Tyre recommendations please?

tomstickland

How long a set of tyres lasts depends on a lot of factors, including compound properties, driving style, weather conditions etc.

However, when you can have big name tyres fitted for £50 per wheel all in (Blackcircles etc) why worry about how many miles they last for. Tyres are consumables.

Premier_2

portchieboy wrote: »

...Now I do 15,000+ miles a year, most of that to/from work on a dual carriageway, so say 70mph. I am not a hard driver, ...

Think on..."tyres driven at 70 mph. wear out almost twice as fast as those driven 50 mph". source.

With regards to what is the 'best' tyre, it depends on how you define 'best'

All else being equal, a harder tyre will last longer than a softer tyre, but when you are doing 70mph+ with less than the size of a postcard in contact with the road at each corner, it may be better to have a softer tyre that sticks like to proverbial to a blanket rather than a harder tyre that is likely to just skim across the surface in your endeavours to keep the car on the black stuff or try to stop that 1 tonne plus of metal from moving forwards when a lorry jack-knifes in front of you.

The 'best' tyre would be one of the makes and variants that the manufacturer originally recommends. However, they may not be available any longer, and even if they are, what appears to be an identical tyre by way of make, model & size can be very different - each large car manufacturer has it's original tyres specifically formulated for their own products by the tyre suppliers - unfortunately there is no way of knowing what formulation you are getting when you buy replacements (unless you understand the formulation coding on the tyre).

ailuro2

I work for a tyre manufacturer, and would say if you buy a Michelin Energy as a replacement tyre it will be a really good tyre, and will likely pay for itself over its lifetime.

I can't really go into great detail, suffice to say you get the same people with the same expertise making every tyre, and the same quality control on each one - seems like a no-brainer to me.

fwiw having seen first hand the way they are made, I'd never buy anything else.;)

rizla01

You could fork out a quid and sign up to which for a trial and check their reccomendations.
or
http://www.fiatforum.com/stilo/100057-tyre-reccomendations.html might prove useful.

I only ever go for the second cheapest available - and I drive a Primera GT 130MPH car.

You end up driving within the rubbers' capability anyway, so it doesn't really matter these days as IME tyres are made to very high quality.

Re the cost per mile, I consider that to be insignificant. It's only a matter of pennies usually.

Personally I like vreidestein.

See here.



Damn pretty too.

portchieboy

Thanks to all on this thread.

I have ended up buying......yes, Michelin Energy, through Blackcicle.com.

Good price, and from my first 3 miles (!) seems like a nice tyre.

Thanks all.