Tyres For The D9 406

Get the cheapest Bob Jane Skidmasters. You will have so much more fun when you loose traction or the sideways slides when braking or the smoke from front tyres when powering away at traffic lights. You only live once, enjoy your drive :)
 
To Greg Luke:
I agree that unless one is desperately skint, spending the extra to get quality tyres is worth it (in terms of emergency wet braking & swerving performance especially).

But that won't always mean Michelin.

My advice remains: select the best performing tyre on the parameters one values regardless of brand; & one's best guide to which tyre that is will be the suite of published tests & test summaries at places like Tyre Reviews. I have certainly recommended avoidance of some Michelin types in the past because of sub-optimal test performance on key performance parameters.
 
Peter C said:
I haven't yet, but it seems Dunlop FM800 could be the go. I reckon I've missed out on some good deals. I have a health issue at the moment which has delayed action.
Click to expand...

I got mine from a Dunlop tyre dealer and was surpised at how much lower the price was compared to Bob & Jax etc.
 
What criteria do you people put in to get the FM800 recommended for your D9? I have tried various combinations but that tyre never gets recommended, not even on Dunlop's site.

Is it because I'm stipulating low noise tyres? That is not something I am prepared to put up with.
 
Interesting! If I know what tyres I want I don't usually bother entering vehicle details, but search on size and brand.

Searching the TyreSales web site I found the following FM800s:

195x65R15 91V - $185
205x55R16 91V - $202

However they do not list a 205x60R15 FM800, which is the original size for my D9 SV (I now run 16" rims, but have fitted Bridgestone RE003 - $214 each).

My Pug 605 and Citroen XM use 205x65R15 - FM800s are made in this size (& I use them on my 605), but the FM800s made in that size are H rated.

Here's a screen shot from Dunlop's own website
1719709298459.png


Sure enough - no 205x60R15
 
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I have been a frequent poster recommending the FM 800. This is a regional tyre type & thus the usual European suite of tests is not available & my recommendation is based on personal experience. Normally I recommend that people prefer test data to anecdote but in this case, the former is lacking.

My experience with the tyre is as fitted to two rear engined Renault toys (a warm R8 & my 4CVG) in 185/60-14. My analysis is below.

First: the FM 800 is an excellent wet tyre laterally.
[I can't comment on braking behaviour as these vehicles never lock up the rears & the FM800 is not available in a size that suits the fronts. My surmise is that they would do well in an emergency stop but that is hypothesis. Ditto for traction under acceleration; these vehicles have excellent traction so how the FM 800 would cope with a powerful FWD, I know not. (They are on a daughter's FWD Corolla in 195/65-15 but I haven't fanged that in the wet,)]
Lateral behaviour in the wet has a few elements.

One is deep water behaviour. The danger here is aquaplaning. Given the camber of the roads I drive fast on, I can't comment as they are never more than streaming-wet. Anyway, the weight of the rears of these vehicles helps them plant the tyres against aquaplaning.

So, what of lateral behaviour in mere streaming-wet conditions? Excellent.
The FM 800 has a high enough void/tread-rubber ratio to get the "rubber" into interaction with the road surface & a compound which micro-interlocks well with that surface. Moreover, that compound is unusually stable & doesn't go "off" quickly. I have fanged them in slick wet conditions when near worn out & around 5 years old without noticeable diminution of grip & I am a very tyre-sensitive driver. The compound also works well at low temperatures (I live in Tasmania); not all "regional" tyre types do. So, wet-grippy & wet-grippy for the life of the tread.

Another element of wet lateral behaviour is what happens as grip is lost. These cars are toys & I fang them (my local country "C" roads have good sight-lines across paddocks & are lightly trafficked). The FM 800 is beautifully benign at the limit. They are not "snappy" & tell you what is happening in a wide enough limit envelope to apply remedial interventions & they respond well to those interventions. So, all good.

What of the dry? There are two elements worth separating. Grip levels & "balance".

Grip is good. Tyre grip in the dry always varies less across tyre types than in the wet. What varies more is "balance". Here lies my only hesitation about the FM 800.

There are two main elements here: structure & tread stability. If there is an imbalance front to rear, then handling oddities emerge.
The FM 800 hardly has a super taut "sports" sidewall structure but is responsive to tautening via increased pressure so your desired handling balance should be achievable by playing with pressures.
Tread instability is another matter. When new, the blocks squirm & distort a bit before taking their "set" & transmitting force. In my applications, this meant an unwelcome "tailly" instability on fast sweepers. But that unwelcome feature was very temporary & not much wear at all stabilised the tread elements & cured the issue. Note that such behaviour might not even manifest in another vehicle application.

So, my recommendation of them has been based on behaviour in the wet (grippy laterally & benign on the limit) & dry (grippy & pressure tuneable & with only minor & transient initial tread instability),

Other things?
I haven't noticed them to be particularly uncomfortable but I don't really attend to that. The FM 800 is, however, a "touring" type so is designed to be compliant.
As for longevity, I don't attend to that either although I try to avoid any tyre that trumpets its longevity as, despite increasingly competent tyre chemistry, it is still contra-indicated for wet grip compounding.
Noise? The toys have other sourcesof noise that preclude me from noticing anything the tyres might generate. Again,though, as a "touring" type, the FM 800's designers would be attending to this parameter.
Others might be able to add detail on these matters.

cheers! Peter
 
4cvgordini said:
I have been a frequent poster recommending the FM 800. This is a regional tyre type & thus the usual European suite of tests is not available & my recommendation is based on personal experience. Normally I recommend that people prefer test data to anecdote but in this case, the former is lacking.

