• This topic has 29 replies, 24 voices, and was last updated 7 years ago by simmy.
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  • Car tyres
  • rascal
    Free Member

    Given that there’s no such thing as a perfect tyre, what do you look for when buying some?
    My Golf needs 2 new front tyres – went for Good Year Efficient Grip Performance last time at £85 a pop – that was March last year – they seem good enough but gone through them pretty quick.
    Mostly M1 driving c.16k a year.
    Any Golf drivers (or similar car types) have any recommendations?

    weeksy
    Full Member

    I just walk in and ask the bloke

    When he says “do you want cheap or decent” i usually reply with “somewhere in the middle” and then i get them

    irc
    Full Member

    All seasons. Much better low temp/snow performance while losing very little in the dry. Tests show a good all seasons loses maybe 10% summer dry performance (when you need it least) while gaining in cold wet performance.

    I use these – much, much better in the wet (all year) than the original Bridgestone summers. Much quieter. Around £75 each for my Octavia 1.4.

    http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/92866/goodyear-vector-4seasons-gen-2-tyre-review

    Michelin Cross Climates get good reviews as well.

    retro83
    Free Member

    Don’t do that, you might end up with BF Goodrich tyres like I did.

    Now I tend to look at the reviews on tyrereviews.co.uk, I bias my decision towards wet and winter performance, I figure that most tyres will be good enough in the dry. Unfortunately I can’t recommend you a tyre though as I’ve ended up with Efficient Grip Performance 😀

    DezB
    Free Member

    weeksy » I just walk in and ask the bloke
    When he says “do you want cheap or decent” i usually reply with “somewhere in the middle” and then i get them

    Yep – or “Match what’s on there now”. Can’t say car tyres are something that have ever given me cause for concern. (Well, not since crossply or radial was a choice when I was 18).

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    What’s wrong with bfgs 🙂

    For me the only stipulation I have is must be a recognised brand. Ie not sunway or Goodgear or some obvious fiddle on another rebrand.

    Currently running Maxxis all seasons on 1 car. Little squirmy but good in winter

    And Uniroyal rain expert 2s on tbe other .

    For your use I recommend neither.

    I have them because winter at mine has previous meant even the landy needs a shove at times.

    chrisdw
    Free Member

    See what premium tyres they have on offer. Then look up the reviews.
    Got some nice Hankooks put on yesterday for 50 a corner. Feel much better than the squirmy Maxxis tyres that were on before.

    chrissyharding
    Free Member

    I have goodyear ultragrip all season. On my Focus ST. Got 2 years out of them. About 16,500 miles. Expensive but fantastic in the wet and slush up here in inverness. Put the same back on it a few weeks back.
    The car is heavy on front tyres too. Only got 9000 miles out of previous goodyear eagles.

    chrissyharding
    Free Member

    I have goodyear ultragrip all season. On my Focus ST. Got 2 years out of them. About 16,500 miles. Expensive but fantastic in the wet and slush up here in inverness. Put the same back on it a few weeks back.
    The car is heavy on front tyres too. Only got 9000 miles out of previous goodyear eagles.

    gonzy
    Free Member

    previous car (audi a6) always had continental sport contacts. gave good grip/decent mileage etc.
    car after that was a civic…only changed the fronts for some Khumo tyres…due to the small wheel size they cost peanuts
    car after that was an almera that used to eat tyres for fun…ended up going the part worn route for a while until i got some pirelli winter tyres on there and they seemed to fair quite well
    current c-max came with michelin primacy hp’s on all corners…front ones were run flats but the previous owner ran them at stupidly low tyre pressures (28psi)..so the fronts lasted 18k (we bought it on 16k)
    swapped them for some cheap Chinese ditch finders and managed to get 25k out of them…the surprising bit was that the fuel economy was better and grip was better with the cheaper tyres….the rear primacy tyres faired a lot better as they were still in use
    all 4 tyres were changed in august to a set of khumo ecsta sports…at £45 a corner theyve been good so far

    benp1
    Full Member

    How many bike tyres threads are there on here? Do you think most normal people do that?

