What's the tyre life on a California

[Andy]

At 15882 miles I changed the front tyres. Put rears on front & had two Firenza st08 fitted to the front. + £220 fitted they are half the price of a pair of Dunlop Sport OEM. Will be interesting to see how they last. Grip seems to be OK so far, but mostly only done local journeys. Time will tell.

 

[beardie]

Swapped my fronts at 19K still had 2mm left so could have done another 1k or so if abs necessary. Went for hankooks £250 fitted. Rears still have 6mm left

 

[Andy]

Swapped my fronts at 19K still had 2mm left so could have done another 1k or so if abs necessary. Went for hankooks £250 fitted. Rears still have 6mm left

Should always put new tyres on the rear. Thinking being that as you have less control of what they do they need to have the best chance of grip. At least that is what I'm told by several tyre fitters.

 

[beardie]

Swapped my fronts at 19K still had 2mm left so could have done another 1k or so if abs necessary. Went for hankooks £250 fitted. Rears still have 6mm left

Should always put new tyres on the rear. Thinking being that as you have less control of what they do they need to have the best chance of grip. At least that is what I'm told by several tyre fitters.

So they say, although the 6mm on the back should give enough grip. As the tyre wear on the front is much quicker it won't be long before the fronts have less than the backs again. Every time I have experience tyres loosing grip it's been the front that goes first (ice and wet). Perhaps there is a fwd / rwd difference here

 

[Graham]

Theory is that under steer is easier to deal with than over steer hence you want to bias the available grip to the rear. Especially true as in a Cali it is more likely to be wet or muddy roads that catch one out rather than over enthusiastic use of the loud pedal. I wouldn't want my bus going tail happy on me.

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[muttley]

I have done 8500 miles on my Michelin Primacys, and they are pretty much down to the wear indicators on the front. That is no doubt due to the hilly, twisty B roads in my neck of the woods, which are not ideal for the Cali.

I have had similarly poor life out of Primacys on cars, so I will be replacing them with all season Cargo Vectors - as fitted as standard on a friend's T5 van.

Simon

 

[Andy]

I have done 8500 miles on my Michelin Primacys, and they are pretty much down to the wear indicators on the front. That is no doubt due to the hilly, twisty B roads in my neck of the woods, which are not ideal for the Cali.

I have had similarly poor life out of Primacys on cars, so I will be replacing them with all season Cargo Vectors - as fitted as standard on a friend's T5 van.

Simon

Will be noisier & probably a harsher ride with Cargo vectors.

 

[Cali_Freaks]

Just replaced fronts at 16.5k, 17" Dunlop Sport 01 (as OEM) sourced through blackcircles.com and fitted locally in N.Brum - £170 each all in.

 

[Custardtart]

I have done 8500 miles on my Michelin Primacys, and they are pretty much down to the wear indicators on the front. That is no doubt due to the hilly, twisty B roads in my neck of the woods, which are not ideal for the Cali.

I have had similarly poor life out of Primacys on cars, so I will be replacing them with all season Cargo Vectors - as fitted as standard on a friend's T5 van.

Simon

That's not great - I'm about to change tyres on my car and was going to try Michelin Primacy HP's out as the reviews say the wear really well. If they were ok on the car I was going to try on the Cali too.

Like everyone else I'm trying to find the balance between noise/ride/grip and life. Both my car and Cali are on Dunlop Sport Maxx and they're just too soft to get any decent life I think.

 

[barry]

I have done 8500 miles on my Michelin Primacys, and they are pretty much down to the wear indicators on the front. That is no doubt due to the hilly, twisty B roads in my neck of the woods, which are not ideal for the Cali.

I have had similarly poor life out of Primacys on cars, so I will be replacing them with all season Cargo Vectors - as fitted as standard on a friend's T5 van.

Simon

That's not great - I'm about to change tyres on my car and was going to try Michelin Primacy HP's out as the reviews say the wear really well. If they were ok on the car I was going to try on the Cali too.

Like everyone else I'm trying to find the balance between noise/ride/grip and life. Both my car and Cali are on Dunlop Sport Maxx and they're just too soft to get any decent life I think.

As per my post above I have Marathon Cargos on a 4Motion and they've proved excellent. I'm staggered at some of the atrocity stories I'm reading re other more 'famous' tyres.

 

[KernowLad]

Well I've got major outer edge wear on my two front tyres at 14k miles.

Two new ones and tracking being done on Wednesday - £420 - ouch!

 

[Andy]

Well I've got major outer edge wear on my two front tyres at 14k miles.

Two new ones and tracking being done on Wednesday - £420 - ouch!

Thats expensive, what tyres?

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[KernowLad]

Well I've got major outer edge wear on my two front tyres at 14k miles.

Two new ones and tracking being done on Wednesday - £420 - ouch!

Thats expensive, what tyres?

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The same Dunlops plus tracking.

 

[kevinstewart500]

I have just replaced my first set of front tyres at 23500 miles. Rear tyres still in good shape!

 

[calikev]

Wow that's amazing what make we're they :?:

 

[bernie]

I've used 17 inch Continental Vanco Contacts since new. Not cheap to buy but last a long time. About £180 per tyre inc fitting. You get what you pay for, I think. Sports tyres and winter tyres wear more quickly and use more fuel, I think.

 

[Martin]

I have also got the Continental Vanco Contacts on the front of mine and after around 7000 miles they are still like new.

 

[crossa]

Yesterday my Cali had its first service at 11500 miles. The service readout on both front tyres was 7mm tread and 8mm tread on the rears. They are the factory supplied Bridgestone Duravis 215/65R16 tyres.
Today I had them replaced with a set of all-season tyres.
I intend selling the Brigestones. Any help in giving me a valuation on the set of four would be appreciated.
Pete.

 

[KernowLad]

New front boots fitted. Tracking was well put so had all wheels laser aligned. I suspect it was out from the factory.

£420 all in; ouch.

 

[mountainman]

I have had my Cali Berghaus new since Feb 2012. It was supplied with Contisport Contact 3 255/45/R18s. I swapped the tyres front to back at ca 8,000miles and now have a set of evenly worn tyres at 15,000 miles with maybe 1000 miles left or so. I am ca. 0.5-1.0mm off the wear bars. Given what I have read thus far, that seems quite good?

 

[Californiaman]

180 DSG just had the fronts done at 18k with a little tiny, weeny bit left.

 

[mountainman]

That seems pretty good. I don't expect that much out of mine, but close. Do you know what tyres they were?

 

[Californiaman]

They were Dunlop Sport 01. Replaced with Hancook.

 

[mountainman]

Re: What's the tyre life on a California?

Hi folks,

Back to this subject again! People seem to have got good mileage out of Continental Vanco Contacts but I cant find any of those that'll fit on to 18" wheels.

My Contisport Contact 255/45/R18 103Ys have done 15,500 miles and now need replacing. Any recommendations on what I might get more mileage from?

 

[Custardtart]

I've no experience but after researching a bit I've gone for Hankooks.