Goodyear Vector All-weather tyres vs summer tyres

[CampervanTime]

Hi Everyone

Has anyone gone from standard factory fit 17" summer tyres to fitting goodyear vector cargo all-weather M+S tyres at all?

Did you notice any road noise or MPG differences?

I understand the vector cargos are the likely tyre that I would get if I order all-weather tyres on my new Cali and just want to choose them eyes-wide-open, if we do order them.

Thanks

 

[Sheene07]

Hello, i changed to the goodyear vector 4 seasons gen 2 in 235/55/17 with loadindex 103 and i love them ! Feels and sounds like the summer tires.
Regards frank

 

[GrannyJen]

I went the other way round and regret it.

Goodyear vectors for. most of the year and winters when I was likely to need them. My goodyears needed replacing and in a rush of blood to the head I fitted Dunlop sports rationalising I had winter tyres for winter.

Dumb move.

Another few thousand miles and I will replace with Goodyear.

 

[WelshGas]

Hi Everyone

Has anyone gone from standard factory fit 17" summer tyres to fitting goodyear vector cargo all-weather M+S tyres at all?

Did you notice any road noise or MPG differences?

I understand the vector cargos are the likely tyre that I would get if I order all-weather tyres on my new Cali and just want to choose them eyes-wide-open, if we do order them.

Thanks

Yes.
1. MPG dropped by 1 mile. As they have better grip
2. Didn’t notice any increase in noise
3. Grip much much better.
4. On my 4Motion 20,000 miles took the tread depth from 8 mm, New, to 5 mm + Front and Rear.

 

[ROKET]

Yes.
1. MPG dropped by 1 mile. As they have better grip
2. Didn’t notice any increase in noise
3. Grip much much better.
4. On my 4Motion 20,000 miles took the tread depth from 8 mm, New, to 5 mm + Front and Rear.

Is the 103h legal

 

[WelshGas]

Is the 103h legal

Yes.
103 is the correct load rating.


The California 180/204 top speed is around 115/120 mph, so a Speed rating of H is more than OK. The 140/150 possibly U.

Anything above is fine although you could be wasting money.

Personally, I’ve only topped 112 mph on the Autobahn and I was still being passed by other T5/6’s.

 

[BillyCasper]

Can I ask those that have switched from the factory fitted tyres to Goodyears or Nokians, did you do this pretty much straightway as a matter of course because they are much better tyres, or did you wait until the factory fitted tyres had reached the end of their lives?

 

[WelshGas]

Can I ask those that have switched from the factory fitted tyres to Goodyears or Nokians, did you do this pretty much straightway as a matter of course because they are much better tyres, or did you wait until the factory fitted tyres had reached the end of their lives?

When the factory tyres wore out.

 

[Jonathan Duke]

As my Cali isn't 4Motion.... And I haven't rotated Front/Rear, my fronts will need replaced before the rears.... Any advice on whether or not it's a bad idea to run ALL Weather up-front whilst retaining the stock Summers on the rear, for the rest of their lifetime?

 

[CoboCali]

As my Cali isn't 4Motion.... And I haven't rotated Front/Rear, my fronts will need replaced before the rears.... Any advice on whether or not it's a bad idea to run ALL Weather up-front whilst retaining the stock Summers on the rear, for the rest of their lifetime?

+1, thats my dilemma - interested in peoples responses to this one....

 

[bvddobb]

Well, rationale has it that in a non all-wheel drive car, your 'best' tyres should be fitted to the rear, for greater stability when cornering - less break out, etc.

One should have the same tyres on one axle, so in your situation your two new tyres should go to the rear, and the old ones to the front, and then when the old ones are done, change the earlier to the front, and the new ones to the rear again, etc.

I'm glad we have 4Motion: there you want all your tyres as even as possible, so we only have to think to rotate front/rear at season change (we have a winter and a summer set), and change all at once! Less to think of / remember - we need that at our age!

 

[WelshGas]

As my Cali isn't 4Motion.... And I haven't rotated Front/Rear, my fronts will need replaced before the rears.... Any advice on whether or not it's a bad idea to run ALL Weather up-front whilst retaining the stock Summers on the rear, for the rest of their lifetime?

+1, thats my dilemma - interested in peoples responses to this one....

Best tyres should be on the REAR on a FWD vehicle. This is best practice.

 

[Wongo]

Do the vectors come in18 inch?

 

[Teejay]

Best tyres should be on the rear of any vehicle regardless of drive wheels. Understeer (when front doesn't grip correctly) can be generally handled by most people but oversteer (where the back end comes around) is considered more dangerous. Often to correct oversteer more power is needed which is not always available on the highway. On a track it's different.

 

[alter]

Conti Vanco 200 for summer and warm months, Nokian Weatherproof with other x winter tires .... Goodyear not good .... at least in my opinion ....

 

[thehorse]

I ticked the box for the all weather tyres partly because you get 235 profile instead of 215 (on the 150 bhp). No complaints so far, they are pretty quiet and should be good in the winter. They came with vector 4 seasons (not the cargo version you mention)

 

[WelshGas]

Conti Vanco 200 for summer and warm months, Nokian Weatherproof with other x winter tires .... Goodyear not good .... at least in my opinion ....

German TUV would disagree regarding the Goodyear Cargo Vector.

