Tyre wear

[Martyn P]

Just coming up to 25,000 miles and still on the original set of front tyres (rears were replaced a year ago).

I have never had a car so light on its toes - has anybody gone much further on the first set?
Definitely a plus for lightweight cars!

The only downside is I want to upgrade to PS5 because the sidewalls look nicer and to match the rears.

Edited by Martyn P on Thursday 2nd November 17:50

Edited by Martyn P on Thursday 2nd November 17:52

[Rob_RCF]

Martyn P said:

The only downside is I want to upgrade to PS5 because the sidewalls look nicer and to match the rears.

How do you find the PS5? I'm not so convinced it's an upgrade considering the PS4 used on the A110 is bespoke to the car.

[Martyn P]

Can’t say I really noticed a huge difference except more grip, which you might expect anyway by switching to newer rubber. But overall I like them.

If you wanted to get special Alpine PS4 where would you go? Do they have a specific code? I must admit I didn’t realise they existed.

[Hoofty]

The Alpine specific PS4 tyres are marked 'DT1':

Fronts:
https://www.camskill.co.uk/m61b0s2166p152351/Miche...

Rears:https://www.camskill.co.uk/m61b0s322p152362/Michel...

If you navigate up a level you'll see there are non DT1 PS4 options, plus, confusingly, DT1 PS4S options - just to confuse things further

Camskill has this down as 'mould version', so I don't know that it captures Alpine specific options as clearly as the German manufacturers, but they're relatively easy to find at least, and from my limited experience, fairly consistent.

It baffles most people to learn that just about every tyre spec any new car is sold on has been tuned to some extent - they are never 'off the shelf'. This is absolutely normal business and a result of tyre supplier contractual agreements to cover proportions of production volumes with tyres which deliver controlled performance levels. The difference between those and the options available in the aftermarket can vary somewhat between 'nothing' and 'lots', but generally that difference isn't something which is feasible to address - plus 99% of people just don't care. Performance cars are a bit of an exception, as owners are more aware of/bothered by the availability of OE options (esp things like GT3s etc).

Big tangent sorry - good work OP, I'm at a similar mileage but thanks to running a set of winters I've only got 20k on my fronts so far. I got 15k out of the rears; which, considering they're so cheap, I'm a bit annoyed about

[Pete182cup]

15k here and fronts barely worn too! I switched the rears around 3k miles ago and I now feel a bit of an imbalance between front and rear axle…not sure if it’s just a placebo effect, but the worn rears allowed me to adopt a bit of steer from the rear but the new PS4’s on the back now grip like mad and want to push the front wide.

I’m probably being a bit stingey not replacing the fronts to see if it re-balances both axles, just seems a shame when they are like new (but 4 years old now!)

Anyone experienced something similar? I’m on life 110 geo by the way…a110S

[biggles330d]

Mine in for a service yesterday at 8000 miles and I was quite surprised at the 6+mm remaining on the rears and +/- 5.5mm on the fronts. More wear on the inner side than the outer - presume thats normal as both sides were within fractions of each other.
I don't drive mine hard but it is pleasantly surprising so much fun can be had for so little running costs.

[Colin P]

Martyn P said:

Can’t say I really noticed a huge difference except more grip, which you might expect anyway by switching to newer rubber. But overall I like them.

If you wanted to get special Alpine PS4 where would you go? Do they have a specific code? I must admit I didn’t realise they existed.

If you search online you will often see the OEM spec tyres available. Sometimes teh same tyres are different prices. This is why you may see multiple options for what looks like the same tyre.

MO for example is Mercedes, LTS is Lotus and * is BMW. One of my Evora's used specify MO spec.

That said I have just had a look at my Alpines tyres, original factory tyres and there are no OEM codes on there, so mine at least are the generic tyre.

[Colin P]

biggles330d said:

Mine in for a service yesterday at 8000 miles and I was quite surprised at the 6+mm remaining on the rears and +/- 5.5mm on the fronts. More wear on the inner side than the outer - presume thats normal as both sides were within fractions of each other.
I don't drive mine hard but it is pleasantly surprising so much fun can be had for so little running costs.

Do you have the standard Geo? With the toe in and toe out in use on the standard setting it wouldn't surprise me to get uneven wear.

[Liam22]

Mchelin DT1 is a Ford spec. OE fronts are from Fiesta ST, rears are from Focus ST.

[Portti]

I have driven 19,000 km with my A110 and I checked how worn the tyres were before putting the car into winter storage. Front tyres had 6 mm left and the rears 3 mm. So it looks like I should replace the rear tyres quite soon.

