OT: Car tyre recommendation

tgotb

The front tyres on our (boring) family car need replacing soon, and whilst I have some very strong opinions on bike tyres, I know almost nothing about car tyres. I assume all tyres must be adequately grippy in normal driving conditions; Ihave no idea what differentiates a good tyre from a bad one (apart from longevity). Anyone have any recommendations, either for specific brands or for informative websites?
Criteria as follows:
Want something long-lasting (intend to keep this car for a number of years)
Car does ~12,000 miles per year, including quite a few long journeys
Car is not used for SCR (or whatever the car equivalent is)
Already have dedicated Winter tyres (for ski trips) which will go on from ~Dec-Mar
I don't live 3 miles down a dirt track
I don't need run on flat

Any suggestions?

bails87

Uniroyal Rainexperts? Meant to be very good in the wet and good in the dry.

I had some cheapo tyres ~£65 (205/55/16) on my Focus that were terrible. Braked heavily on the motorway due to some numpty pulling out infront of me in the wet and they were terrifyingly slippery. They locked up far too often, even at low speeds and with ABS, for my liking so I ditched them. (before they literally ditched me!) The Uniroyals are a lot better. Can't wait to see how much difference they make in the wet. They're not going to feel as sticky as my Conti WinterContacts, but they're still a world away from the godawful 'Mohawks' that were on there before.

FWIW, Kwik Fit will match their own online prices at the branch. My local branch are happy for me to phone up (e.g. on saturday), check they've got stock, then book and pay online at £75 each rather than £110, then I phone them back, they move the booking from the minimum of 3 days away to 'saturday lunchtime' and I go in and get my tyres fitted, and save £140.

daviesee

You could try some of the good, but lesser known companies.
Khumo, Fulda, Toyo, Falken, etc, etc.

Try here -
http://www.mytyres.co.uk/Summer_Tyres.html

greg66_tri_v2.0

TGOTB wrote:

Anyone have any recommendations, either for specific brands or for informative websites?

I am given to understand that http://www.pistonheads.com caters to this sort of interest. Try the General Gassing subforum. And be prepared for a range of opinions.

In broad terms, a good car tyre will give you good grip in the wet and the dry, and will lose grip progressively and predictably. Personally I'd rather have a good tyre with a short life than a bad one that lasts forever...

Wheelspinner

Greg66 wrote:

Personally I'd rather have a good tyre with a short life than a bad one that lasts forever...

^^^ This.

OP, at that kind of mileage, good tyres should last about 3 years, which is about when they should be binned anyway IMO, worn out or not. Old tyres are a disaster waiting to happen.

You will not notice much difference with good ones over most mediocre tyres in everyday driving about town, right up to the second you slam the brakes on at a school crossing when a 6 year old runs across without looking.

At that point, your "good" tyres just may turn out to be priceless.

Buy as good as you can possibly afford. This is not a time to skimp on a few quid.

EKE_38BPM

Greg66 wrote:

Personally I'd rather have a good tyre with a short life than a bad one that lasts forever...

A good car with bad tyres is a bad car.

I'm rolling on Pirellis (just like my mate Lewis, Jenson, Kimi, Pastor and a few of their friends). Very happy with them and I would buy again (especially as they came with a free wheeled holdall).

jonnyboy77

My Audi has Pirelli P-Zeros on all 4 corners, not cheap at £260/corner but I wouldn't skimp on them. I seem to get good mileage out of them (10k+) and the Quattro system tends to be a little rough on tyres - they have been solid in all weather conditions, little road noise, no complaints.

