Tyres for your daily hack

[Alan Jones]

I have a confession to make. I've always bought your basic all rounder from one or another of the well known brands and have never really considered upgrading as they seemed to work fairly well at the legal limits imposed in Aus.
My last experience with some stock standard tyres has not been good( downright dangerous in the wet) and I decided to upgrade when they were due for replacement.Although they are roughly 35% more expensive than the basic price, the performance in the wet and the dry has been well worth the outlay and I've been kicking myself for not looking into this years ago.My attitude was always " why spend more for something I'm not going to use or need. "

So what do the rest of you buy ? All rounders or sports / performance for your family hack.

[garcon]

Out of interest, what tyre did you upgrade to Alan?

My Impreza came with Bridgestone Potenzas, which are competent all-rounders. Last time I had a Subaru, I put Yokohomas on it when the Potenzas wore out. They were good'n'grippy, but maybe a bit soft.

One fairly new name on the market is very popular with Subaru runners - Toyo Proxes. I might try these when the Potenzas wear out this time.

Prodrive tend to go with Pirelli, so they're an option for me too.

Just thinking back a little - I had a Nissan 200SX years ago. I went with Kleber tyres on that. Probably not that widely available, but they're basically a renamed (and cheaper!) Bridgestone.

[Alan Jones]

Bridgestone G Grids.
They were on special and have made a huge difference to my rather large and cumbersome station wagon. I had a set of Dunlop Monza 200's on and they were appalling in the wet.
The G Grids have made a huge difference to the braking distances and handling , in both the wet and the dry,so I'm a very happy camper. The other thing that has really stood out to me is the added safety to yourself and your occupants for buger all when you consider the benefits.As an added bonus,my ABS now seems to be working correctly instead of cutting in way too early.

[Lee Janotta]

I pick tires off the stack or the rack at a local auto salvage yard. Typically $30 US for a set of four, and my father mounts them. Look hard enough, and you can find tires that don't look like they've ever turned a mile!

Currently I've got a slightly undersized set of Kelly Chargers up front, going bald on the outside tread. The rears are General Tire, and don't even have a model name on them.

[GTV27]

I always have tried to get the best possible tyres that I could afford (or justify to the missus anyway). I did however fit some truely awful cr@p to my old bomb when I was a struggling uni student - a tip: never, ever, buy retreaded tyres!

As they are your only point of contact with the road, quality counts, and don't always go with what the manufacturer fitted as they may not have the same priorities as you (as AJ's tale above ably demonstrates) indeed, motor industry anecdotes often recount tyres being fitted due to "corporate" deals rather than sound engineering reasons.

G Grids are OK. I am using Yokohama A539's at the moment and are reasonably happy with them (they won a tyre test not so long ago too).

[Mattracer]

I'm using Yoko S760 atm, and though they probably would be classed as an "all-rounder", I don't think that necessarily devalues them. I got 100,000km out of a set, and I'm joking you not . I promptly went back and got another four. I can highly recommend them. HR speed rated, they last well and provide healthy grip wet/dry. My ABS doesn't cut in too early either, which is a strong point.

[TimD]

My Rover started life on Dunlops which were quite acceptable, but when the time came to change all four boots about 40,000 miles ago, I had Pirelli P4000s fitted all round, and the handling in the wet was transformed.

The fronts lasted 30,000 miles and when the time came to change, with the discontinuation of the 4000s, I had directional Pirelli P6000s fitted.

Another improvement noted - the Pirelli P6000 removes pretty much all trace of understeer right up to the levels where you shouldn't ought to be trying things on a public road. And when you get to their indecently high limits, they give out little tiny chirrups of protest to let you know what they're about to do.

(The rear tyres incidentally, are now 40,000 miles old and barely halfway through their tread life!)

[GTV27]

you've got to watch new tyres on the front and oldies on the back with a FWD - that lack of understeer could be partly attributable to the compound difference due to age

but yes, P6000's are good things (not aware of 4000's though)

[GTV27]

opps - assuming that the rover is a fronty and not an SD1 or something!

[BertMk2]

The handling of my trusty pug 306 TD was greatly improved by slapping a set of Bridgestone potenzas all round. The understeer is still there but it's far more predictable now - you can set it up properly to slide now, the lift off oversteer is as vicious as ever though (scared the **** out of me the first time the back boke away).

Tyres never last all that long on my car but that's more to do with road quality than anything else - the roads I do nearly all of my driving on are in a terrible condition - potholes have destroyed a good number of my tyres (and a wheel).

[Maisie]

My 2 run on Avons which give grinsome grip and have barely worn over the 18 months or more that I've had them. Not too expensive either.

[TimD]

Originally posted by GTV27
you've got to watch new tyres on the front and oldies on the back with a FWD - that lack of understeer could be partly attributable to the compound difference due to age

Yes, I entirely agree on that point. I am certainly aware that the rears on the Rover are going to reach their heat devulcanisation life long before they reach their minimum legal tread depth.

Well worth considering when looking at or running any car. Tyres over five or six years old can easily be unsafe due to the breakup of the sidewalls. This will occur through nothing more or less than the action of direct sunlight and changes in temperature.

[Stephen Green]

I've got Bridgestone Potenzas on my Civic Type-R and they seem to hold the road very well in all conditions. Mind you, I haven't tried them in snow yet

Incidently, Michelin were always good wearing tyres as they used to buy good latex to make them with (thinking back some years when I used to be in the rubber trade. No, not that one perv's)

[Peter Mallett]

The Mondeo has Michelin Pilotes 205x50 and the Jeep wears Goodyear summink or other.

