New Tyres for Merlot

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New Tyres for Merlot

Postby TrevorB » Sat 27.06.2026, 12:44

For those of you who also use Facebook you would have seen my post on the LEC forum about availability of tyres for the the SE (205/50/15).
I had plenty of responses, thank you, and continued doing a lot of searching for, in particular, Toyo Proxes. It does appear and advised by a number of Tyre fitters that these tyres are no longer supplied to Europe. (Oliver Beames said this on Facebook). However I continued phoning around all the suggested Tyre suppliers and it was becoming a struggle to even find suppliers that had our size even. But as I stated in the Facebook post Continental tyre came up regularly as an alternative but they were expensive in comparison to other makes, of strange origin (!), that were available. So, I started shopping around for the Continental.

I eventually found a local Tyre fitter, (Lukes) in Gravesend that could fit them at a far better rate than anywhere else.

So, we now have fitted 4 brand new tyres, Continental Contipremiumcontact C2 tyres.

On the drive home they felt much softer and the steering also was found to be softer, if that makes sense. In fact overall it was a far better riding experience than the 14 year old Toyos. That was on Wednesday.

Today I took Merlot out for a more 'spirited' drive and I was getting the same feeling of comfort on these tyres. However once I'd got to a higher speed, in a straight line, (sorry officer :-D ) I was getting some vibration through the steering which I hadn't experienced previously with the Toyos.

My question is: could this be a balancing issue which I need to go back to the fitter to rectify?

Many thanks for your help, as always.

Trevor

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Re: New Tyres for Merlot

Postby TrevorB » Sun 28.06.2026, 06:31

Morning All, the original post has had 118 views but no advise.

TrevorB wrote:
Today I took Merlot out for a more 'spirited' drive and I was getting the same feeling of comfort on these tyres. However once I'd got to a higher speed, in a straight line, (sorry officer :-D ) I was getting some vibration through the steering which I hadn't experienced previously with the Toyos.

My question is: could this be a balancing issue which I need to go back to the fitter to rectify?

:cheers:


Apart from the balancing of wheels the other thought I had could be tyre pressure. Previously on the Toyos I would have 26.5 psi pressure. This is what I have in the new Continental tyres.

Should I maybe increase the pressure on these new tyres and what would be a good mark?

Thanks

Trevor

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Re: New Tyres for Merlot

Postby Dave Eds » Sun 28.06.2026, 07:51

Yep...take it back in...balancing weight might even have come off. Wheel nuts may not be tightened up correctly
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Re: New Tyres for Merlot

Postby MPx » Sun 28.06.2026, 09:16

Is 26 psi normal for an SE on 50 series? The 45s on the S2 need 29. Won't make any difference to vibration (that's what Spud said) but quite a bit to comfort (better) and safety/wear rate (worse).
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Re: New Tyres for Merlot

Postby dapinky » Sun 28.06.2026, 10:42

Okay, I'll chip in - as I was one of the silent 118!!!!!

Mainly I was quiet because I thought someone with a definitive answer may be along, but I'll throw in a few ideas....

Firstly, does the vibration come in at a certain speed (mine does it at 55mph, but disappears at 62mph) - I know it is down to wheel balance as I changed the wheels for some from Angies car when I was trying to see if her wheels were buckled when I had the rear hub issues 3 years ago)..... but mine is so minor that I am not worried, and it also helps me regulate my speed.... if I stay at 55 in a 60 limit, I get no vibration, but if I stray higher, I notice.... and it clears on the motorway anyway.

Anyway, you don't care about my issues - you want to sort yours out.

So, as Mike says, take it back :D

No disrespect to you, but how I deal with it is somewhat different than how you do stuff...... I would swap front wheels for rears and see what the difference is, to try and narrow it down..... then use other wheels from the garage until I either eliminate the issue (and identify the problem component) or work out that it still happens whatever, so it is a problem elsewhere.

So, if it didn't do it before, but does now - it is down to something that has changed...... and the obvious answer is wheel balancing. The unfortunate reality is that tyre fitters are usually allocated (officially or otherwise) a time to do a job - and as the Elan takes a bit more care (and thus, time) to jack it up and remove the wheels, they may need to hurry up the rest of the process.... back in the "olden days" we would drive to the tyre place and simply wait in the queue until it was your turn, and it took as long as it took - now it's all done on appointments and time slots.

Balancing is an easy thing to do, but without 100% care, it can be done wrongly - or, more accurately, incompletely.

Tyres are inherently 'unbalanced' to allow for the weight of the valve assembly - a tyre will have a 'heavy' side (marked with a blue dot on a Yokohama - no idea on a Conti) which should go 180 degrees from the valve...... on modern tyres this weight difference is more pronounced as modern cars have the TPS system inside the rim to add to the balance problems.