    I generally research my tyres a bit, like to have something that balances handling with value. There are 4 bits of rubber between you and the road, they’re pretty important really

    BadlyWiredDog
    Full Member

    Which Golf?

    rascal
    Free Member

    2.0 TDI GT

    scandal42
    Free Member

    blackcircles.com

    Look at available tyres, quick review and get them booked in.

    gonzy
    Free Member

    the tyres i got cost me less at my local tyre place than blackcircles!!

    rascal
    Free Member

    Done a bit of research/tinterwebz price gathering.
    Anyone got Michelin Pilot Sport 4s? Came top in latest AutoExpress tyre test…

    themilo
    Free Member

    I’m confused by this and please don’t take this as a trolling because it’s really not. I should also stipulate that I’m really not into cars as is evidenced by my current 307 hack. That said, how do you drive? I raced karts as a teen so I understand the difference a tyre makes near the limit of grip but we’re talking mostly motorways here I assume? If it goes round corners, brakes as you’d reasonably expect and you don’t need extreme weather performance (I.e you live in the highlands etc) what real world benefit are you getting from them “premium” brand purchase. I’ve been running the cheapest rubber I possibly could for years and I just don’t get it. You don’t have a sports car. Why would you care if it, as someone noted above, “feels a bit squirmy”? I’ll take squirmy and £30 a corner all day long for a tool to get from a to b. Naturally none of this applies to bikes………

    allthegear
    Free Member

    There tends to be a sound financial reason behind the choice of tyres that are fitted when companies offer a servicing + tyres contract. They usually fit premium brads like Continental and Michelin as it actually works out cheaper.

    Rachel

    deadkenny
    Free Member

    gonzy – Member 
    the tyres i got cost me less at my local tyre place than blackcircles!!

    Local of mine that does blackcircles told me next time they can do them cheaper direct with them than blackcircles. Though I’ve heard that place is going out of business due to lack of trade. Shame as I need tyres yet again after going with the “decent” tyres option from another place last year and ended up with racy but very easy wearing tyres. Though mileage has gone up a lot, I didn’t expect to go through them so quick.

    rascal – Member 
    Done a bit of research/tinterwebz price gathering.
    Anyone got Michelin Pilot Sport 4s? Came top in latest AutoExpress tyre test…

    Not the 4s, but had the 3s last year. As above, they wear out fast! I don’t have a sporty car, just a regular Honda Civic, non sports model. Had Primacy tyres before and they’ve been good wearing and perform fine enough. Just last place was charging much the same for the Sport and pushing them in preference.

    johnners
    Free Member

    I understand the difference a tyre makes near the limit of grip but we’re talking mostly motorways here I assume? If it goes round corners, brakes as you’d reasonably expect and you don’t need extreme weather performance (I.e you live in the highlands etc) what real world benefit are you getting from them “premium” brand purchase.

    I’m not a particularly enthusiastic driver myself but on the rare occasions when I take an excessively “sporty” amount of speed into a bend or I have to brake hard unexpectedly I like the “limit of grip” to be more premium than economy. It’s worth a few quid over the 20,000 mile+ life of a tyre for me.

    simmy
    Free Member

    When my car was owned by the leasing company, they fitted the cheapest tyres possible. This would result in a severe lack of grip in the wet.

    I’m a Driving Instructor so hardly race around anymore but they were really dodgy.

    I had a student who was a bit quick on the clutch and, in the rain, he managed to wheel spin down our local high street after waiting behind a bus then pulling out to pass it 😯 not good for public relations that……

    Changed to Goodyear blue response and it’s like a new car now, even the students who are really quick on the clutch can’t wheelspin it.

    fisha
    Free Member

    Big fan of kumho tyres personally. Not cheap budget nor premium , just nicely on the middle.

    Tiboy
    Full Member

    Uniroyal rainsport 3s every time for me, which is why I’m annoyed they dont sell them over here in the US. also had good experience with KumhoKU31s in the past

    arogers
    Free Member

    I got quite fussy about tyres when i had an mx5. After trying loads I settled on Toyo Proxes T1R. Pretty much all I cared about was grip but they wore better than most too. Ordering from Camskill was always loads cheaper than anywhere else, then just get the local fellow to fit them.

    spooky_b329
    Full Member

    I always ask for specific tyres (and I normally choose using blackcircles or similar, find their local fitter, and then phone direct and they match the price 🙂

    Going in and asking for ‘something in the middle of budget and premium’ just means they are going to give you whatever has the best markup for them.