- Jon

meanredspider

I count myself as pretty experienced with car tyres (as a car racer). As a fair-priced tyre that works well, Vredestein are quite hard to beat: their Sessanta or Centro work well. If you want a really good tyre, Goodyear Eagle F1 are superb. There's plenty of tyre tests on line that you can see the pros and cons - there's no right answer.

optimisticbiker

+1 for Pirelli P-Zeros, I have them on my Audi TT and as JB77 said, they seem to last longer than most (Michelins lasted 6k and had zero grip in the wet, Goodyear F1's were better but still only lasted about 10k). The current set of P-Zeros are just about 2y old, have done about 15k, and stil have MOT-passing tread on them.

gabriel959

I have UniRoyal RainExperts on my Focus. They are decent tyres for not a lot of money, seem to last quite a while and have got decent grip on the wet.

bails87

I found out last night that they work well when swerving to dodge wildlife at 60mph! :shock:

daviesee

jonnyboy77 wrote:

My Audi has Pirelli P-Zeros on all 4 corners, not cheap at £260/corner but I wouldn't skimp on them. I seem to get good mileage out of them (10k+) and the Quattro system tends to be a little rough on tyres - they have been solid in all weather conditions, little road noise, no complaints.

- Jon

While no doubt excellent, P-Zeros would probably be a bit of over-kill on the OP's "boring family car".
On an RS4 - yes; Polo diesel - no.

fossyant

Michelin Energy for run of the mill cars. On a second set on my wife's Yaris.

jonnyboy77

daviesee wrote:

jonnyboy77 wrote:

My Audi has Pirelli P-Zeros on all 4 corners- Jon

While no doubt excellent, P-Zeros would probably be a bit of over-kill on the OP's "boring family car".
On an RS4 - yes; Polo diesel - no.

True, although mine is no RS4 either (sadly) and they were OEM fit by Audi. I don't know if it would be overkill, if you want to stop/grip etc at similar (legal) speeds, the best rubber is surely the answer?

- Jon

daviesee

jonnyboy77 wrote:

True, although mine is no RS4 either (sadly) and they were OEM fit by Audi. I don't know if it would be overkill, if you want to stop/grip etc at similar (legal) speeds, the best rubber is surely the answer?

- Jon

I would never advocate scrimping on tyres but horses for courses and I doubt that they make P-Zeros for "standard" fit narrow wheels.
The best rubber would also apply to tubs on a BSO

PS:- The worst tyres I have ever used since 1995 buying a used car with new "budget" tyres are undoubtably Michelin Energys. Never again. Michelin make some good tyres but the Energy ones are noisy and too hard IMHO.

greg66_tri_v2.0

fossyant wrote:

Michelin Energy for run of the mill cars. On a second set on my wife's Yaris.

How does a Yaris get through a set of tyres? It has no power and no weight!

jonnyboy77

I would never advocate scrimping on tyres but horses for courses and I doubt that they make P-Zeros for "standard" fit narrow wheels.
The best rubber would also apply to tubs on a BSO

PS:- The worst tyres I have ever used since 1995 buying a used car with new "budget" tyres are undoubtably Michelin Energys. Never again. Michelin make some good tyres but the Energy ones are noisy and too hard IMHO.

Also a good point, they start at 205 R17 and upwards.

In my past experience there's usually a good compromise to be found, having used Yokohama A520 & A539s, Goodyear Eagle F1 & Toyo Proxes T1Rs for most of the cars I've owned finding them to be more than adequate on each occasion - usually replacing the OEM Michelin or Bridgestone tyres with improved wet & dry weather performance and no noticeable/unwelcome reduction in lifespan. My worst tyre experience was on my dad's Golf where he chose to fit Kumho Ecsta tyres, that in the wet would allow the car to drift entire roundabout lanes with understeer, horrific.

Blackcircles.com has a good selection of tyres and groups them into premium, budget etc.

I'm not sure I'd skimp on tyres for a BSO either though, my ageing Trek Singlespeed Hybrid monster is wearing Specialized tyres that together cost more than I paid for the bike originally (£60 worth of tyres on a bike I paid £50 for!)

vitesse169

have a look on blackcircles.com - they have a good selection and all the info you need.

gtvlusso

General Grabber UHP......but my car is 4 x 4.....need a new one atm!