Anyway, the balancing machine should be set to rotate at 150-200 RPM, while a 60mph road speed is about 660 RPM - but as it is computerised it *should* allow for it.... BUT..... it will only allow for the tyre to be balanced 100% at that speed. So, if the machine isn't correctly calibrated, it will never be accurate at all speeds.

Also, many fitters will use the machine, whack a weight on where it says, and call it a day (and most of the time it is close enough) - what they should do is run the machine again, check the balance, then stop it, release the wheel, rotate it a bit, tighten it up, and run it at speed again to check. Maybe adding smaller weights to adjust things.
A 'great' fitter will do all this every time, and even trim weights down by a couple of grams to get it 100% right....... but it takes time...... so most don't bother unless the customer returns.

The tyre place have the ability to do it right, but not often the inclination - until they have to.

It could be a simple matter of a weight being 'close enough' to what is needed, or it may not be stuck properly to the inner rim (assuming that have used self-adhesive weights).... also, they may or may not have fully removed all the adhesive from previous weights which may attract debris and change weights.

Either way, if it isn't right - back it must go :D
Dave

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Re: New Tyres for Merlot

Postby rip » Sun 28.06.2026, 12:03

TrevorB wrote:On the drive home they felt much softer and the steering also was found to be softer, if that makes sense. In fact overall it was a far better riding experience than the 14 year old Toyos.


:shock:

You had 14 year old tyres on the car? I find that horrifying.
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Re: New Tyres for Merlot

Postby TrevorB » Sun 28.06.2026, 17:12

Dave Eds wrote:Yep...take it back in...balancing weight might even have come off. Wheel nuts may not be tightened up correctly


I shall give them a call tomorrow to sort out getting them checked.

rip wrote:
:shock:

You had 14 year old tyres on the car? I find that horrifying.


Yes, I realise that now and although the tread was fine it was the wearing on the wall of tyre that was the decisive factor. :)


Pinky, thanks for your invaluable input, as always.
The vibration started as I past the National Speed Limit. It wasn't violent but noticeable. I eased off immediately.
Obviously I do not have the facility to change the tyres around so I will leave it to the fitters to assess/resolve.

Many thanks

Trevor

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Re: New Tyres for Merlot

Postby Dave Eds » Sun 28.06.2026, 20:14

TrevorB wrote:

Obviously I do not have the facility to change the tyres around so I will leave it to the fitters to assess/resolve.

Many thanks

Trevor

:cheers:


Rambo said you should be able to polish it out......
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Re: New Tyres for Merlot

Postby TrevorB » Tue 30.06.2026, 11:11

Went back to the fitters today and they checked balancing and found that the front offside was out, they apologised and corrected the fault.

All was good on the drive back home and no further issues with vibration.

These new Continental tyres definitely make the ride far better and would recommend them to be added to the list of favourable tyres.

:bananasex:

Thanks everyone.

:cheers:

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Re: New Tyres for Merlot

Postby Tuga2112 » Tue 30.06.2026, 11:30

Trevor.

whats the ballpark figure as far as price of these tires your recommending.

im not looking for tires right now. but it be worth having a rough idea of how much a set would set one back, specially if their good in the wet..
unfortuantely tires are one of those things you gotta buy at least 2 at the time if not 4. the bill does increase very fast. and i may be in the market for a set fort the green car within the next 12-18 months :roll:
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Re: New Tyres for Merlot

Postby Fredjohn » Tue 30.06.2026, 12:00

Tuga2112 wrote:Trevor.

whats the ballpark figure as far as price of these tires your recommending.

im not looking for tires right now. but it be worth having a rough idea of how much a set would set one back, specially if their good in the wet..
unfortuantely tires are one of those things you gotta buy at least 2 at the time if not 4. the bill does increase very fast. and i may be in the market for a set fort the green car within the next 12-18 months :roll:


João... you won't find ANY tires in the UK..... :D
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Re: New Tyres for Merlot

Postby TrevorB » Tue 30.06.2026, 12:53

Tuga2112 wrote:Trevor.

whats the ballpark figure as far as price of these tires your recommending.

im not looking for tires right now. but it be worth having a rough idea of how much a set would set one back, specially if their good in the wet..
unfortunately tires are one of those things you gotta buy at least 2 at the time if not 4. the bill does increase very fast. and i may be in the market for a set fort the green car within the next 12-18 months :roll:


João, shopping around my area for our size and I got them for £150 a corner, 4 tyres £600.
That was the best price and if my memory serves me right £172 was the dearest. But I'm sure around the country and dependant on the supplier prices will vary a lot. As you well know.

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Re: New Tyres for Merlot

Postby Tuga2112 » Tue 30.06.2026, 14:40

Fredjohn wrote:João... you won't find ANY tires in the UK..... :D

:oops:
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