How you decide whats the best amount to spend on tyres?

NO NEVER

At least not until you tyre snobs admit that facts mean more then opinion especially when you life may depend on your choice

 

vrederstein isnt a small brand

 

my last toyos on the mk5 lasted about 6k

 

Not when the article is opinion based, but when the outcome is based on a factual statistics I fail to see how you can dismiss them.

Grip, stopping distances etc can be accurately measured & I'm afraid that if tyre A stops in 50 feet & tyre B stops in 55 feet, then tyre A is better than tyre B FACT.

Same principle applies to grip, which can again be accurately measured.

How a tyre feels /I]is a different matter & is a personal thing however you would have to be pretty dumb to choose a tyre that gave you beeter feel over one that may make the difference between crashing or not

 

i just do not trust magazine reviews. so many ways for them to be biased. i will rely much more on the personal experiences of people i trust

 

Truth be told I drive 30k a year on the motorway, so whilst the tyres aren't being put under immense stress I want that 're-assurance' that the tyres will perform when I need them too.

Plus with the Mk4's sloppy suspension it does struggle sometimes. I did love my Toyo T1-R's but found them WAY too soft and they didn't last at all. I then tried Avon ZV3's which were noisey and crud in the wet.

Reason I ask is I want to try Falken's but can't for the life see why their budget performance tyre (aka ZE912) is 3 less than their flagship the FK492?!?! Plus read many threads moaning about how long they take to scrub in. Anyone shed some light on the Falkens?

I REALLY want the Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD's but for some reason I'm finding less tyre places selling them and instead selling their 'excellence' tyre. Looks intresting and priced the same as the Eagle F1's I found. Anyone know more?

 

I can understand that up to a certain point, but & I used this example last time, there are 100s of Mk2 owners who will swear that an 8v is torquier than a 16v, yet the facts prove this to be wrong.

The ONLY way to compare tyres (excluding feel) is by measuring grip (both stopping distance & cornering grip) & personally I think people's opinions are far more biased than an independant magazine's tests. I remember a mate of mine insisting that his 1.6 Sierra would do 135mph & that all the roadtests were wrong.

 

had a set on a mk1 of mine, they were horrible

 

is you speak to a mk2 owner who has a clue, everyone knows the 16v actually makes higher peak torque anyway and sustains it higher up the rev range, hence the bigger bhp

you read so many tyre reviews that say "these are the nuts/these are pants" etc but unless the poster really knows their stuff, i pay no attention.

the reason i went for kumho ku31s was due to a really indepth review i read on briskoda so i took the chance and its a performance bargain.

youre right about actually measuring stuff but if the mag is biased to start with theyll print anything. i swear there have been so many mags out there that give great reviews to companies that advertise with them a lot etc

 

Uniroyal: got these on the passat at the moment (in 206/50/15 size), VERY impressed with wet and dry performance, did 1200 miles around welsh country roads and had loads of fun with them. Seem to be lasting ok too. Very progressive slide as well so you know if youre close to the limits and get time to correct it, unlike the cheapo Runway enduros i had on it before which would just suddenly let go and next thing you know youre on the wrong side of teh road.

Heard some really good comments about the goodyear excellence tyres, looks like ill be getting them next on my 16" alloys as theyre about the only tyre i can find in the size i want with the right laod rating, the passat needs a smallish tyre but a high load index as its an estate. Meant to have very good wet and dry performance and last well too.

Im all for value but paying more for a tyre that will last makes sence to me, my dad has Bridgestone ER30's on his octavia, they were 80 each but they last him nearly 25000 miles on the front wheels and the rears nearly double that on a car thats pretty heavy. A toyo would last nowhere near that.

 

Looked up the 'Linglong' tyres and the funny thing is they've been made a blatent 'performance tyre replica' which I guess isn't a good thing

Yokohama's AVS Sport


Linglong's L688


A pretty tyre but I guess this will catch many people out thinking the tread pattern makes a tyre

 

the ling long tyres are awful. a drove some car that had a set on . was terrible.

its shocking that people choose to buy crap like that

 

If your happy to pay full retail prices you can do that, or keep quiet and await a text!

 

You have to remember though there are certain quality and safety standards these days that tyres have to meet. So the budget ones are still better than tyres of the past.

People also compare brand new tyres to their old worn tyres. There will be differences.

Unless you compare like for like on the same car, same day etc. then it'll be hard to make an unbiased comparison.

 

If its good enough for the ABF power house it's good enough for me.

Read the review on Briskoda and seem quite content on the review, plus managed to find a local tyre fitter who will fit them for 55 a corner

After a hard thought and reading other tyre reviews from personal people I'm setting the Kumho's at 55 a corner as the benchmark. Eagle F1's are coming in at 68 a corner which isn't too bad, but at just over 50 difference thats enough to consider a margin.

 

you wont be disappointed... ask anyone in the essex group, see if my car can be kept up with lol

i do have a compulsion to try different things hence i could have gone for eagle F1s again. i think the kumhos are very close to the eagles performance and they do wear very well.
hopefully youre as happy with them. i think theyre a performance bargain

 

lads for a road car, just get F1s, you can't go wrong

and I often get 15-20k out of the fronts on a 1400kg turbo car with slippy diff, the rears last forever

 

Don't buy s*** ching chong slip-a-lots but don't buy way over priced think they are better than anything else eagle f1's. They are good but not worth the money and only last 5 mins. Get some Toyo Proxes T1R's, best tyres i've ever had and will keep on buying them.

 

they do last very well, better than proxys... but im a freak and like to try new things

 

They look suspectly like Toyo T1-S to me....