My experience with the tyre is as fitted to two rear engined Renault toys (a warm R8 & my 4CVG) in 185/60-14. My analysis is below.

First: the FM 800 is an excellent wet tyre laterally.
[I can't comment on braking behaviour as these vehicles never lock up the rears & the FM800 is not available in a size that suits the fronts. My surmise is that they would do well in an emergency stop but that is hypothesis. Ditto for traction under acceleration; these vehicles have excellent traction so how the FM 800 would cope with a powerful FWD, I know not. (They are on a daughter's FWD Corolla in 195/65-15 but I haven't fanged that in the wet,)]
Lateral behaviour in the wet has a few elements.

One is deep water behaviour. The danger here is aquaplaning. Given the camber of the roads I drive fast on, I can't comment as they are never more than streaming-wet. Anyway, the weight of the rears of these vehicles helps them plant the tyres against aquaplaning.

So, what of lateral behaviour in mere streaming-wet conditions? Excellent.
The FM 800 has a high enough void/tread-rubber ratio to get the "rubber" into interaction with the road surface & a compound which micro-interlocks well with that surface. Moreover, that compound is unusually stable & doesn't go "off" quickly. I have fanged them in slick wet conditions when near worn out & around 5 years old without noticeable diminution of grip & I am a very tyre-sensitive driver. The compound also works well at low temperatures (I live in Tasmania); not all "regional" tyre types do. So, wet-grippy & wet-grippy for the life of the tread.

Another element of wet lateral behaviour is what happens as grip is lost. These cars are toys & I fang them (my local country "C" roads have good sight-lines across paddocks & are lightly trafficked). The FM 800 is beautifully benign at the limit. They are not "snappy" & tell you what is happening in a wide enough limit envelope to apply remedial interventions & they respond well to those interventions. So, all good.

What of the dry? There are two elements worth separating. Grip levels & "balance".

Grip is good. Tyre grip in the dry always varies less across tyre types than in the wet. What varies more is "balance". Here lies my only hesitation about the FM 800.

There are two main elements here: structure & tread stability. If there is an imbalance front to rear, then handling oddities emerge.
The FM 800 hardly has a super taut "sports" sidewall structure but is responsive to tautening via increased pressure so your desired handling balance should be achievable by playing with pressures.
Tread instability is another matter. When new, the blocks squirm & distort a bit before taking their "set" & transmitting force. In my applications, this meant an unwelcome "tailly" instability on fast sweepers. But that unwelcome feature was very temporary & not much wear at all stabilised the tread elements & cured the issue. Note that such behaviour might not even manifest in another vehicle application.

So, my recommendation of them has been based on behaviour in the wet (grippy laterally & benign on the limit) & dry (grippy & pressure tuneable & with only minor & transient initial tread instability),

Other things?
I haven't noticed them to be particularly uncomfortable but I don't really attend to that. The FM 800 is, however, a "touring" type so is designed to be compliant.
As for longevity, I don't attend to that either although I try to avoid any tyre that trumpets its longevity as, despite increasingly competent tyre chemistry, it is still contra-indicated for wet grip compounding.
Noise? The toys have other sourcesof noise that preclude me from noticing anything the tyres might generate. Again,though, as a "touring" type, the FM 800's designers would be attending to this parameter.
Others might be able to add detail on these matters.

cheers! Peter
Click to expand...
I also like the FM800, I agree with what Peter says above. I have the FM800 on my 2002 Laguna V6, I have never lost traction under acceleration in the wet, the FM800 does bring up the ESP light in the dash in standing water (water that is deeper than the tread depth) at highway speeds. I have never had any issues under braking in wet or dry and have never noticed the ABS start working under hard braking. I have found the FM800 to be a fairly quiet tyre on most surfaces and is also great value for money. I got 52,000 Km out of my last set of FM800's

What I have noticed is the FM800 does not like over inflation. The placard on the drivers door says for tyre pressures normal front 33 rear 30 psi and loaded fast road front 39 rear 32 psi. I was running with loaded fast road pressures and found the front to wear the centre of the tyre a little more than the shoulders. On this set of FM800's I'm running front 36 rear 32 psi. My tyre size is 225/45R17.
 
I haven't really analysed the behaviour of the FM800s on my Pug 605 (PRV V6), but I quickly realised I could trust them.

I don't have to make allowances for them - they just quietly do their job without drawing attention to themselves.

Mind you I can say the same about the RE003s on my 406, although I probably won't get as long a life out of them.
 
I rather like the RE003 & have fitted multiple sets to my wife's & a daughter's Foresters (215/60-16). These are AWD vehicles & thus traction under acceleration in the wet is not going to be an issue. I'll continue to fit them.
However one frogger who fitted them (195/50-15) to a 205 GTI on my recommendation did experience a tendency to traction loss in the wet under acceleration (more so than his previous Conti PC2s (185/55-15) - another recommendation of mine, which ceased to be available).

Cheers! Peter.
 
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