[Vwdiesel] TDI tires

[Travis Gottschalk]

I forget the Michelin tire I plan on getting next but I have it written down as it was a very large several page tdiclub deal I watched. As stated you should plan on replacing tires same as a timing belt where they do age out as well as wear out. There is a 4 digit number code on the sidewalls of tires. The first two numbers are the week of the year and the last two are the year that the tire was made. This is something you want to check when you get "new" tires at a discount as well as they could have been in the corner for a few years depending on where you get them. Also Michelin tends to have better tires in general from what I have read. If you buy 4 tires they all tend to be good where as other brands at times can give you a bad tire in the mix. And Michelin's tend to need little to no balancing when new. Funny thing is I have yet to have a set on my car but they are my next choose. Couple other thoughs to keep in mind is the U shaped rear axle and the way it preforms and the front wheel drive do affect some tire styles. The rear axle tends to cause cuping which is another reason to rotate plenty of times throught the lift of the tire. Also some places have and will sell you under rated tires. The one for the TDI's are 91H NOT 89T. Don't say they can't sell you them as my father and brother got them before I educated them on that. Tiresplus even tried to say that the 91H will wear faster as it is just a "preformance" tire. That is why my father is eating tires at about 30K miles (he drives 70K a year). Brother got a flate at discount tire with his 89T tires they sold him and they then turned white as they realized their mistake and gave him 4 new 91H tires for free and the other tires had about 20K on them. 
 
One last thing-where do you live. If you have snow putting snow tires on is the best thing you can do. I wasn't a believer at first till I tried them-wow. Convinced my brother too. Almost have my parents convinced. Here is the math. The worlds most expensive best all season can't compare the the cheapest snow tire out there. And so a new set of tires is $500 roughly. The snow tires saving you one time from going in the ditch and maxing your $500-1000 deductable out just bought the tires. My new co-worker was warned of this when he started last month. He was driving on very bad rear tires and the fronts still had tread but weren't snow tires. He kissed an 18 wheeler last Tuesday and he only had liability on his car so I got to take a hammer and pry bar to the car to pry out the old headlamps before the new ones show up. And that is if the wires aren't damaged. And the bumper is missing a very large chuck and will have to be screwwed back on with some metal straps. He coudn't stop with the semi turning while it was snowing so he rearended it. Damage stopped just short of the radiator. 
 
Travis G