Buying steelies for XM's

[Charles M]

No damage to anything apart from as predicted, the copper beech lost a branch, which fortunately was hit by wind from the west south west and took out nothing in its fall.

The little lane up the road that is a good rat run to the main road was flooded to about a foot, but with the suspension height up the XM just sailed through. The transit behind did find it somewhat deeper than he'd thought though!

[beko1987]

I had the horror of a leaf blowing onto my headlight and killing it, luckily just before I got onto the M40 earlier. I bravely removed it and carried on my way. That's the worst thing to happen to my XM in the wind so far

[CitroJim]

I bet you were absolutely terrified Sam

[Dieselman]

The little lane up the road that is a good rat run to the main road was flooded to about a foot, but with the suspension height up the XM just sailed through. The transit behind did find it somewhat deeper than he'd thought though!

I once had a similar experience. A lane was deeply flooded and a Parcelforce Iveco van stuck in the middle of the water.

I raised the XM and drove through, stopping to ask if it had hydraulically locked. Errr...Yep...

[russ92xmsed]

the joy of a hydraulic citroen


Well my sunroof didn't leak. So that was good.

[kingp]

To be honest I haven't bought a new tyre in yonks.

I've gone the route of part worn sets on alloys or near new take off tyres recently.

Winter retreads are going to be my thing as the grip alone in the wet in out colder months is well worth it as don't forget the xm doesn't exactly have wide tyres for its weight.

I posted up on the fcf a link to retread winter tyres for about £40 a piece which is cracking value for winter tyres. Even if the rubber was so soft they lasted a year I'm classing them as a good investment as throwing away 1/3 of the cars value on tyres that are likely not much better doesn't make any sense to me.

Paul has a few sets of rims so I'm sure he can sort you out and if Charles can't take them down I can probably get them across to Manchester and maybe down the m1 in a few weeks with a friends help.

[beko1987]

I've seen retreads on ebay, but didn't trust them, no idea why. However, if people have used them with success then that could be worth a shout. I have part worns normally, it's what is on there now. Having 2 sets of wheels, one for winter and one for normal sounds like a good plan of attach, it was 5 degrees this morning, so getting colder, and my current tyres wont grip much in the ice, on the edge of wet grip as it is (swapped the 2 best to the front to help with that)

Be interesting to hear any more testimonials on re-treads. For that price, if they only lasted a winter or 2 it will be good value. As you said, a set of decent winters is £280, inc fitting would be near £350, and I only paid £620 for the car!

Plus, I broke my phone screen at the weekend, so any spare fundage will go on that, as well as Amys car needing an MOT, so a cheaper option is always welcome!

[robert_e_smart]

Tyres are an important piece of safety Kit.

Re threads are very commonly used on truck trailers. Not used so widely on cars because of the price of new chinese Tyres being so close.

I bought a XM with winter re-threads on the front of it a few years back. The new sidewall coating didn't age very well though. It all depends on the quality of them.

[kingp]

I had kingpin retreads on the front of the C5 and they did very well all round but I had only had them fitted a few months so not sure about winter grip but in very heavy/flood type rain they performed well and were £26 a corner. My dad even said they seemed better than the tigar tyres he had fitted a while back so he will probably get some for his newer c5 exclusive when it needs them.

On the RR forum a few run two sets of wheels mainly due to the price of a decent winter tyre for 19/20" rims being £250-300 a corner. A limited few run their wintrac 4 xtremes all year round but they are meant to be good in most conditions for the uk compared to normal M&S tyres, specially as the uk doesn't really get hot enough to degrade them and they often last more than 20k miles which is always good.

[beko1987]

Interesting to hear about retreads being ok. If I had 2 sets of wheels, I could change them weekly if needed, so fast wear wouldn't be an issue. Could then save up and get the other set of steelies de-tyred, then brush them up and re-paint them, then get some summery tyres out on, either part worn or new. Should extend the life of them somewhat