    I’ve bought cars where someone has replaced one tyre with a budget before they sold it, and tried to ignore the horrible tendency for one sided wheelspin every time it rains, and I’ve had Kumho’s that would make the whole car shake and bang at the slightest wheelspin, it was a complete surprise when I changed them for Falkens and the car stopped doing it.

    My advice would be to make a shortlist of those tyres in the right price bracket, and then a bit of review reading to choose. If you choose from the reviews, you’ll probably find the tyre you want is hard to get hold of.

    P.S As above, if you want just one set of tyres all year, its got to be All Season ones. No contest. You won’t notice in the summer, but you will in winter.

    FunkyDunc
    Free Member

    If I was doing mainly motorway miles I would want a good water despersing tyre.

    However I do t think you can trust any of the reviews on tyre selling websites, you get different ‘performance’ scores for exactly the same tyre

    mudfish
    Full Member

    I used to buy via black circles, then my local STS ofered to pricematch. Recently they stopped doing that but recommended their website “tyrepros”, significantly cheaper than any other I could find.
    I have an 02 A6 3l Quattro and again a car with a lot of weight on the front my last set of Michelin Primacy lasted about 25K. When I bought the car at 4K it had the OEM conti sport contacts on, they only lasted 15K total. Recently I had Pilot Sport 4 fitted, they are quiet and grippy.
    At one stage I was recommended Bridgestone and fell for it. Don’t go there. They were nasty in the wet and didnt last.
    IMO its worth buying Michelins, maye sure your alignemnt is right (tyrepros had an offer) and you should get good mileage and performance if you maintain correct pressures. I priced them just before brexit and ended up paying almost 20% more when I for around to getting them fitted. Don’t get me started.
    Someone mentioned an “all weather” Mich tyre, yeah, the local fitter also said they are good but dont suit all cars. Check online reviews he said. As I just paid dor tne Pilots I hope that’ll be in a couppe of years.

    rascal
    Free Member

    I’m confused by this and please don’t take this as a trolling because it’s really not. I should also stipulate that I’m really not into cars as is evidenced by my current 307 hack. That said, how do you drive? I raced karts as a teen so I understand the difference a tyre makes near the limit of grip but we’re talking mostly motorways here I assume? If it goes round corners, brakes as you’d reasonably expect and you don’t need extreme weather performance (I.e you live in the highlands etc) what real world benefit are you getting from them “premium” brand purchase. I’ve been running the cheapest rubber I possibly could for years and I just don’t get it. You don’t have a sports car. Why would you care if it, as someone noted above, “feels a bit squirmy”? I’ll take squirmy and £30 a corner all day long for a tool to get from a to b. Naturally none of this applies to bikes………

    That’s your choice. My Golf isn’t a ‘sports car’ but it can go when I want it to. Although most daily miles are M1 there are still some twisty roads either side. I want to rely on my tyres and know they’ll stop the car etc when I expect them to. I don’t want any old cheap tyre – the car’s not cheap so why put cheap rubber on. We’re only talking £90 per corner – when you think bloody bike tyres can cost £50 each and compare what a car tyre does to a bike tyre I’d say that was a small price to pay, wouldn’t you?

    metcalt
    Full Member

    I had Dunlop Sport Blue Response fitted to the front of my Golf at the beginning on the year, replacing some Michelin Primacy 3’s. So far they’ve been pretty good, grip is fine although I don’t push them in any way, they managed in the snow and driving through Dalby when it’s wet and greasy under the trees at the Broxa end. The road noise is pretty good too.

    My rear tyres are getting to that point now and I’ll be getting a set of the Dunlops fitted, currently £117 for a pair fitted on Black Circles (205/55 R16)

    My only complaint is the sidewall might be a bit weaker than some. I do look at them sometimes and wonder if they’re going down but the pressures are all OK.

    simmy
    Free Member

    Yeah I got it wrong in my first post, mine are Dunlop blue response, not Goodyear.

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