New rubber!

[Oranoco]

Thanks to my psycho b1tch ex dropping me in the foul smelling brown stuff I now find myeself in need of new tyres.

Now I've always run Conti Sport Contacts but these are circa £140 a corner, I can get locally to me Yoko Parada's for £102 a pop whcih means at the end of the month I can do all 4 in one hit rather than having to spread it across 2 months.

So what do peope think I should do bearing mind all 4 aren't far off the wear indicators ;

Run 4 new Yoko's which I know from my track car don't last too long and are pretty shocking in the damp never mind the wet.

or

Stick with what I know and replace the worst 2 at the end of Sept and the other 2 at the end of Oct?

 

[aragorn]

Well i'll give my 2p.

I've used uniroyal rainsports for years and rate them pretty highly. They'll come close to Eagles in the dry but in the wet they really shine.

The A4 currently has Eagles all round, which i also rate highly, they're also quite keenly priced, stick like **** to a blanket in the dry, and even damp, but wet weather they do struggle a bit to shift water from their treads meaning they can break traction if you hit standing water, espeically as they get low on tread.

I've just purchased a pair of Rainsport2's for the A4 as the fronts are worn out, i figure i'd rather have the edge in wet weather, and hopefully being second generation the might even match the eagles in the dry too.

A mate of mine has also tried rainsport1's, eagles and kumho ku31's back to back and reconned that while the eagle did stick the best in the dry, both the ku31 and the rainsport were better in the wet. He also reconed that while the ku31 was probably a close last in the dry stickyness stakes out of the three, the price advantage, and decent wet weather performance meant they were the "best buy"

I've since noticed the price of the kumho's climb a little, closing the gap a bit though.

I weighted up the odds and went for the rainsport2's. Unfortunately they'll be going on the back, so i wont have any immediate data on how they perform, but i'll be sure to provide an update when i do have some.

 

[aragorn]

Should also say that although i've no idea what the recent ones are like, the only car i've ever spun was wearing conti sport contact 2's.

I found the provided no feedback whatsover and instead of letting go progressively like the eagles and rainsports do, they tend to lose traction in one hit.

Was coming round a long sweeping duallie exit ramp doing 40, a speed which i drive round there at day in day out. It was damp and the road surface had antislip stuff for the first half of the corner. You expect to have a bit more slip coming off the antislip, which it did, but then about 50yards further round the corner on the normal tar i felt the tiniest of twitches and before i could respond the back end let go. Luckily i managed to turn into it and 360'd it before coming to a halt on the hard shoulder.

I swore never to use them again.

 

[Oranoco]

Never had a problem with the 2's or the current 3's and I regulary drive with... er... enthusiasm. Can get Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD's for £115 a corner. Might stretch and get 4 of those

 

[Broken Byzan]

In the dry the Spec2s do it for me, the best i have run by far. In the wet they are average, but progressive so perfectly drivable.


Stephen, you 2wd too aint you?

 

[DEEJAY TQS]

at the moment hankook ventus v12 are getting massive rave reviews from all the tyres testers, they came out 3rd overall losing out to michilin and pirelli, they are priced at under £90 a tyre on my car which is 225/45/17 so if you are running a smaller tyre they will be cheaper again,i cant comment on experience of these tyres,just what ive read but am deffo going to be investing in a set

 

[dieselfitter251]

Khumo ecsta sprots mate. If you can get them in yor size!

 

[aragorn]

camskill have the newer eagle F1 assymetric for £108 a corner and the GSD3's at 97 in 225/40r18 (ive no idea what size you need so took a guess)

The kumhos are more like 80quid a corner.

they dont seem to have the rainsports, but mytyres do, for £107 a corner.

 

[dieselfitter251]

I really don't push the car that hard but there have been times all that torque has come in handy! The khumos I've had have done many many 1000's of miles. I think two of them are upto 15k. Great grip in the dry and good predictable grip in the wet.

 

[Matt82]

as has been said already, paradas arnt particularly good in the wet, ive had a set in the past.

personally, id get a quote on a set of kumho ku31s. ive had two sets on the golf and theyre great. i like them so much i had a set put on my GF's car too.

another friend of mine had them on her a3 and no one complains, theyre no far from eagle F1 performance ime

 

[Nilz]

Eagle F1 GSD3s for me, very happy and impressed with these.

 

[Matt82]

bit hard to come by now, in any size tbh

for a performance bargain, i definately recommend those kumhos. even on a streaming wet cat and fiddle i was able to take huge liberties with them

 

[AndyMac]

"Can get Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD's for £115 a corner"
That's a bit steep unless they're 18" rims, shop around I've literally just had 2 put on today for £112 each and they're 225/40/18

 

[Broken Byzan]

Aye good budget tyres those Kuhmos,I used to use the 702's as they had a good rim protector

 

[Oranoco]

Think I'm sorted. Track wheels are going on tomorrow as the 18's are right on the limit. Toyo Proxes T1 R delivered for £340

 

[jcb]

GSD3 are good but wear quickly compared to top end michelin/Pirellis.
but at £110-120 vs £180 for PS2's I still buy them!