 

[briwy]

I have never understood this best tyres on the rear on a fwd vehicle. I fully understand about oversteer and understeer and most people's reaction to understeer is to lift off which in theory should help bring the rear round to correct it but on most modern vehicles this is now neglible as far as I can tell.
However, as all the drive, all the steering and the majority of the braking is done by the front wheels then to me it makes more sense to have the best tyres on the front and then you are less likely to get into a dodgy situation in the first place.
If your back tyres are so worn that you get into an oversteer situation then they need renewing either that or you are going too fast for the conditions.
Incidentally when we had Goodyear Vectors on for our 5k Norway trip I found them to be considerably noisier than the Dunlops. Didn't really see much difference in fuel consumption.

 

[Keith Smith]

I've used winter tyres on the front wheels of my front wheel drive cars for over 30 years. Been to numerous tyre specialists over the time and they all recommended fitting them to the front. I lived up in the Pennines and had some terrible winters but never had any problems unless the snow got too deep to drive through but from what I'm reading here it looks like I'd be in trouble if I had an accident with them on.

 

[WelshGas]

Good explanation here.

http://kumhotyre.co.uk/kumho-news/should-you-fit-new-tyres-to-the-front-or-rear/

 

[Velma's Dad]

I have never understood this best tyres on the rear on a fwd vehicle. I fully understand about oversteer and understeer and most people's reaction to understeer is to lift off which in theory should help bring the rear round to correct it but on most modern vehicles this is now neglible as far as I can tell.

Tend to agree with that. In the real world I don't think it makes much odds anyway, unless your 'least-best' pair are nearly bald.

To be honest I think a lot of stuff about tyres is only going to be noticeable to an extremely skilled driver driving on the limit on a racetrack (yes, we Cali drivers all know we're above-average drivers - just like 95% of the rest of the population ). In normal driving I'd challenge most of us to know what tyres we had fitted, in a blind test.

From a tractability point of view (which is the main reason for winter tyres) it makes most sense to have the winters on the driven axle - just the same as snow chains.

I currently have the Goodyear all-weathers on the front and waiting to 'upgrade' a pair of Dunlops on the back. If we get ice in the meantime while I'm still on the mix, I'll report back on the max rotational velocity of a Cali.

 

[briwy]

Yes I fully agree with this in principle because it's basic physics and no doubt most of the time it applies and it's right that manufacturers make vehicles as safe as possible.

But the key phrase here is "assuming maximum front tyre grip has not been reached or exceeded,"
I'm guessing that most folk don't know where the breakaway limit is because we don't drive like that so it's rarely experienced.
In an absolutely ideal world the roads would always be dry and warm and then the best tyres would have no tread to give the maximum ammount of rubber on the road. In practice this doesn't happen so we need a tread pattern to clear water from the the tyre contact point.
The better the tread pattern and less worn will clear water faster than a worn one so it's less likely to get to the limit with a better tread depth.
If you reach the front tyre grip limit then it's not going to make much difference what you do, you're probably going to have an off so to me personally it makes sense to help keep the breakaway limit as high as possible.
Perhaps it's an age thing and how you learnt to drive and all comes down to opinions. I learnt to drive in rear wheel cars and bad weather in the Peak District so got plenty of practice at getting out of rear end slides. I'm not trying to say this makes me a better driver or be a smartarse but the experience does give me a chance to possibly recover from a situation more than someone who has always driven front wheel drive in reasonable conditions so for me personally the best tyres will be on the front on a solely fwd vehicle.

 

[Keith Smith]

Good explanation here.

http://kumhotyre.co.uk/kumho-news/should-you-fit-new-tyres-to-the-front-or-rear/

Thanks for the link, I've read through the article and I am in total agreement that if I had a performance front wheel drive car and wanted to race it "ten tenths" round a track I would go with best tyres on the rear. However I am not convinced that this is so relevant for a vehicle that will be driven more placidly. I have personal experience of suffering understeer when I hit ice entering a roundabout. The awful feeling of being completely out of control while taking the shortest route to the next exit was less than pleasant, and I am sure that if I had had winters on the front I could have stopped or steered out of danger.

In the old days when we used to get severe winters I used to take my latest car to a large empty car park and throw it around on the ice to get used to its handling. All the cars I tried, with the exception of a wheel wheel drive sports car, were extremely hard to get to oversteer, that is without applying the handbrake. I've tried winters on the front and then come back with them on the rear , in a VW Golf GTI, and the difference was chalk and cheese, and I would challenge anyone to go round an ice track and tell me that they could drive more safely with winters on the rear compared to fitting them on the front.

 

[WelshGas]

Thanks for the link, I've read through the article and I am in total agreement that if I had a performance front wheel drive car and wanted to race it "ten tenths" round a track I would go with best tyres on the rear. However I am not convinced that this is so relevant for a vehicle that will be driven more placidly. I have personal experience of suffering understeer when I hit ice entering a roundabout. The awful feeling of being completely out of control while taking the shortest route to the next exit was less than pleasant, and I am sure that if I had had winters on the front I could have stopped or steered out of danger.

In the old days when we used to get severe winters I used to take my latest car to a large empty car park and throw it around on the ice to get used to its handling. All the cars I tried, with the exception of a wheel wheel drive sports car, were extremely hard to get to oversteer, that is without applying the handbrake. I've tried winters on the front and then come back with them on the rear , in a VW Golf GTI, and the difference was chalk and cheese, and I would challenge anyone to go round an ice track and tell me that they could drive more safely with winters on the rear compared to fitting them on the front.

Upto you - can only supply the information. The same information the Insurance companies will go by in the event of a claim. As you know, they will check everything to avoid paying out in the event of a claim, so be prepared. All the tyre companies give the same advice including major car associations such as the AA & RAC.
Its your choice in the end.

 

[Calimeup]

Do the vectors come in18 inch?

Also keen to know this?