Which New Tyres and Tyre Pressures ?????

P

Platinum70

Registered User
Joined
Jun 5, 2004
Messages
194
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
Surrey
Some much needed advice is required guys due to the varying degrees of advice from the so called 'experts'.

My S-Line has been running from new on Pirelli P Zero rosso - 235/40/18's. I have covered 25,000 miles on them and still have 3mm left.

I went into a very reputable tyre place the other day as the tyre has been kerbed and a 12" chunk of the rim protector has been ripped off (not me and apparently not the misses!). They said it was o.k for now but all four would need changing in about 2000 miles.

WHAT TO GO FOR??

The Pirelli's have lasted superbly IMO. Had Goodyear GSD 3's on Cupra R which on that car were better than Rosso's, and also tried Pilot Sport but didn't like the dry grip so much. ADVICE PLEASE.

I was also told that you cannot change either a front or rear pair of tyres if the other pair are more than 2mm different in tread depth (on quattro). Anyone else heard this.

The last differing advice I have had is about tyre pressures. I run at 33psi all round cold. Pirelli technical advised on this as I do a lot of motorway driving. One tyre place said to run at 38psi as it keeps the tyre flatter and more even on wear. I don't agree but has anyone else go an opinion.

thanks guys
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beerchug.gif
 
I would think that pirelli know best. 38 sounds too high unless you have passengers and luggage. If they lasted 25000 miles with more in the bank then you're obviously doing something right.
 
I'd also agree that 38 psi seems too high.

Have you looked at Bridgestones? I've used them on bikes for years and had two sets of RE720s on our Bora V5. Always been very happy with their performance and longevity

They do the RE050 or S03PP in your sizes. RE050 is probably the equivalent of the other tyres you mentioned.

HTH
Dave
 
Mines 39 all round unloaded. Doesn't it say on the B pillar?
 
Thanks guys.

scoTTY - it does say on the B pillar but Pirelli said to ignore those and drop them down. The tyre place said ignore those and put them up. From memory it says 35 or 36 psi normal load from cold.

I run around 33 to 34 cold.


Has anyone tried GSD 3, Conti sport or Toyo Proxes on A4.

I am tempted to stay with Rossos because of the life I have got out of them. Best price so far is 122.00 all in per tyre from Bracknell Tyres in Berkshire. GSD 3 are 109.00.
 
I'm using GSD3's as I did on my TT. I'm very happy with them....at the recommended pressures (which may be higher for the S4 than other models)
 
scoTTY

What did you have on the S4 originally and did you find the GSD3's gave better grip? When I went from Rosso's to GSD3 on Leon they were much better - but that was obviously FWD and totally different car.

Thanks
 
I just had four Goodyear F1 Eagles (GSD's?) fitted today, bit slippy to start with (wayhay!!) but once warmed up they seem miles better than the Rosso's I had on before!!
 
F1's are not too good for a couple of hundred miles so beware!!!

I started with the Conti SportContacts and then had a set of Michelin PilotSports2 and now on the F1.

The Continentals were not ideal and after a track day I had the shoulders down to the threads.

The Michelins are much better and some of this improvment seems due to the stiffer tyre wall.

The Goodyears are quieter than the Michelins and seem more confidence inspiring. I think they may tramline a fraction more but the apparent wet and dry grip seems quite a bit better.

I've not tried Pirelli's since the factory fit tyres on my TT. The P6000's were truelly dreadful. I swapped on to Bridgestone S02's and these were great. I ended up with F1's on the TT and they were the best.

p.s. Tyres on the S4 could be quite different to what suits the other models due to the weight of the V8 etc so you may find things slightly different.
 
scoTTY

Yes i am sure weight would play a part and indeed the extra power.

I drive the car quite hard, but I'm not hard on the tyres - or the Pirellis have just been that good!

When I swapped to the GSD3's on the Leon I wouldn't have bought anything else on that car. The grip was fantastic, but then I had just got rid of four well worn Rosso's.

I did find that the GSD3's were prone to tramlining - but the wet grip was fantastic as well as the dry.

The choice is tried, tested, work fine and wear excelently with Rosso, or the pull to the seemingly better grip of the Goodyear.

Thanks again for your help.
 
I'm on 235/40/18 Falken Azenis ST115's and I keep the pressures at or around 40PSI (no passengers). I'm more concerned about not bending a wheel and getting better fuel economy. So far so good.
 
If they are cold pressures, and you do any amount of motorway driving, you must be wearing the centres and indeed riding on the centre of the tyre. Unless it is different for different makes of tyre??
 
I didn't read your signature properly - you,ve got 19" tyres which I am sure would make the difference.

They can't be cheap!
 
I really cannot decide what tyres to go for. My head is saying stick with the Pirelli because of the life I got out of the previous ones, but I so liked how the GSD3's performed on previous car. And they are cheaper!
 
