**Unofficial Tyre Thread**

Associate
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After running Vred Ultrac Sessanta's for the past few years I have decided to go for one of the more premium tyre brands this time around and have narrowed it down to the following three:

Michelin Pilot Super Sport - £101.69
Continental Conti Sport Contact 5 - £85.99
Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2 - £82.19
All 225/40 r18 XL 92Y

Not having driven on any of them before which one would you guys recommend?

Car is FWD saloon with 260bhp and 290lbs/ft driven in oh so sunny Scotland.

Thanks in advance.
 
Soldato
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Goodyears.

I have the Goodyears on my MX-5 and the Continentals on my Mondeo. They're both very good but as I've found numerous times now with the Mondeo, the extra rim protection of the Goodyears would have been very handy.
 
Soldato
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Really happy with the Continentals I had put on my Mazda3 last week. Less road noise, back end no longer feels like it's slipping on bumpy corners, far more stable over potholes and uneven road surfaces and overall it's really improved the handling and feel of the car. Even feels like it's putting its power down better but maybe that's my imagination.

Will never run on cheap/mixed brands of tyres again now.
 
Associate
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Leicester
After running Vred Ultrac Sessanta's for the past few years I have decided to go for one of the more premium tyre brands this time around and have narrowed it down to the following three:

Michelin Pilot Super Sport - £101.69
Continental Conti Sport Contact 5 - £85.99
Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2 - £82.19
All 225/40 r18 XL 92Y

Not having driven on any of them before which one would you guys recommend?

Car is FWD saloon with 260bhp and 290lbs/ft driven in oh so sunny Scotland.

Thanks in advance.

Would get the MPSS if I was you. Have them on our 350z and they grip phenomenally in both wet and dry and I believe that they will tend to last longer than the other two on the list so prob worth the additional initial outlay.

Hawker
 
Man of Honour
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The PSS tends to come off comparatively poorly in the wet versus the competition - everything is of course relative, they are still excellent, just not quite as good as the competition as a result of the staggeringly good dry performance they offer.

I would find it hard to see the reason to pay an extra 25% per tyre over F1A2 or ContiSportContact 5, both of which are excellent.
 
Soldato
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I'd be interested to hear your experience over a few more miles as when I come to swap the rubbers on my Audi this size is quite an attractive price.

I swapped the fronts on my a4 a few weeks back to efficientgrip performances, they seem lovely, steering is improved over the worn contisports3 that were on it. Nice and quiet, braking seems fine in wet and dry, they had a wee run in ice and snow but not enough to give me any idea of what they were truly like, especially given I would be comparing worn with new.
Interested to see how they last. The contisports3 only did 15k on the front, but that is most roads with turns and roundabout after roundabout as my wife does most of the driving and her route is twisty country roads and roundabouts. I'd say less than 2K of it was motorway.
 
Soldato
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Is there any major difference in wear between an F1AS2 and the csc5?

Other than the road noise which may well be the harsh/stiff suspension and 225/40 profile I'm getting close to the limit on my nsf tyre and that's after them being new in September.

I have put 15k on the car since June so 12k give or take out of set about normal?
 
Associate
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Hi all,

I'm in need of 195/55 R16 run-flat tyres (yes, I know!).

Looks like I have the following options:
Goodyear Eagle NCT5 RFT (I gather these are getting on a bit)
Goodyear Excellence RFT (currently on the car anwyway)
Dunlop Sport 01 RFT (no idea about these)
Bridgestone ER300-1 RZ (again, no idea)

I need 4 tyres for a 2008 Mini Cooper.
What would you go for?

Cheers.
 
Soldato
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[TW]Fox;27646701 said:
The PSS tends to come off comparatively poorly in the wet versus the competition - everything is of course relative, they are still excellent, just not quite as good as the competition as a result of the staggeringly good dry performance they offer.

I would find it hard to see the reason to pay an extra 25% per tyre over F1A2 or ContiSportContact 5, both of which are excellent.

Genuinely sporty driving
 
OcUK Staff
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[TW]Fox;27646701 said:
The PSS tends to come off comparatively poorly in the wet versus the competition - everything is of course relative, they are still excellent, just not quite as good as the competition as a result of the staggeringly good dry performance they offer.

I would find it hard to see the reason to pay an extra 25% per tyre over F1A2 or ContiSportContact 5, both of which are excellent.

Lifespan is a good reason to pay more and all I can say is the MPSS lasted 10,000 road miles on the rear of the 911 and ten track days. That is three times longer than the PS2 and for the performance they offer in all conditions and amazing feedback there is no other tyre I'd buy unless I can't get them in my size. :)

A colleague of mine has a 400+ horsepower FN2 Civic, he got just shy of 10,000 miles from his MPSS fronts, he then fitted PS3's to the front as MPSS was not available, at 4000 miles they were destroyed. The MPSS are in a league of their own when it comes to lifespan on big power cars so when they last upto twice as long for only 25% more cost BARGAIN!
 
