755]

Thanks for all the replies. Gave up arguing in the end with the lease company, decided to wait ten days until ATS can get the original tyres. Never mind, it's a day off work while they get changed!

[popeye2755]

The saga continues... Spoke to ATS today, and was informed that it would be another 10 days before they would get the tyres. I then spoke to Seat, who were fully aware of the problem. Apparently, Bridgestone have stopped producing the tyre(!) Seat now have two official replacements, both of which are of a different size. Seat stated that this would need all 5 tyres changing, which seemed sensible to me. Over to the lease company then... they have a different take on it... they would replace the worn tyres with the new size, but not the ones which still had OK tread. They stated that they would put the bigger tyres on the back, and the smaller ones on the front, thus keeping the vehicle legal. WTF??? What about the spare? What size do I have fitted to that? or do I carry two spares? I'm going to hammer the lease company tomorrow and hopefully get them to change all 5 tyres.

 

Ta

[Masked Marauder]

Tyres have to be the same size on the same axle, it is perfectly reasonable and legal to have a slightly larger size on the rear. The size differences are minimal, I doubt you would even notice.

[Andrew T]

It all seems a bit unecessary when the there is a wide choice of the correctly sized reinforced tyres available elsewhere. However if your lease company has authorised it (and I presume they provide your insurance) you don't really have any choice.

Regarding having a odd sized spare, it's no differant to having a space saver tyre.

FWIW Citroen used to fit 185 section tyres on the front and 175 to the rear of the CX as standard. But then they would wouldn't they ?

[popeye2755]

It gets worse.... Kwik fit mobile came and fitted two new bigger tyres to the front of the car. This was in contradiction to what the kwik fit call centre told me the day before. They said that it is illegal to have bigger tyres on the front than on the back. When I rang them back to point out that they had fitted the tyres to the front, they pointed out that actually it isn't illegal to have bigger tyres on the front as long as you have the same sized tyre on each axle. However, they were desperate to come out immediately and put the bigger tyres on the back! I rang Seat up to get their viewpoint, and they said the under no circumstances should the vehicle be driven with different size tyres, as it is dangerous.

 

Fed up.

[Guest marcusheawood]

It's not dangerous, many cars actually come with different sized tyres front to rear.

Stop being mugged, stop talking to idiots who know nothing.

 

Take the car back to SEAT, have an engineers report sent to the lease company and get all the tyres changed according to the manufacturers recommendations.

 

If the car has to have all five tyres changed in order to meet specification, then it's tough luck for the lease company! It's not as if they're not making any bloody money here.

[popeye2755]

Wish it was that easy. Basically, it's all about arse-covering, and I need to make sure that mines covered(!) I'll leave it up to my company to sort out, but IMO it's the bloody lease company being tight.

[italiastar]

Mine was fitted with Continentals at the factory - I personally wouldn't touch Bridgestones - In my experience on my previous car, they wore out too quickly and were useless in the wet - not too good in the dry for that matter. I replaced them with Goodyears, despite the Dealer and Mitsubishi advising against it as they claimed the car was designed for Bridgestones and fitting another make could comprimise safety - something I found hard to believe as Bridgestone change their tread about every year. The Goodyears were much much beter and held the road perfectly in all conditions.

[popeye2755]

It drags on and on...... KwitFit mobile came and swapped the tyres, so the bigger ones were on the back. Today they came and changed the bigger tyres to the original size. Brilliant! until I checked the tyres... They have put Bridgestone ER300 (not ER30C) which are not reiniforced. I rang KwitFit who couldn't believe what had happened. They told me they'll be round first thing to put the bigger Dunlops back on the rear wheels until they can get the ER30C's......

 

Bloody Brilliant...