Performance tyres opinions.

tomstickland

Despite turning down all of my other car expenditure to near £0, tyres is one area that I'm happy to pay the money.

I normally use Goodyear F1s all round on 195/55/15

I've just been to Protyre and they're asking £145 for a pair fitted inc VAT. MY local independant place want about the same.

I'm considering alternative brands. This is for the rears; the F1s lasted about 5 months on the back of the BM 318iS. 5 months of grins.

Protyre had some Toyo T1Rs at £125, but I've heard mixed opinions about them.

Local tyre place recommended Yokohama S306s at £128 all in. I've had a quick look on the web and there's mixed opinions about these too.

Maybe I should just stay F1?

Lorian

Tyre reviews always seem very subjective to me, even the ones that appear to be done scientifically and claim to be objective.

You generally get what you pay for in tyres. I usually pick local vendors and play them off against each other to get the best price, but you need to know what make you want first. IE lots of "Joe blogs tyres will do it for x can you beat that?" telephone calls.

Goodyear F1 are a good tyre. I personally like Michellin Pilot Primacy because they are quiet, last a long time, and have good anti-aquaplane characteristics, but like I said it's very subjective, as someone will be along shortly to say they think they are poor. Type of car/driver and speeds make a lot of difference.

tomstickland

Yes, I've always been very happy with F1s. They transformed my previous car when I fitted them. Very progressive. Hmm, probably going to go for a set of them.

Wig

Technic http://www.technictyre.co.uk/

tomstickland

Are their remoulds any good though? I am wanting a performance tyre that allows me to safely work the rear end of the car a bit.

owey

I used to buy Kormaran tyres 185's for my Vectra from Costco, I could get four tyres for just over £110 fitted. I think I got about 50,000 miles out of them, when I went for my next set there was a Michellin rep in Costco and he ask me why I was buying them, so I told him how many miles I was getting out of them, he replied "we I won't even try to get you to by the Michellin then". He also said, do you know, Kormaran are owned by Michellin. I think they might be old tread patterns?.
As I do alot of miles a year they were good value for money. I now have a Mondeo and they have 205's fitted, and they don't make 205's so I have had to go with Michellin at £96 a tyre :eek: , but I waited for the Costco offers and got them for £69 each .

K9cuddles

Stick with F1's!

tomstickland

Yes, I've booked in for a pair of F1s at £150 all inclusive.
Soft compound tyres grip better, but wear more quickly.
I'm making a choice to pay for soft tyres that are more expensive because I want the performance from them. I'll be paying, say £60 more than some average mid range tyres, so that'll be £10 extra per month over their 6 month expected life.

K9cuddles

What size is that for £150??... I'm due to replace mine.

scheming_gypsy

I pay £65, fitted, for a 215x40x17. Budget brand but never have any problems at all with them and W rated performance (160mph +). Can't for the life of me remember the brand though.

tomstickland

S_a_r_a wrote:

What size is that for £150??... I'm due to replace mine.

195/55/15

I was quoted:
£148 all inclusive for two fitted at Protyre (Micheldever group, very good)
£150 all inc at my local tyre place (close to work so £2 difference not a problem)
I also looked on mytyres.net and the total for 2 tyres delivered and then getting a local endorsed place to fit them came out at slightly more than the first 2 quotes.

195/55/15 and 195/50/15 are very common sizes and are cheaper than the 16 and 17 options. I like 15" wheels; I don't subsribe to the trend of fitting the biggest wheels possible on cars, it doesn't do the handling on twisty B roads and favours. 15" are about right for a 1tonne car.

Budget brand but never have any problems at all with them

There are some fine budget tyres around. Nanyonking or something like that have been mentioned. The old BMs can be a bit wayward in the wet if you slip up so I want the best rear end grip possible. Hence F1s.