I'm also in a pickle. I've got an unrepairable puncture in each of my rear tyres, dunlop sp9090 all round at the moment, but about 4mm tread left. I'd prefer to get GSD3's or pzero rosso's.
1) Is it ok to have 2 new GSD3(or rossos) on one axle (either front or rear) and 2 old dunlops on the other axle? I'll change the old dunlops to new tyres when they are due for replacement.

2) Or do I get 4 new tyres now, and scrap the dunlops coz they're crap anyway.

3) And finally, which ones - GSD3's or Rosso's????????
 
Bit the bullet and have bought 4 pzero rosso's. Got various quotes, tried mytyres.com and blackcircles.com and then got them from Kwik-fit for £50 cheaper and they're coming to my office tomorow to fit them. £418.21 all in.
 
[ QUOTE ]

I was also told that you cannot change either a front or rear pair of tyres if the other pair are more than 2mm different in tread depth (on quattro). Anyone else heard this.


[/ QUOTE ]

There is a very limited tolerance for the quattro diff between the rolling radius of the front/rear wheels and it can lead to wear and overheating of the centre diff. I'm not sure the tolerance is as fine as 2mm but you should be careful. It's also why you can't tow a quattro with the front wheels raised.

The haldex system in A3's is not a mechanical diff so that doesn't have the same tolerance problems (though the dealers/tyre outlets rarely know this), imho it's one of the features that makes the system superior.

I learned to my cost a few years ago not to buy an ex-fleet quattro as the cheapskates only replaced the illegal tyres and ****** the diff.
 
Thanks for the advice Simon.

Message for Lon.

That is very cheap for all four. What size tyres was that????
 
I know, i was dumbfounded at the price. I rang up expecting to haggle a bit and see if they could price match blackcircles, but they beat it without me even mentioning other quotes.
they are 235/45/17.
 
Just to be safe, I'm gonna ring them up this morning to confirm fitment and price. I got stung with a holiday quote recently where thomsons quoted me a price on the saturday, and it doubled on the monday when i rang to book it. She claimes she only quoted me for one week, not two on the saturday
 
Just rang them, price and fitment confirmed. Whoohoo! That is a good price. They gonna ring me back with a quote for 18's, i'll post the quote here, or ring them on 0800425262 if you cant wait. I didnt know what size, went with 235/35/18's as a guess, is that right?
 
Nah, they rang back and queried the tyre size, I had to admit that I was guessing. He said I need to confirm the tyre size before he quoted me. Give em a ring. The price for those Rosso's sounds too good to be true, but I've had it confirmed twice now.
 
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/groovy.gif Tyres fitted, ace job. Put the balancing weights well out of sight too. Didn't charge me extra for swapping the tyre on the spare wheel either which was nice of him. He's recomended a tyre pressure of 32 when cold. I'll experiment a bit. Just need to have the tracking checked now, any recomendations in Manchester area? Can't beat that price. Happy bunny I am. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bravo.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ok.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yes.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/woohoo.gif
 
Well the tyres have just about had enough and will be changed once the paint has hardened on my recently refurbished passenger side alloys (not damage I did!).

Still unsure what to buy. Its either same again with Rosso's, GSD3's or Toyo's. Price not an issue, but want good grip and good wear.

I really appreciate all the comments and advice so far and if anyone else reads this and can help with my decision then please post some info.

Thanks
 
Well, done almost 2k on the rossos now and have found them very quiet, and grip seems to be fine. I've only had 2 extreme heavy breaking incidents, and the tyres seemed to grip very well. Both times it was in the dry, so can't comment on wet grip. I'm a pretty conservative driver, so can't comment on extreme cornering grip or roundabout speed grip. I have noticed that the car now has a very slight drift to the left. I experienced this on a previous set of michelins, and audi checked it under warranty and said that the wheel alignment was perfect, so attributed the drift to camber in the road. However, when I replaced the michelins with dunlop 9090's, the drift was no longer there.

So, my thoughts are: the michelins and the pzero rossos's are not directional tyres, they only have an "outside" indication on the sidewall and they are asymetrical tread patterned. The dunlops were directional tyres, with a symetrical tread pattern. So i'm hastily deducting that the drift can be attributed to the tread pattern on the michelins and pzero's. Just to be safe, I'm looking at having the alignment checked anyway. Hope this helps a little.

Any recommendations on wheel alignment in Manchester?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

J
Tyre pressures !!
Replies
1
Views
399
boffin486
boffin486
R
tyre pressures
Replies
6
Views
1K
Rcpvin
R
james0808
Tyre Pressures
Replies
6
Views
1K
dstech
D
niftyandy
19" Tyre pressures!
Replies
3
Views
1K
dans3.0
dans3.0
jonmusicman
recommended tyre pressures
Replies
8
Views
1K
Platinum70
P
Top
Back