Fiat Panda Selecta
Recently, I’ve become very aware of how crucially important tyres are. Tucked away under the arches at each corner, they often get taken for granted, yet are the four vital contact points that keep cars where they’re supposed to be. It was the MoT on my now departed green Volvo a few years back – when serious flaws in the front tyres were found – that’s made me a lot more conscious of how critical these rubber doughnuts are.
Thus both my Saab 900 and Volvo 960 run on matching high-quality Goodyear and Vredestein products respectively. The Panda though… well, it’s a budget bitsa. All four tyres are from different manufacturers, one of which is particularly obscure. Jinju, anybody? It’s Chinese, apparently, and has a representation of an elephant rather resembling Bibendum. So it must be like a Far East equivalent of a Michelin, right?
Speaking of Michelins, there was a genuine one – an MX L, to be specific
– at the front. It was the old spare, put on temporarily to pass the recent MoT. However, the date stamp revealed that it had been manufactured back in December 1996, which, obviously, was far from ideal, especially given that Panda spare wheels are stored under their bonnets, a place not exactly free from damaging heat and oil. Tyres should have a life of about ten years, so the Michelin was well past its best.
Thus the Panda was booked in to Welland Tyres in Stamford for Tom there to fi t a Hankook Optimo KTB (and the Michelin banished back to the engine bay). It matches the new(ish) Hankook on the other side so the powered wheels are now enveloped by reasonable quality matching fresh rubber, which can only be a good thing from a safety perspective. In time, I’ll replace the rear ones, too, so I’ll have a quartet. After all, the Panda can reach the same legal speeds as the Saab and Volvo, but with substantially thinner rims it needs all the help it can get. Just because it’s a cheap car doesn’t mean that I can skimp on tyres.
I suspect I’ll miss the elephantine Asian Bibendum, though...