Tyre size

[Adam.p]

Morning guys and girls. I have a 1999 xj 4.0 and it needs a new set of tyres. Have always gone with the original Pirelli 225/60/16’s but these are no longer made. What tyres are people running with these unavailable? I like to keep the car as original as possible being an immaculate low miles example. Suggestions welcome, thank you 

[N6 JMX]

Hi Adam, suggest you go to the Kwik Fit website and type in your registration number. You don't need to purchase the tyres from Kwik Fit, although they are usually quite competitive. The website will give you a list of the tyres that would be suitable for your car but you do need to confirm the sizes.

Once you have a target tyre in mind, you can then do the usual searching for the best price, but beware the "internet sellers" as there is good reason why these sites can sell premium tyres at apparently low prices - not all tyres are created equally and the "out of manufacturer specification" tyres, even premium brand tyres, are dumped with the internet sellers.

Such out of specification may be as simple as to be out of balance with normal weights applied, but adding a couple of hundred grams of tyre weight counterbalance is not recommended.

N6 JMX

[LairdScooby]

Give these people a try Adam :

https://www.tyreleader.co.uk/

Remember that with tyres, brake pads and other things designed to wear as part of their function in life, you can't keep it original for long, even if fitting the OEM parts. As such, go with the correct size and a brand you are comfortable with. Also look at the reviews for the tyre you're considering, with particular attention to those from your area or the area in which you mostly drive. Road surfaces can (and do!) vary across the country and what gets brilliant reviews in one are won't fair so well in another. For example, Pirelli around the west midlands are gets poor reviews but around the eastern counties gets good reviews. Having driven in those areas in the same car with the same tyres, i can say the reviews are justified but are in fact down to the roads being different.

I recently fitted a set of Maxxis Primetra tyres on my S Type as they were (on paper at least) the closest i could find to Pirelli P6000 tyres, the OE fitment on mine. I have to say i'm not disappointed! Very good tyres with excellent grip and quiet too. The (very) old P6000s that were on the front of mine nearly caused an incident with a telegraph pole because they had gone hard with age and lost much of their grip.

As a point of interest, they were bought online and none needed any balance weights at all when fitted.