CrispinF

Defo, size M.

Also note the kids ones are now out of stock, which will upset my son!

Does that make Continental Premium Contact 5 a good choice for road use? "E" for economy, "A" for wet grip, and no mad tread patterns! Fitted for £58 from blackcircles. My 7 wants 185/60 R14.

Looking in detail at the tread patterns, this looks believable for the Uniroyals, as in one direction the diagonals will move water to the outside of the tyre and in the other it will move it to the deep groove (as you/they say above). The problem with the ZV3 in this respect is that the tyres on the LHS are apparently directing water up narrowing and/or dead-end channels, and that water then presumably has to get forced out under flat bits and perhaps therefore increase risk of sliding.  

I've seen the Uniroyals report grade "E" for fuel efficiency, which seems pretty poor. Does this make much difference in reality, compared to a "B" which many other tyres claim?

Yes that's the conclusion I've reached too. Now looking into some nice alternatives!

Useful - thanks! They are "4111" i.e. made in Autumn 2011. They look brand new!

Thanks all.

The tyres are almost new. I might look into changing them anyway, as this undermines my confidence!

Manufacturer's website... well they no longer make this particular model. About asymmetrical tread patterns in general, they say this http://www.avon-tyres.co.uk/car/tread-patterns :

An asymmetric tread pattern has a different pattern on the inside part of the tyre compared to the outside part to help improve dry grip and water dispersal. Larger tread ribs/blocks are on the outer side of the tyre, this is to improve cornering stability and grip on dry roads by offering greater contact area. This also reduces tread squirm and heat buildup on the outside shoulder. The inboard side of the tyre will feature smaller tread blocks to aid water dispersal and improve wet grip. Specific tyre to rim mounting required - a tyre with an asymmetric tread pattern can be fitted on all four positions of a car but must be orientated correctly with regard to the inner and outer facing parts of the tyre. 

So my conclusion is the tyres are fitted correctly, and either

a) the precise pattern of all the diagonal grooves is irrelevant, and they have no role in water channelling, or

b) the pattern does matter, in which case my RH tyres will behave better than my LH in the wet (when driving forwards!), and this tyre design is really dumb. Maybe that's why people find it's not got much grip, and why they no longer make them!? This design could only work if they made specific LH and RH tyres, with the diagonal stuff oriented the opposite way.

Thanks for thoughts.

If they are fitted correctly (and the fact that the "Exterior" labels are on the outsides suggests nobody's done anything daft!), this can only mean that the narrow diagonal grooves are unscientific "roughness" rather than meaningful water conduits. Or maybe it's so that the left side of the car will have exceptional grip when reversing really fast;-)

I'd love to hear an explanation/analysis from a tyre designer!?

Hi, first post from noob seven owner! 

I have Avon ZV3 tyres, and something's been niggling me about the asymmetric tread pattern... it looks correct for the right-hand and wrong for the left-hand wheels. 

Here's a photo, when the car was in showroom on a different plate... anyone see what I mean??

On the left-hand wheels it looks to me like the pattern will push any water the wrong way (from the inside of the tyre towards the outside) including up dead-end channels. On the RHS it looks like water will be pushed inwards nicely with no blockages.

However, every tyre has the "Exterior" marking on the outside.

Do these tyres come in R & L versions? I cannot find anything online to suggest they can be bought for L or R side, and cannot find any marking on the tyre itself.  

Or is the "Exterior"/"Interior" marking simply wrong for one side of the car, and the tyres on the left side are supposed to be fitted the other way around?

Here's a more detailed view of the tread

http://lovetyres.com/public/tyre/Avon-ZV3.jpeg

Grateful for any wise words!?