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Author Subject: Tyre Reviews...
Rick_Rallye

Seasoned Pro

Location: Nottingham

Registered: 15 May 2004

Posts: 11,299

Status: Offline

Post #1
This is a thread intended to give everyone's opinions on tyres they've tried. Whether good or bad, it'll allow others to make an advised choice on their next tyre purchase.

This thread will be constantly updated, and if you feel you would like to add a tyre review simply PM myself or any of the admin team Wink

Also look at [url]http://www.tyretest.com/[link]TyreTest.com[/url] for hundreds of reviews on tyres, though most are in german Dry

Standard tyres are 195/55 R15, but by swapping to 205/50 R15 you'll have (collectively) an extra 40mm of rubber on the road. Definitely worth considering as they'll go straight on the standard cyclones...

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BF Goodrich Profiler G

Kebabman

Came on the corrado. Surprisingly good tyre, actually had a lot of fun with these. Obviously the change of car + tyre width makes it hard to compare though.

Dry grip good, did get a bit of understeer at croft but that could've been my very tired suspension.

Wet grip good, better than the A539s, nice and predictable in all conditions I tried so even though they are slightly less grippy than some they're fun to drive with.

Wear rate is excellent, a whole day at croft only shaved off ~1mm all round, compared to the Toyo's I saw which were savaged. Quite expensive compared to A539s.

No noticable aqua planing until I got to 1.5mm tread depth, only to be expected at that depth.
Grip from stand still and braking all round good, but the ABS did kick in easier than with the Bridgstones. Not much road noise.

Rallyecomms

These came on all four corners of the rallye when I got her. I was immediately going to change them, as I didn’t know what they where! However after a few weeks using them I was happy. Dry performance was on a par with anything else I’ve had (bar the Eagle F1’s), and wet performance was adequate (although not as good as Uniroyal Rainsport).

On the track the wear was very good. The back tires held up extremely well after a track day, and I still use them to this day. The fronts needed replacing, but lasted the day well. My only complaint would be a tendency to understeer once they are really warm. This can be a bit frustrating at times.

I’d recommend this for road use, if it wasn’t for the price! I think you can get better ultimately, for cheaper.

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Bridgstone Potenza S-02 poleposition

Swifter GTi6

I first came across Bridgstone's S-02 pp when a dealer recommended them to me as I needed replacements for my F1's.

At first I didnt notice much difference except a slightly firmer ride due to the really stiff side walls. However after a couple of hundred miles they seemed to come on strong.
In the dry they grip harder and give more feel than the three previous sets of tyres I used (F1's, Toyo's and the budget rubbish you get when you buy new wheels).

In the wet, I found that they give great traction, however they do lose grip a lot sooner than in the dry (find me a tyre that doesn't) although they communicate all of this to you better than the F1 and Toyo's, but I couldn't tell the difference in grip between them.

As for braking, the bridgstones are fantastic in the dry and good in the wet, although I couldn't tell any difference between any of the others with the exception of the budget rubbish which would sqirm heavily under hard braking.

I have not had any experience of aqua planing from the S-0's or the other two, although I did from the budget tyres.

Grip from a standing start is very very good. They are slightly better than the F1's and vastly better than the Toyo's and budget tyre which seem to struggle, especially in the wet.

I used the Bridgstones on track once and none of the others. The grip the S-02's gave was superb and they are very reluctent to understeer almost to a point where they wouldnt unless I steamed in to a corner too fast. The wear rate on track was quite a lot and they looked a mess before I set off home, however when I got home they had cleaned up and look perfect except I will need a new set very soon.

There are two downside's to the S-02's :
No. 1. The wear rate. They dont last long, Front's no more than 10k and the rear's not over 18k.
No. 2. The cost. At £97 each (that's 205 x 45 x ZR16) they are expensive, but as my dad once said always buy the best you can afford.

Verdict :
The best tyre I have ever used and the only one you should consider (if you have 205 45 16) if you value grip and feel above all else.

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Bridgestone Potenza RE040

tpw

They are fitted standard on all CTR's and are a good hard wearing performance tyre in the dry. In the wet it is a different story and the car can easily break away with no warning and has resulted in many a CTR being damaged.

They transmit a load of road noise and used to make me think that the wheel bearings were knackered.

