Mondeo Mk3 TDCi tyres
Discussion
Is there a generally accepted best replacement tyre for Mondeo Mk3 TDCi? The standard Pirelli P6000 are crap, I have had goodyear eagle ds3 on there and went through them in one winter, and after resorting to some cheapo 'triangle' brand ones I have decided never again - not something to skimp on.
I'm after good balance of hard-wearing and grip, and something that will be able to handle the doubtless deluge of snow we will get in the coming months.
I'm after good balance of hard-wearing and grip, and something that will be able to handle the doubtless deluge of snow we will get in the coming months.
GaryST220 said:
P6000's weren't standard fit, Continental Premium Contact 2's were.
Depends. Mine (54-plate LX) came factory fit with Hankook Ventus Primes (205-55/16).I've run Bridgestone Turanza ER300, Vredestein Hi-Trac, Uniroyal RainExpert and Hankook Ventus Prime on mine.
The Bridgestones are good, but poor in winter, it feels like driving on metal rims as they harden up so much.
The RainExpert is a good tyre but very soft in the sidewalls making handling a bit strange when they're fitted to the back. I run them on the front which makes steering a bit wishy-washy, but grip is good.
The Hankooks are good, but wear REALLY quickly. Only got 5k out of them on the front.
Finally, the Vredestein Hi-Trac. These were on the car when I got it, and they were really quite good. I'm starting to think I made a mistake not fitting similar again - they gave the best all round performance, good wear, good grip, quiet. They even worked OK in the snow before I got my winters.
So, my recommendation based on above would be the Vredestein Hi-Trac 2.
If you're after a tyre that'll do most things and work in snow dont get Goodyear Eagle F1's or whatever the current tyre is. They are okay in normal conditions, but watch it when travelling through standing water when the tread depth gets down a bit. Ive had a couple of hairy moments in very shallow standing water (the sort of standing water that forms a diagonal channel across the road when it changes from camber to crossfall) even when the tread blocks were more than minimum depth. However their main shortcoming is in snow. As the treads are effectively a 'V' pattern and as they have no transverse 'paddle' treads on the outside of the tyre, this means that they dont bite into snow. Even worse is when you try to reverse in snow. Because the tread pattern is designed to shed water whilst travelling forwards, it does exactly the opposite in snow when reversing i.e. the tread blocks fill up with snow which becomes packed as you start to wheelspin, due to the lack of grip, because the treads are full of snow......and so it continues. This creates the effect of trying to reverse on a slick tyre. Highly amusing for the first few mins but ultimately doesnt help if you are trying to get up any sort of incline at all, or even across a flat car park as I found out a couple of years ago. I imagine the same is true to a greater or lesser extent for any really heavily unidirectionally treaded tyre.
A couple of years ago I gave in and tried a dedicated set of snow tyres during the winter. I'll now not go through another winter without them. The difference is nothing short of amazing. I used a set of Bridgestone Blizzaks on my old ST24 and have just got a new set of Falkens to go on my ST TDCi on a spare set of the multispoke wheels.
To summarise, if I was looking for an all rounder that I hoped would cope with a small amount of snow, I'd pay attention to the tread pattern and stay away from the F1 type of unidirectional tread patterns.
Hope this helps
Cheers
Marty
A couple of years ago I gave in and tried a dedicated set of snow tyres during the winter. I'll now not go through another winter without them. The difference is nothing short of amazing. I used a set of Bridgestone Blizzaks on my old ST24 and have just got a new set of Falkens to go on my ST TDCi on a spare set of the multispoke wheels.
To summarise, if I was looking for an all rounder that I hoped would cope with a small amount of snow, I'd pay attention to the tread pattern and stay away from the F1 type of unidirectional tread patterns.
Hope this helps
Cheers
Marty
I ran 345,000 miles on cheapo tyres. Some were crap, some were reasonable. The old girl was thrashed cross country as well as much motorway use and I never had a problem. The car was quite good in snow with the correct approach according to conditions.
Doing such a high mileage, I was able to discard the useless ones at pretty frequent interval, though..
Doing such a high mileage, I was able to discard the useless ones at pretty frequent interval, though..
My favourite tyres on the Mondeo were the Michelin Primacy HP. Their only weak point was snow performance (or lack of it) but that is true of most summer tyres.
I preferred them to the standard Conti's and the Pirelli P6000. Bridgestone Turanza Er300 felt a bit 'stiff', though I didn't really have them on long enough to evaluate them properly (sold the car rather than anything being wrong with the tyres).
I preferred them to the standard Conti's and the Pirelli P6000. Bridgestone Turanza Er300 felt a bit 'stiff', though I didn't really have them on long enough to evaluate them properly (sold the car rather than anything being wrong with the tyres).
DJ_AS said:
My favourite tyres on the Mondeo were the Michelin Primacy HP. Their only weak point was snow performance (or lack of it) but that is true of most summer tyres.
I run these on my Focus TDCi - granted it's a smaller, lighter car, but they last for ages and perform really well.I had Conti's on mine when first bought. Quite a good price but very expensive. I have since run Falken ZE912's and they are as good as the conti's but half the price. Wear is quite good too, 15k miles out of a set of fronts. They were ok in the snow last year too, my next door neighbour who had michelin's on couldn't get up the hill out of the communal carpark. I could though. 
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