[biggles330d]

Colin P said:

biggles330d said:

Mine in for a service yesterday at 8000 miles and I was quite surprised at the 6+mm remaining on the rears and +/- 5.5mm on the fronts. More wear on the inner side than the outer - presume thats normal as both sides were within fractions of each other.
I don't drive mine hard but it is pleasantly surprising so much fun can be had for so little running costs.

Do you have the standard Geo? With the toe in and toe out in use on the standard setting it wouldn't surprise me to get uneven wear.

Yep, haven't quite got around to doing the Life110 thing. Does it even out the wear as well?

[Zarco]

Liam22 said:

Mchelin DT1 is a Ford spec. OE fronts are from Fiesta ST, rears are from Focus ST.

Do you have a source for this?

I was tyre shopping this week and was trying to find out what DT1 meant. I've run a couple of sets of PS4S and never come across it before. Best I could find via Google was that it was a new improved tread pattern. I do recall one of the search results was someone on a Fiesta ST forum reviewing the tyre.

[Colin P]

Liam22 said:

Mchelin DT1 is a Ford spec. OE fronts are from Fiesta ST, rears are from Focus ST.

I understood the DT1 related to a revised tread pattern, or basically a new evolution of the tyre, rather than manufacturer fitment.

The OEM codes are here (scroll down towards the bottom)

www.michelin.co.uk/auto/advice/tyre-basics/tyre-ma...

My car has DT1s from the factory, but no manufacturer markings.

[Martyn P]

biggles330d said:

More wear on the inner side than the outer - presume thats normal as both sides were within fractions of each other.

Exactly the same with mine, inner edge slightly more worn but otherwise very even. I like the standard geometry set up, will be interesting to hear about tyre ware from others who have gone with alternative geo.

[Colin P]

biggles330d said:

Yep, haven't quite got around to doing the Life110 thing. Does it even out the wear as well?

Standard settings are front toe out and rear toe in. So would expect increased wear on the inside on the fronts and outside on the rears.

Life settings are, as I understand it, more parallel, so logic dictates that the wear should be more even.

Mines only got 4500 miles on it (about 4000 of which on the life settings) so probably too early to tell.

[Liam22]

Colin P said:

I understood the DT1 related to a revised tread pattern, or basically a new evolution of the tyre, rather than manufacturer fitment.

Thanks ColinP. I stand corrected.

I think I read the Ford ST thing on here but seems to be coincidence.

[Haltamer]

I emailed Michelin to ask in 2021 - To clear it up once and for all!

Michelin Customer Care said:

Dear John,

Thank you for contacting MICHELIN Customer Care.

Regarding your query about DT1 marking.

DT1 is Michelin internal specification. Marked tyres have slightly different tread compound which provides better mileage.

Tyres with DT1 marking should be fitted per axle. Tyres with different markings should not be combined with each other.

I hope this information is helpful. Please do not hesitate to contact us again if you have any further questions or concerns, we will be more than happy to help.

MICHELIN is happy to accompany you on every journey and would like to thank you for your confidence.

Kind regards,

Kate

MICHELIN Customer Care
Passenger Car & Light Truck Tyres

Tel: [phone]

E-mail: [e-mail]
Contact us: www.michelin.co.uk/contact
Web: www.michelin.co.uk

As an aside, I've always been very impressed with mainstream tyre supplier's customer support; Continental, Michelin, Vredestein etc. have all been exceedingly fast to respond, and fairly forthcoming with technical details and information, so if you ever have tyre questions it's always worth contacting the manufacturers

[Martyn P]

https://www.michelin.com/en/documents/new-alpine-a...

Yet this press release seems to suggest that the DT1 was designed specifically for Alpine after joint testing with Michelin? In any case the DT1 has proved to be an excellent tyre on my car!

[Zarco]

Martyn P said:

https://www.michelin.com/en/documents/new-alpine-a...

Yet this press release seems to suggest that the DT1 was designed specifically for Alpine after joint testing with Michelin? In any case the DT1 has proved to be an excellent tyre on my car!

I can't see any reference to DT1 in that press release.

It must be referring to an Alpine OE spec PS4 that would be labelled differently (shame it doesn't spell out how).

Edited by Zarco on Saturday 4th November 08:57

[neil-g8km6]

Well if anyone wants to purchase a set of original spec Michelin tyres on Fuchs alloys as fitted to my P.E. with under 3K miles with at least 6mm tread and in perfect condition, send me a message. They have been languishing under cover in my garage since 2022 when I replace them with a set of Pro Tracks.