96Thanks to needing to borrow a bit of pavement to get my van away from the firing line yesterday, I am now in need of a new tyre and am replacing both fronts as they are looking a bit poor.
Anyway, I always used to use Michelin Agilis 51's on my Berlingo, which were a bit OTT but were the recommended tyre by Citroen, and at the time I needed reinforced tyres to drive on the continent. These were expensive but lasted up to 80k with a bit of rotation.
At my last service, just to get my van back on the road, my mechanic got some cheapies on at around £40 per tyre - these were Landsail 188+. Clearly they have worn quite rapidly and I am taking the opportunity to switch back to the Agilis, which I've been quoted £81 fitted - (I found an online quote for £66.39, but fitting would have added £15 per tyre, so my local tyre place managed to beat the quote for me). BTW, the RRP on these is meant to be £123, not fitted!
One of the other considerations I had was the fuel efficiency rating, which weren't around last time round. These Agilis tyres are rated C for fuel, versus E for most budget tyres including the Landsails which were on the van.
I wondered what sort of saving this could achieve, apart from the more important braking efficiency and handling, and found a good online tool concocted by the University of Munich, which reckons that the difference between E's and C's can be 26 litres per 15000 km, or about £33 per 9000 miles in English (a months couriering). Given that the tyres pay for themselves just from needing less replacing (pavement permitting!), I thought this was worth sharing.
Here's the link to the calculator: link text