What tyre would you recommend? All 4 of my tyres will need replacing soon, they are almost down to their wear indicator marker. I drive a lot of motorway miles, my commute consist of 50+ motorway miles and around 5 miles of city roads, every working day. It's a rear wheel drive Mercedes C220 Sportcoupe (basically 10 year old C class cut short and removed 2 doors). My current Dunlop front tyres are lasted around 40k miles, the rear were there when I got the car, so it has lasted more than 50k miles. The rear wheels are slightly wider than front wheels (245 vs 225). I've heard I should buy all 4 tyres of same model, is this still true for different sized wheels? I don't mind spending extra for tyres that last longer, because it's false economy to buy cheapest tyres for 10k miles. Second on my priority is safety, but I understand harder, longer lasting tyres don't grip the road so well. So which brand/model has the best compromise?
I wouldnt know whats best but I have been looking at the Perreli PZEROs .. but they are expensive. I need 245x20" and the best prices ive found are here - http://www.oponeo.co.uk/ But they freight them from Germany I believe ,and you would need to get someone to fit them. Still far far cheaper than running into quick fit.
I use vredestien sportac 5's all around. I swear the wheel bearings will give out before before the grip does. Phenomenal drive for a mid priced tyre
I'd probably go for Michelin CrossClimates if they were available for either of my cars, for that extra peace of mind when the temps start dropping without the added hassle and expense of a winter set. In terms of longevity, YMMV (HAHA, literally, see what I did there?). Just because a certain tyre lasts forever (or not) on one car, in one size, doesn't mean that will be universal. Case in point, I have P-Zeros lasting almost exactly twice as long on the rear as the front (35k and 18k respectively). A car with a differing weight, with different driven wheels and different suspension geometry and wheel sizes could go twice as far... or half as far. Meh - technically speaking the car would be more balanced and predictable with the same tyre on all four corners, but in reality unless you're driving at ten-tenths at all times, it's just fine keep the axles matching. Careful, spending more doesn't necessarily mean lasting longer. Look to midrange to premium brands by all means, but within their ranges, many of the costlier tyres are performance biased and won't last as long as a middle-of-the-road (HAAAA, again, I'm on fire) tyre from the same brand.
Khumo are a good mid-range tyre - they drive better than some more expensive tyres, last just as well but are a little louder. I absolutely hate Pirelli P-Zero's - no grip at all on any of the cars I've had them on. I run Avon ZZR's on my Elise, and Khumo 039's on my 5-series. Wife runs Toyo T1R's on her Impreza, but they're worse than the Khumo's and are the same money - nicer tread pattern looks-wise though. You can do a lot worse than popping into a local independent tyre place and asking their opinion. You may pay £20-30 more than buying online, but you'll have them on the car within minutes, and they will advise you on what's good.
The grip of a tyre isn't a concern if you drive sensibly and safely. Tyres advertised as having "extra grip" are for cornering at 60mph; ANY tyre will give you adequate grip for normal driving. Obviously certain tyres are better suited to wet weather, but again...within reason. The only tyres that will cause you significant problems in wet weather are slicks. I did a lot of research last year on tyres as I wanted the best longevity, and after reading screeds of reviews and realising that there is just too much to choose from, I settled on a pair of Hankook Ventus V12 Evo K110s. They've been on the drive alxe for over a year now, and after about 7K miles they hardly show any signs of wear at all. They were also very competitively priced at about £85 each for our relatively small wheels (215/50 R17).
Thanks all, so I only need to match tyres on same axel, and don't need to buy the grippist tyre because all tyres are safe enough. I guess around £100 each corner (online) would be a good mid-range price to aim for. Around £110 for wider rear and £90 for front? I can't find any Michelin CrossClimates on online tyre services. (Blackcircle and Oponeo) Might try popping into my local garage and see what they recommend..... Avon ZR7 is something I've been considering, the label looks good for the price. Never heard of this brand...... are they any good? I'm tempted to buy Hankook for the rear, as I've read this brand tend to last longer, it's the mid-range version of Michelin. Or Michelin PilotSport 3? Then the same Dunlop for my front because I like the noticeably quieter tyres when I first drove with it and I feel the tyres had been good during my last 40k.
Absolutely not true. Braking performance differs massively too - which is important in any type of driving.
Being bored I've come across this tyre review site, never would have guessed a site like that existed.
This comes back to my safety requirement. The tyre is the only point of contact between me and everything else in the world, it's the only bits of contact stopping me from hitting anything. If it activates ABS regularly, then it's no good at all! I've came across that tyre review site as well, but each tyre review I read seems to differ massively. The overall rating doesn't differ from tyre to tyre, and on tyres like Michelin where I expect wear to have excellent rating, it doesn't. Autoexpress just done a tyre group test, again, all seems very similar. The ranking doesn't seem much different. This whole tyre business seems very fuzzy logic, because tyres of same model different size all perform differently.
I had Avon's on my Vectra years ago. They were a lovely tyre, pretty grippy and the car was a really smooth ride. What I found was they were quite a soft compound and after around 12,000 miles a year later they all needed changing - which at £60 a corner wasn't cheap !
Ehh? Some tyres definitely give much better grip, especially under hard braking in the wet, which is when you need grip most. You also have to consider how quickly they warm up, because if you have to slam on the brakes within a few hundred yards of setting off with no warmth in the tyres at all you'll have reduced grip there. The effect is even more pronounced with motorcycle tyres, there is a huge difference between tyres with different tread patterns and compounds, even when braking in a straight line.
I know... but that's why I said specifically that all tyres grip the same if you drive sensibly and safely. If you're inclined to brake hard on wet ground, then you need to change your driving style, not your tyres.
You shouldn't need to brake hard, so why install ABS or even have powerful brakes? No driving style can predict the unforeseen. This is a very confusing argument you're presenting.
I will change my driving style to not necessitate using ABS when deer start waiting for the green man.
I've been buying avons for years, good grip with decent wear (lasted me about 2 years 16000 ish), then they changed the compound and I found them to be awful. Were well over half gone by 6000 miles, stuck them on the back just to get some extra life out of them and put new Triangles on the front. Never be buying avon again
Come on guys... taking things a little far by bringing ABS (and deer, for crying out loud) into the equation, don't ya think? All I said was grip is not an important consideration if you don't drive like a yahoo. Speaking of grip... get one. Lol.
So the newer Avon ZV7 I was eyeing isn't very long lasting? Safety is one of my major concern, after all, it is the only thing making contact and stopping you from smashing into other cars. ABS is only an assistive technology, it should not be relied upon to defy physics. I guess Lenny was trying to say that most modern day tyres are built to standards that should not cause a worry for road use? I don't drive like a yahoo, but I do drive a lot of motorway miles and people seems to like to change into my following gap while driving slowly before accelerating to match my lane speed. During those situations, I only brake slightly to save fuel and conserve my speed but the gap is decreased so if I do need to emergency brake, I would like the car to stop shorter than average cars on the road.
Precisely. And you're not even proposing to buy cheap tyres; you are willing to spend extra to get the quality. However, as Mister Tad said, quality doesn't necessarily mean longevity, because some quality tyres are designed for performance. And the style of driving you describe definitely doesn't sound like performance to me, hence my recommendation. My bro has been using Crossclimates since late last year and he's very impressed with them, but it's hard to comment on longevity. I've read a few reviews and 20-25K seems pretty common, but that's not to say you wouldn't get more (or less) out of them.