They have a strong sidewall and alow the car to be driven with confidence in the dry and the tyres also stand up very well to trackday use being an ideal tyre for dry hard circuits.

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Bridgestone Potenza RE720

Kebabman

Excellent dry grip, on a par with the A539s I'd say but don't need warming up as much.

Best wet tyre I've used, the real strong point of these is their wet performance IMO. I was amazed at how much grip they give, almost unaffected by the wet it seems! Much roundabout fun to be had, and a noticable shift from understeer to 4-wheel drifting. (remember this is a corrado)

Braking excellent, eyeball popping, you have to really stomp to get the ABS going.

Super stiff sidewall makes for a fair amount of road noise, but improves mid-corner feel a lot, and provides a nice sharp turn in.

No problems with aqua planing so far.

Not tried on track, will report back after the 28th of Nov. ¼ racing about the same as the BF Goodrich's. No improvement in times anyway, but it seemed easier to get the power down in 1st.

Can't comment on wear rate yet either.
More expensive than A539s, less expensive than F1's. About equivalent to the Profiler G's but superior in all regards (bar wear rate maybe).

10/10 really like these tyres.

Rick_Rallye

First tyres I've 'chosen' for a car and I have to say I was immediately impressed. I did go from the crappest of the crap tyres though (see my review below of the Continental tyres)

Immediately the car felt more responsive and has quite a sharp and un-phased turn-in on sharp corners. Also the car is much better able to put the power down both in the wet and in the dry.

Road noise isn't noticeable at all IMO. After a few thousand miles they're still holding up very well. Been driving quite hard (in the winter) and they haven't let me down yet.

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Continental EcoContacts 'Fuel Saver'

Rick_Rallye

Absolute load of rubbish. Not very good tyres in the dry and even worse in the wet. Aqua planed really badly, would spin up in 2nd in the dry and even 3rd in the wet. I changed them after a day at Pod because they were so crap at getting off the line... and they were still legal (ish Whistle)

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Falken ZE 512

TrickyB

Got em for nothing. Absoloute crap in the dry (worse than Pirelli`s) even worse in the wet. Good for burnouts cos they dont stick till they are bald, but then they are good at the pod


Kebabman

Only used these on track, they were free. Seemed weak after the BF Goodrich, more understeer although they did tell you it was coming. Not tried in wet.

Braking OK but noticably more ABS ntervention under heavy braking. Not bad, but I don't think I used them enough to really get a feel for what they are like.

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Fulda extremo's

jamiegti

Fulda are the german sister company of goodyear i'm lead to believe. Very good dry performance. These tyres have incredible grip through cornering and are equally as good from a standstill. They also grip quite well in wet conditions once moving, but are partial to a bit of spinning off the mark with generous use of the loud pedal.

The tyres perform well under braking also. Hard braking in a straight line they react very well as the car doesnt seem to wobble about at all opposed to the old fulda's i used to have which seemed to throw the car about a bit. Out on the twisties, with the combination of heavy braking and hard acceleration, the car feels planted to the road at all times.

As for aqua plaining, they seem to keep you going roughly in a straight line through the water, instead of the feeling of being thrown off to the side.

Only used them once on the track and the performance was outstanding for not being track tyres. they wore evenly, gripped well (most of the time!) but slicks would obviously have been the weapon of choice!

I have also used falcons a couple of times and dont really recomend them. Used toyo's once and they have similar characteristics to the fulda's, but are probably slightly better.


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Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD2's

Scottymc

Have these on at the moment in the gti6 correct profile 195/55 R15's.

Bought the tyres in the spring and all I could say then is wow, these tyres are immense. Road holding/grip is brillent in the dry. The tyres are quite soft and as such the edges started to wear quite quickly.

The traction these give you under acceleration is great, under spirited driving with p6000 the tyres used to let go changing from 2nd to 3rd, with these nothing. The tyres just seem to bite more into the road and rip your neck back as you lurch forward.

Now its got into the autumn/winter months, they are a totaly diffrent animal, when i turn into a corner in the wet my mind starts repeating over to itself "are they are or are they not going to hold?".

To me these tyres seem to be the ideal dry road tyres, more grip than er........... very grippy thing. But in the wet you have have to take in easy.

They have been on the car for 8k miles now. Probably lost 2/3 of tread on the front and about half on the back, I estimate changing them in 4k miles.