The Michelins are great tyres in wet or dry and a pair will last about 30k miles on the front.

The Jeep has done around 25k miles and the tyres don't look touched.

[noise boy 2]

I am currently riding on Kumho Ecsta (sp?) 711 tires on all four corners, got them for a song from tirerack.com ($55.00 US per). They seem to be alright overall (round and hold air) but a bit squeally at the limit. Had a set of Yokohoma avs Db's before them, and they were hands down the worst wearing and riding tires that I have had on my car. Robert

[Heebeegeetee]

Originally posted by GTV27
a tip: never, ever, buy retreaded tyres!

Can't let that one go - the following is a post I put up on the track day forum:

I don't come here too often, but having a catch up read I noticed a couple of queries re tyres. To give my experience, FWIW, I've pasted an amalgamation of a couple of replies I've made, over the past two years, on an MG site, and re-edited it again. If it doesn't make total sense, that's why!

"I've been a great fan of Colway remould tyres for a couple of years or more. I road rally a MG Maestro efi and a '67 MGB GT in historic events.

My B had Dunlop SP7's on when I bought it. I found that the front wheels would lock too easily under braking on poor surfaces, and I suffered three sidewall punctures in as many events. Using Colways has removed both those problems. I've never had a puncture since, and I've only used their road tyres (CMV2), not one of their many rally compounds. I've also done a number of track days in the B, including 118 miles around Castle Combe in one day, without any problems.

With the Maestro we've been competing in the East Midlands road rally championship. This involves belting around tiny little lanes, in deepest countryside between the hours of midnight and 6am. I have to honestly say I thrash the living daylights out of the poor car, and I also lay claim to a moment of glory against an Impreza, over one very long moorland lane. We absolutely go like stink. It's always been on Colway CMV3A 's. They cost £28 each all in. Done some 7-8,000 miles on them, and will probably last the year out.
I can honestly swear that in wet, dry, deep snow, (in Derbyshire, one Saturday night in Feb. last year) standing water, mud, sh*t, you name it, they've been bloody brilliant. If I've one criticism, Colway sell them too cheaply; people have trouble taking them seriously at some of their prices. They'd rather pay more for Nankang, Woosung, or other total garbage.

We took part in the HRCR classic trophy in June, in the B, starting in Belgium, finishing in Alsace, France. 1200 miles, mostly at a leisurely pace, but with some speed tests and a fast night section. On the tests I was never less than 3rd quickest, I believe, against some tasty classic cars. On the night section, I pumped the tyres up to 36 psi all round, and they were just brilliant. Only problem - I got passed by a '65 Ferrari 330 GT. Yes, I'm serious, it was a big car, and I fancied my chances against it down the lanes, but I was wrong. Being behind it though, in the dark, watching flame spitting out of all four exhaust pipes was great fun! It was driven by Alistair Caldwell, former MacLaren team engineer during the Fittipaldi/Hunt days. A great memory.

Have a look at www.cars.u-net.com their site shows sizes, prices, pictures etc.

Since I posted that, we have done the HRCR Classic Trophy again. This year it had a longer night section, a good long thrash in the French Alps. Boy, does my B know its way around hairpins! Again, the car and tyres were great - in fact the tyres weren't really an issue, they did just what I wanted from them. No under or oversteer, no problem under braking, not even when going downhill as fast as I dare. Braking hard into downhill gravelly hairpins must be as good a test as any, and both car and tyres were just great. We arrived at one control with heavy smoke pouring from the front brakes, and two other crews had punctures that night, but tyrewise, I had no problems at all. The tyres simply never made their presence known.
The premises of CARS, of the above website, is in a lovely little village in Derbyshire. The proprietor, Les Twigg, is a smashing chap, and he has very amenable opening hours. Even though it's a 40 mile drive there for me, I go there because a) it's a lovely drive anyway, and b) 'cos going there is such a nice change from the normal tyre purchasing experience - no fag smoking knuckle draggers get to work on my car!
I'm not going to tell you what I paid for the B tyres, 'cos it's embarrasing.

BTW we're not rallying the Maestro at the mo 'cos my navigator has been found to have a detatched retina, but on our last two events we did we were suffering from buckled rims, but still the tyres weren't puncturing. On these events, we often go belting down farm tracks, etc., and you get these enormous great potholes suddenly appearing before you, and you hit these with a hell of a BANG! – like driving up a kerb. To be honest, an under 10k miles wear rate is fine by me, ‘cos I wouldn’t want to keep any tyre on longer than that, while they take that sort punishment they get.

The Porsche 924 championship uses/was using Colways as the control tyre, and don’t laugh – one of them was at that track day at Castle Combe, a proper stripped out racer, and jeez, was it quick. Quicker than most of the Caterhams.
I'm a real fan of Colway tyres. I have absolutely no connection with either company I've mentioned, other than as a very satisfied and happy customer - and how often do you hear that these days?

Heebee

[GTV27]

I've had no experience with Colway retreads and can offer no opinion on them.

However, Heebee, given that you must be quite confident of their abilities to rally on them, therefore they must be a cut above the taxi-fodder that retreads represent here (either that or you have a deathwish only kidding).

[fast95pony]

On the Mustang : Kumho Ecsta Supras 275/40-17's.
On the Focus : ContiSports for summer and Blizzaks LM-22's for winter . The Kumho's are good in the dry and wet and reasonably priced . The Blizzaks are great in the snow, but expensive ($1200 CDN for 17's !) The ContiSports came on the Focus and are a good summer tire, but useless in snow.