OcUK Staff
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Hi there

I was all set for pulling the trigger on F1AS2's for the M3 as in my size MPSS is not available but Jon from tyre reviews messaged me F1AS2 has gone through revision changes in some sizes which has made them feel numb and cause strange road noise.

As such I decided to be guinea pig and actually try the New Yokohama Advan Sport V105 97Y XL all round, changing from cups and from Continental M3's. Also noticed they are 240 tread wear!

First thing I noticed and worried me was how stiff the sidewalls was, the car on cups was rather crash on the road unless a red hot day where the rubber was softer so this made me expect back breaking ride with the V105's as the sidewalls far stiffer than cups, surprising for a road tyre.

I've done less than 100 miles, first 5 miles was just wheelspin due to release agent on tyres, once gone however where the cups would spin up in 2nd even in the dry these Advans can pretty much handle all the power even in 1st so that is very welcomed.

The surprising part ride quality, much better than cups so sidewall stiffness does not necessarily mean a crazy ride, not quite as good as the Continentals but close which for a lower profile tyre is good. :)

I've not pushed so much in dry, but in the wet they are as per reviews say, huge amounts of grip and fantastic levels of feedback they seem very progressive and allow good throttle application out of corners in the wet. They could be good on track in the wet for sure.

So far so good, once done a few hundred miles and driven them on a mixture of roads I shall report back. :)
 
Man of Honour
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I was all set for pulling the trigger on F1AS2's for the M3 as in my size MPSS is not available but Jon from tyre reviews messaged me F1AS2 has gone through revision changes in some sizes which has made them feel numb and cause strange road noise.

Do you have any more info on this revision stuff? strange road noise? This is EXACTLY what I am suffering from and Goodyear have been no help at all and didn't acknowledge there was an issue with the tyres. It's driving me insane.

Meanwhile the F1A2's on my E39 remain as silent as you could ever expect a tyre to be - they are excellent.
 
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OcUK Staff
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[TW]Fox;27662543 said:
Do you have any more info on this revision stuff? strange road noise? This is EXACTLY what I am suffering from and Goodyear have been no help at all and didn't acknowledge there was an issue with the tyres. It's driving me insane.

Meanwhile the F1A2's on my E39 remain as silent as you could ever expect a tyre to be - they are excellent.

Just Goodyear supposedly can change spec or they get built in different factories, I was not willing to take chance that I might get a tyre which performs and feels good or a tyre that just feels numb and makes odd noises.

Try a different brand, the Yokohama I have very proudly have made in Japan stamped on them. :)
 
Man of Honour
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Yea, two of my tyres are made in Luxembourg and I think it's these two which are noisy. My rears and the ones on the E39 are made in Germany.

But it's particularly interesting that Jon has specifically mentioned weird road noise.

Trying a different brand is easier said than done when you have £700 of brand new rubber fitted to the car. I am stuck with them for thousands of miles.
 
Soldato
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Has anyone ordered from www.oponeo.co.uk before? Are they trustworthy?

They have Michelin Pilot Super Sports available in a size that is not sold by any other tyre retailer in the UK, so they must be sourcing them from Europe somewhere (I suspect Czech Republic).

EDIT: MyTyres.co.uk also sell the Pilot Super Sports.
EDIT #2: Why is the exact same tyre listed on TyreLeader 5 times with varying prices? The Bridgestone Potenza S001 225/35 R18 87W's range from £78 to £104 and I cannot understand why.
 
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OcUK Staff
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Has anyone ordered from www.oponeo.co.uk before? Are they trustworthy?

They have Michelin Pilot Super Sports available in a size that is not sold by any other tyre retailer in the UK, so they must be sourcing them from Europe somewhere (I suspect Czech Republic).

EDIT: MyTyres.co.uk also sell the Pilot Super Sports.
EDIT #2: Why is the exact same tyre listed on TyreLeader 5 times with varying prices? The Bridgestone Potenza S001 225/35 R18 87W's range from £78 to £104 and I cannot understand why.

Where I got my Advans from, £444 delivered for all four in 265/35/18 and they shipped from Netherlands, took about three days. :)
 
Man of Honour
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Where I got my Advans from, £444 delivered for all four in 265/35/18 and they shipped from Netherlands, took about three days. :)

Just wow, I remember paying £400 fitted for TWO F1 Assymetrics in that size in 2009 - and that was the lowest price in the country at the time!
 
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