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Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3's

Rallyecomms

The tyres I am using at the moment, and I have to say… I was expecting to be blown away with these tyres, but I’m not. Don’t get me wrong they are a very good tyre, but only in certain conditions.

Lets get it straight, in dry weather when your pushing, they are A+. I’ve never had another tyre give me the levels of grip that these do. In the wet, is a completely different story. Maybe Uniroyal’s Rainsports spoilt me, but I find the F1’s a bit ‘airy fairy’ in the wet. I’m never quite 100% confident in them, and they always seem to hint that they are about to break. I’ve even found myself under steering in roundabouts, at speeds other tyres have been well able to cope with.

They also seem to wear rather fast! I’ve got 4k on them and I see big wear on the edges and tread depth! I’ve also discovered a small bubble in one of the fronts L. I also find quite a lot of road noise on day to day driving, and trouble keeping them at a consistent pressure. I can never remember having to change the pressure of my tires as often as I do with these, in order to keep them consistent.

I get the feeling that these tyres sell themselves on the fact that they are a very soft compound (something I’ve always found to be true of any Goodyears I’ve had). Whilst I do love the dry weather grip, I honestly don’t think its enough to make me buy these again. Which is a pity, as I really wanted to like them!


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Kumho KU15

TrickyB

Got Kumho KU15`s fitted th the moment and they are the best tyre I've had fitted, they are excellent in the dry and very good in the wet but they aquaplane enough to scare you. Mental grip from standstill launches.


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Michelin Pilot Primacy

madbadger

I do a lot of miles and a full on sports tyre really isn't worth the cost for me as I tend to drive in a 'spirited fashion' (don't we all). I have to say I've been very impressed - they are a very well balanced (if you'll pardon the pun) bit of rubber - they are grippy without being excesive in terms of bite, and certainly perform in the wet, as I was (allegedly) doing rapid speeds up the A303 this weekend in pouring rain - nary an aquaplane in sight and water displacement excellent, and on the corners they hold much better than my old P6000s which had a tendency to start losing front wheel traction rather too easily. (and that was before they were low on tread)

In the dry they're equally good - very solid drive all round.

Cost me £80 a tyre, and if you're after something that will last a bit without selling your soul to the devil in terms of loss of performance, I'd certainly recommend.


ye66
After 2K (in Israel we talk KM) in 1 month with those, I can say that it is a good compromise between daily use and performance. I don't feel any under steer at all even with hi speed cornering and the way you can shake the tail :B

The tires are harder than any performenc tire and you can feel how it makes the car vibrate (standard saspensions) on crappy roads.

The Israeli asphalt is very shitty with lack of grip but you can feel very safe going into corners. I know that I can make it faster with A539 or even more with SP9000 but it is enough for the public road.

For daily use - I recomend
For goin fast - I recomend
For hi perf. - Keep reading

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Pirelli P6000's

Rick_Rallye

Only ever had these fitted to the back of my Rallye so can't make much comment on them. They seem to grip very well to be honest and although I did lose the back end once, it was entirely my fault as it was raining. For 'normal' driving, can't fault them, but they're not the best for lateral grip, which lets face it is exactly what you want from a rear tyre. They don't aquaplane like my Continental EcoContacts, so that's a big plus.

Kebabman

Only had these for a while, came with the car and were rapidly replaced. Worse grip than 175 width yoko S306 I had on my previous car, but it could have been because they were all practically illegal when I tried them.

Peach

Overall the P6000 are not a bad tyre. They're far from great in the wet but dry performance is very good as far as I can tell. Furthermore, as croft proved they're pretty damn durable and are actually really quite good when you get them up to (seriously) high temperatures Cool

I seem to find that these charateristics (good in dry / poor in wet) are manifested both in turning and braking. However, both can be somewhat of a lottery at high speed in the wet. Whilst this can result in some serious fun it can also end up in some seriously worrying unedrsteer (with VERY little you can do to stop it) and obviously some rather hilarious/lethal oversteer!

Furthermore, on two occasions at Croft I also managed to get similar handling attributes in the dry (massive understeer and sudden loss of rear grip past a certain point) however both times I was somewhat over the edge and I doubt that many other tyres would have helped!

Finally as far as aquaplaning is concerned I can't actually say whether they're better or worse than anything I've had before - I am generally pretty good in the wet (I'm always aware that I have the p6000 on!) so I'm careful to look for standing surface water.

Oh yeah - standing starts - not a quarter miler myself but I can count the number of times I've wheelspan the car on one hand (and I've had it 3 years and don't drive slowly) so I reckon they must be alright Smile


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Toyo T1-S

DaveB

Toyo T1 S's seem to be pretty good all round, havn't had them that long so I don't know what the wear is like - but who cares right Laugh

dry performance - Excellent - better warm obviously
wet performance - V'good - Don't spin off the line like the P6000's
dry braking - V'good - but the brakes are v'good Smile
wet braking - Hell of a lot better than the 6000's
aqua planing - No - try not to go that fast in the wet - once bitten & all that!
grip from standstill ie ¼ mile racing - Loads better that P6000's
grip on track - Laugh - I Love her too much for that Whistle

As my only other tyres were P6000's - it feels like I have F1 stylee grip Laugh

gezti6

I replaced my P6000 with the T1-S back in June after reading good things about them on this forum (plus they were around £75 cheaper than Eagle F1's). First impressions were good-much quieter and softer riding than the P6000s. Only one draw back was the apparent loss of some feedback through the steering wheel.

As the tyres wore in the grip improved. Overall I was very impressed with them. That is until the Croft trackday.

Oh dear "squirm" is the word I would use to describe the their performance. Pushing hard you could feel the sidewalls flexing-very disconcerting. Almost felt like the cheapo "Economy" buget fuel saving plastic tyres on my van-not good. The wear rate on the track was extrodinary too. The ones which took the most abuse went from being almost new to almost junk during the course of the day. They are deffinatley not trackday tyres.

Overall they are good road tyres, but in my opinion not much of an improvement over the P6000's. Dare I say it but I actually prefer the P6000 over the T1-S. The gentle understeer at the limit of the P6000 is good indicator of impending doom. The T1-S seem to break away rapidly at the limit, snapping into oversteer unexpectedly. As a "less than average driver" I find the understeer much easier to cope with.

Would I buy them again- NO. I think I'll try something different next time.

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Toyo T1-R

tpw

Recently changed from the Bridgestone RE040's to the T1-R's. These tyres are very very good in the wet with high levels of grip. They are a softer rubber than the Bridgestones and grip levels are significantly higher. Time will tell on the wear but I wold expect far fewer miles out of these tyres than the RE040's.

Dommorton

T1-R is simply the best tyre I have owned! Shock

The grip is amazing! the wet cornering ability is against all laws of physics! Like TPW says the wear cannot be determined yet cos they are too new. Will update one day Wink

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Uniroyal RainSport

Rallyecomms

My very first ‘V’ tread tire and arguably the best one I have had. Dry performance was good, no major problems and felt very solid on cornering tightly. Wet performance was truly amazing. In many ways these give you too much confidence in the wet, as the road holding runs rings around any other type I have had.

They also lasted an astonishing 25k before not being legal anymore! And the performance was there right up until the end.

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Yoko A539

TrickyB

Yoko A539`s had these fitted last time, really good in the dry very close to the Kumho`s but not as good in the wet but still better than the Pirelli p6000`s. Very good from a standstill launch as my pod times show.

Kebabman

Excellent dry performance, lots of grip, come on strong as the tyre warms up with a nice predictable break away at the limit.

Wet performace somewhat lack-luster after using some other makes, seemed OK at the time, but they lose the predictability they have in the dry with a sudden loss of grip that can catch you out if you're not ready for it.

Dry braking on a par with any I've tried, excellent.

Wet braking average, not too bad as long as there is no standing water.

Aqua planing, main down-fall of these tyres IMO. The crossed tread pattern doesn't seem to be able to clear water as quickly as the flowing outwards style of Toyo's, F1's, RE720's.

Got my best ¼ mile time with these tyres, but then I can only compare them to P6000s so it's hardly suprising, think it comes down to them being good when hot.

Never tried on track, had plenty of robin reliant moments on the road with them though. Wear quickly, but they are a lot cheaper than other tyres that they can match for grip. Quite a lot of road noise, and straight ahead the steering felt a little numb.

Please take a moment to submit your tyre reviews Wink

________________________________________

always in stock, just PM me to order
Posted 1st Mar 2005 at 12:39

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